Accelerated AI & generative AI for retail: how Cegid is redefining retail transformation

Why retail needs AI and generative AI: the business imperative

Retailers today face a triad of pressures: global expansion, omnichannel complexity (physical + digital), and rising customer expectations for personalisation and seamless service. According to Cegid’s own trend report, breakthrough AI applications are among the top “Retail Trends 2025”.Generative AI (Gen-AI) adds a new dimension: ability to interact in natural language, generate content or visuals, and assist decision-making not just with analytics but with conversational interfaces and proactive suggestions.
For retail organisations, the benefits include:

• Faster, more accurate decision-making based on real-time data (e.g., store performance, staffing, stock).
• Enhanced customer and staff experience via intelligent assistants and automation of routine tasks.
• Ability to scale globally while maintaining local relevance (multi-language, multi-site operations).
  Cegid emphasises this in its AI positioning: “With Cegid Pulse, we combine … the wealth of business-management data … to develop AI models perfectly tailored to your needs.”. Cegid’s AI strategy in Retail: what’s new & what’s real

Cegid’s retail division has aligned its product-roadmap to the “Forward.ia” strategy (formerly Forward 2026). This reflects a shift toward embedding Gen-AI and agentic AI (agents that can reason, interact with users, assist tasks) in retail operations rather than superficial add-ons. They note: “Our approach has always been to make innovation useful… we know that AI and generative AI will transform the business.” – Nathalie Echinard (General Manager, Retail). 

Concrete use-cases in store & field operations

Cegid has moved beyond pilot-talk and is deploying practical tools across store operations:

• The retail checkout solution “LiveStore” now supports multilingual sales-assistant interaction via split-screen when staff and customer don’t share a language. 
• The “Retail Store Excellence” platform supports head-office to store-network communication: messages can be automatically translated and visually generated (for new collections).
• At the Retail Technology Show 2025, Cegid unveiled “Agentic AI” via Cegid Pulse: users could ask natural-language questions (e.g., staffing gaps, schedule issues) and get instant answers from integrated LLM-powered agents. 

Unified Commerce, Omnichannel & Global Scaling

Through AI embedded in its unified commerce platform, Cegid supports retailers operating globally (20+ languages) to harmonise processes across geographies. For instance:

• Real-time analytics and predictive models across regions.
• Sales associates accessing customer profiles, inventory live, and generating personalised recommendations on-the-spot.
• Store teams supported with AI-driven dashboards, voice/text commands rather than manual spreadsheets.

Trusted recognition & market validation

Cegid’s AI-embedded retail operations platform “Retail Store Excellence” achieved #1 in G2’s Spring 2025 Report for categories like Retail Task Management and Retail Execution. This underscores that the solutions are being adopted and rated highly by real retailers.

Implications for retail organisations & C-Suite leaders

For CIOs/CTOs: infrastructure & data

• Ensure your unified commerce platform is ready for AI-enablement: data flows (customer, store, stock) must be clean and accessible.
• Choose vendors like Cegid that integrate Gen-AI natively (e.g., Cegid Pulse) rather than bolt on.
• Be mindful of security, compliance and performance – Cegid emphasises these as foundational. 

For COOs/VPs of Retail Operations: store & Store-team transformation

• AI tools can relieve staff of repetitive tasks (scheduling, inventory checks, translation) so they focus on customer experience.
• Train store-teams to shift from “tablet in hand” to “assistive AI in hand” – e.g., voice commands, suggestion-driven dashboards. 
• Scaling globally means you’ll need multilingual staff-assistants and multi-site coordination; AI can act as the glue.

For CMOs/CX Leaders: customer personalisation & omnichannel experience

• With embedded AI, you can deliver hyper-personalised experiences: staff can access purchase history + preferences + real-time inventory to tailor offers on-the-spot.
• Gen-AI enables conversational commerce (voice, chat), content generation (recommendations, visuals) and multi-language support for global brands.

For Board/Strategy: competitive advantage

• Brands that embed Gen-AI into store and digital operations may see improved conversion, conversion cycle reduction, higher loyalty and stronger global expansion.
• The early-mover advantage: Cegid is focusing on making AI “useful” not just flashy; that matters for ROI. 

Challenges & considerations before adoption

• Data quality and architecture are critical: without unified and reliable data, Gen-AI agents can’t deliver meaningful insights. Cegid emphasises this in its AI-platform page.
• Cultural change is required: Store associates and HQ staff must adopt new workflows (voice/text, AI agents) and trust those tools. 
• Avoid “AI for AI’s sake”: Cegid warns against creating “gas factories” of unused AI features.
• Security / regulatory compliance: Since retail often spans geographies, data-governance and ethics of AI must be managed.

Conclusion

In summary, Cegid’s accelerated AI and generative AI development across its retail solutions is much more than technology hype. It reflects a thoughtful, practical infrastructure for global unified commerce, AI-enabled store operations, and seamless omnichannel customer experience. As you craft thought leadership and campaigns for digital transformation in retail and especially for global brands and multinationals. This story can serve as a powerful illustration of how the frontier of retail technology is shifting.