WHY RETAILNEXT
Our AI Advantage
Physical retail runs on people making fast decisions with incomplete information. Too often, AI adds to that load: another tool, another login, another dashboard to learn. At RetailNext, AI has a clear job. It removes the friction between your teams and the data they need, so the people closest to your customers can act sooner. We apply it across our people, our product, and our processes, built on nearly two decades of in-store measurement.
AI That Works for Your Teams
AI should make a store manager’s day simpler, not longer. We design every AI capability around the person using it, so answers arrive in plain language and in context, with no specialist training required.
Retail Intelligence That Drives What’s Next
From the sensor on your ceiling to forecasts and conversational analytics, AI runs through the RetailNext platform. Each capability is built to solve a specific problem your teams may face.
Real-Time Data for Strategic Decision Making
AI is only as reliable as the data behind it. Our processes keep store data accurate, continuous, and secure, so the decisions built on it hold up from the shop floor to the boardroom.
Humans at the Core. AI REMOVES THE FRICTION.
The people who rely on store data most are often furthest from an analyst. Our approach to AI starts with them: make data easier to reach, faster to understand, and simpler to act on, wherever the work happens.
AI Across Our PEOPLE, PRODUCT, AND PROCESSES.
A Team That Works With AI Every Day
AI adoption at RetailNext is led by our C-suite and built into every team. Every employee has access to Anthropic’s Claude, with ongoing training to apply it in their daily work. For you, that means faster answers, analysis, and support, alongside a dedicated Retail Expert who knows your business.
Proof point: Company-wide access to Claude for every RetailNext employee, supported by a continuous internal training curriculum.
AI From the Sensor to the Answer
AI starts at the Aurora® sensor, which uses computer vision to count shoppers and tell them apart from objects, producing counts accurate enough to plan labour and measure conversion against. It carries through to Predicted Traffic, a 45-day forecast built from your own store history, and to Pulse AI, where anyone on your team can ask a question in plain language and get an answer from measured data.
Proof point: Pulse AI is included in every subscription at no additional cost.
AI That Keeps Your Data Whole
Stores lose connectivity, and gaps in data quietly distort regional averages and year-on-year comparisons. Gaps are filled with estimates drawn from that store’s own traffic in the same period over prior weeks, clearly labelled, so your data stays continuous. It runs on a Google Cloud Platform foundation, governed by SOC 2 Type II compliance and each user’s existing permissions. Clean, continuous data is what makes forecasts and anomaly detection worth acting on.
Proof point: Year-on-year comparisons stay intact through outages, with no manual correction.
Built to Last. Built to Lead.
AI moves quickly, and keeping up should not mean renegotiating contracts or replacing hardware. Our subscription model gives you the latest platform capabilities as they ship. Customers can join our Advisory Board and beta testing group for early access to new features and direct input on the roadmap.
Proof point: Aurora sensors under an active subscription carry a lifetime warranty.
Meet PULSE AI.
Pulse AI lets anyone on your team ask questions about store performance in plain language and get answers grounded in your own measured data, with no training required.
Responsible AI, BUILT FOR SECURITY REVIEW.
Executives and IT teams need to know exactly how AI handles store data. We are direct about it.
- SOC 2 Type II compliantThe compliance posture that governs the RetailNext platform also governs its AI capabilities.
- Your permissions, unchangedAI features use each person’s existing authentication and access rights, and cannot widen what anyone is allowed to see.
- Aggregated metrics onlyWhat reaches our AI provider is the aggregated, dashboard-level metrics that already appear in your reports. No raw or sensitive business data is transmitted.
- Named provider, enterprise termsPulse AI is powered by Anthropic. You are entitled to know whose model processes your questions, and if that ever changes, you will hear it from us.
- Not used to train modelsRetailNext does not permit its third-party AI providers to train their models on customer data without explicit permission.
Ready to Shape WHAT COMES NEXT?
Talk to our team about where AI can remove friction across your stores, and how to join our customer Advisory Board for early access to what we are building.
Common QUESTIONS.
About our approach
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What is RetailNext’s approach to AI?RetailNext uses AI to remove friction between retail teams and their store data, so the people closest to the customer can understand performance and act faster. Humans stay at the core: AI handles the work of finding, cleaning, and explaining data, and people make the decisions. We apply AI across our people, product, and processes, and each capability is built to answer a specific retail question.
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How does RetailNext use AI across its people, product, and processes?People: every RetailNext employee has access to Anthropic’s Claude with ongoing training, which speeds up support and engagement. Product: AI runs from the Aurora® sensor, which uses computer vision to count shoppers and distinguish them from objects, through 45-day Predicted Traffic forecasts and Pulse AI, our conversational analytics assistant. Processes: gap-filling from each store’s own history keeps data continuous through outages, on a Google Cloud Platform foundation built for scale.
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Why does data quality matter for AI in retail?An AI model can only answer from what was measured. RetailNext people counting is 95–99% accurate and manually audited at every installation, and data gaps are filled from each store’s own traffic over prior weeks, clearly labelled. That means forecasts, year-on-year comparisons, and anomaly detection rest on continuous, reliable store data.
About trust and partnership
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Is our data used to train AI models, and who provides the AI?RetailNext does not permit its third-party AI providers to train their models on customer data without explicit permission. Pulse AI is powered by Anthropic, and what reaches the provider is aggregated, dashboard-level metrics that already appear in your reports, not raw or sensitive business data. AI features follow each user’s existing permissions on a SOC 2 Type II compliant platform.
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Can we use our own AI tools with RetailNext data?Yes. RetailNext is available as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector, so your data can be queried securely from the AI environment your team already uses. Access is authenticated against each user’s RetailNext login and scoped to the permissions they already have. It works independently of Pulse AI and carries no additional cost.
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How does RetailNext keep its AI capabilities current?RetailNext’s subscription model gives customers access to the latest platform capabilities without renegotiation, hardware refresh cycles, or technical debt, and Aurora sensors under an active subscription carry a lifetime warranty. Battery Ventures’ 2025 majority investment was structured to accelerate product innovation, and customers can join our Advisory Board and beta group for early access and direct roadmap input.