In what is claimed to be an industry-first trial for UK food and drink wholesalers, North West Wholesale and Youings Wholesale are using AI agents to educate their customers about a new confectionery range.
The two Sugro members are using ProConnect’s AI technology on their WhatsApp Business API channels, giving retailers the chance to explore NPD) with questions specific to their stores.
The pilot is the result of a three-way project between Sugro, ProConnect and Mondelez that aspires to change the way suppliers promote their products in the trade. The AI allows retailers to have an immediate two-way conversation that clarifies everything they want to know about the range, including merchandising, stocking, activation and sales tips relevant to their type and size of store.
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“Creating NPD agents that can talk instantly and accurately about an entire range could revolutionise the way the sector thinks about promoting and selling products,” said Sugro UK head of commercial and marketing, Yulia Petitt.
“Suppliers, buying groups and wholesalers are always looking to find new ways to sell more and this technology effectively gives every single retailer their own assistant to help them understand and get the most out of a product.”
With safety guardrails in place, the agents only have access to this information and can reliably have conversations with multiple retailers at once. “In a sector that works on such limited resources, AI solutions like this provide a great opportunity for wholesalers and suppliers to innovate,” said Rob Mannion, chief executive of ProConnect, which recently changed its name from b2b.store. “Combining AI with a WhatsApp Business API channel in this way delivers a more interactive customer experience that improves understanding.”
