Dive Brief:
- Loop Neighborhood Market is deploying an AI assistant across its convenience store network, according to a recent announcement.
- The assistant, Genie, is developed by point-of-sale technology company Tote.ai. It handles inquiries from workers on customer service, POS operations, maintenance, payments and more, according to the announcement.
- Tote has now partnered with a handful of convenience retailers as the industry increasingly prioritizes AI to simplify the employee and customer experience.
Dive Insight:
Loop, an operator of about 50 convenience stores across the Bay Area, Sacramento and Southern California, said that Genie helps its associates deliver a consistent experience across its network by making it easier for workers to access operations information. Additionally, Loop said the AI assistant is shortening training time, ensuring procedure compliance and eliminating the need for associates to ask their managers routine questions. Genie’s chat system is voice or text activated and supports multiple languages.
Since Tote's architecture is modular, Loop was able to deploy Genie from its current POS system, meaning the retailer didn’t have to overhaul its existing technology infrastructure, according to the announcement.
"Tote's Genie agent works in our stores, gives our associates the answers they need in the moment, and delivers results from day one,” said Varish Goyal, president and CEO of Loop Neighborhood Markets.
Loop is also innovating in other areas of the business. The retailer is in the process of rolling out Krispy Krunchy Chicken QSRs at some of its stores and is less than a year into the launch of its retail media network.
Loop is the third convenience retailer in recent months to implement Tote’s AI solutions. Earlier this year, Spinx announced Tote is updating its POS touchpoints, including bringing the retailer’s ordering, checkout and kitchen technology onto one system later this year. Additionally, Hucks’ Market recently implemented Tote’s POS system into its stores.
