Repositioning retail for the AI era

Macy's is adopting an "AI-first" operating philosophy to fundamentally reshape its retail operations, moving beyond superficial consumer-facing applications to integrate artificial intelligence into core decision-making processes. Senior Director of Engineering Murali Murugan explained that this approach involves redesigning systems for personalization, search, operational planning, and software development to enable faster business operations and more relevant customer experiences by default. This strategy signifies a broader industry trend in retail, shifting from isolated AI experiments to comprehensive, integrated systems designed to accelerate the connection between data signals and business actions. Initial successes in areas like search recommendations and customer engagement, which demonstrated measurable improvements in conversion rates and reduced friction, provided the momentum for scaling these AI initiatives. This momentum is now being applied to enhance conversational commerce, exemplified by the Ask Macy's AI shopping assistant. This tool aims to function as a personal stylist, offering curated recommendations based on a customer's purchase history and preferences in response to conversational queries about specific needs, such as for events like proms or vacations.