A lot has been said about AI. A lot has also been said about the demise of customer service—whether true or greatly exaggerated. And a lot has been said about AI’s potential to take on mundane or repetitive human tasks. To enhance operational efficiencies; to make life easier.

A lot was also said about the importance of attentive, caring interaction between the salesperson and the customer.

In a recent article on this topic, the author posits that her experience with online store AI was not as emotionally satisfying as the friendly service at her local small, family-run store. Should we be surprised?

Most of the readers might agree that the level of personal attention you can get at a small, family-run store will surpass the attention you get – from a human – at a big-box chain store. I am going to venture a guess that in comparison with the latter, an AI-rendered service will be better by an order of magnitude.

To quote that article again, “A lot has been said about customer service. Is it dying? Why are people so miserable? The younger generation doesn’t know how to talk to people... Customers are angry and unhappy. Companies can’t afford to keep a store adequately staffed or can’t find people to work in stores. There’s a labor shortage. Pay sucks, benefits suck. People suck.”

But despite all these real challenges, with or without AI, the retailers are in the people business. Big chain or small business, customer service should be top of mind for anyone in retail. And to provide a great level of customer service, it sure helps to know your customers. If you know who they are, you can figure out what they want, and give it to them.

It sounds easy on paper, but in real life it’s quite a lot of work, involving thorough analysis of traffic patterns, travel times, points of origin, and a myriad of demographic parameters…

It takes a fully staffed analytics department to deal with data of this complexity.

It costs a lot.

Or so it was, until Ticon came up with an easy, affordable solution for retail site location analysis. Ticon’s site analysis can be ordered online in a matter of minutes, and received in a matter of days. No need to enter into lengthy agreements or paying hefty user fees. You only pay for what you need, when you need it.

The door to Knowing Your Customer, at any place across America, is now open to you.