Lululemon, Home Depot, Chipotle, Walmart and Amazon Among Retail AI Leaders

By Greg Buzek Sep 4, 2024 3 Min Read

IHL AI Readiness Index ranks public retailers and restaurants on AI readiness and potential financial Impact

Artificial Intelligence is radically transforming retail as we know it today, according to new research from analyst firm IHL Group. In total, the top 207 North American public retailers and restaurants could see nearly $1.6 trillion financial impact through the end of the decade according to the 2024 AI Readiness Index.

The Retail AI Readiness Index provides an AI readiness score comparison as well as potential financial impact for individual companies from Sales Growth, Gross Margin improvement, and Sales/General Administrative cost improvement.

The research includes rankings for the companies in several segments and is composed of a 9-part algorithm for rating companies (0-100) based on data maturity, analytics maturity, alignment with key vendors, scale (revenues) and free cash flow as well as other measures from public and private research. This is then combined with the latest annual financial results for companies to project potential financial impact from 2022-2029.

Below are the leaders in each segment (Readiness Score, Potential Benefit by 2030):

Ecommerce – Amazon (85.4, $353.7b)
Fast Moving Consumer Goods – Walmart (77.0, $264.2b)
Apparel/Shoes – Lululemon (Highest Score – 63.2), Nike (Highest Potential – $18.4b)
Hard Goods – Home Depot (65.0, $57b)
Health and Beauty – CVS (63.0, $132.4b)
Restaurant Chains – Chipotle (Highest Score – 56.7), Starbucks (Highest Potential – $9.8b) 56.7), Starbucks (Highest Potential – $9.8b)

“AI is already transforming the retail market behind the scenes with traditional AI/ML improvements. Generative AI simply adds to that potential financial impact, but there are wide disparities among retailers on readiness” said Greg Buzek, President of IHL Group. “I equate it to someone trying to get from Times Square to LaGuardia Airport. Our leaders are through town, through the tunnel and at the toll booth ready to accelerate. But many others are stuck on 42nd Street in bumper to bumper traffic because they have not done the data work.”