New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are beginning to change how consumer goods companies manage retail operations, with one reported implementation cutting the time spent by merchandisers on each store visit by 56 per cent, according to a report by Effie.ai.

The report said AI is moving beyond systems that simply identify problems or recommend actions to tools that can execute parts of the retail process. These systems can help plan store visits, analyse shelves, prioritise tasks, update systems and verify whether actions have been completed.

"The shift cuts merchandiser time per visit by 56 per cent and supervisor time by 55 per cent with zero days of training needed for field staff to adopt new tasks, as the AI a...