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Spend Smart: Closing Retail's Inventory Gap
Greg Buzek of IHL Group breaks down new research on AI and inventory visibility in specialty retail, cosmetics, and mass merchant chains under $1 billion in sales. He opens with a read on inflation, tariffs, and the widening K-shaped consumer economy before digging into the study.Lee Holman of IHL and Mike Duncan of Epicor, the episode's research sponsor, join Greg to explain why a single data lake is the top predictor of profit growth and what retailers must fix before scaling AI in stores.
Key takeaways:
- Retailers with a single data lake for inventory hit 44% profit growth. Zero profit laggards had one.
- Early AI adopters project 85% higher profit growth and 87% faster store IT growth for 2026.
- Sales winners get 66% of revenue outside the store. Laggards get just 42%.
- Data unification comes first, then systems integration, then AI automation, in that order.
3:00 - Truflation vs. government inflation data
6:00 - Corporate profit growth outpaces wage growth
7:00 - The real bubble is college education, not AI
9:00 - Two-thirds of consumers live paycheck to paycheck
13:00 - AI gains still concentrated in large retailers
14:00 - Spend Smart study: key findings introduced
17:00 - Sales winners vs. laggards by revenue channel
18:00 - Epicor's Mike Duncan on AI and ERP
22:00 - Early adopters project 85% higher profit growth
24:00 - Single data lake separates winners from laggards
27:00 - Three phases of AI investment
32:00 - Tech profile of tomorrow's retail winner
34:00 - Loss prevention and the $1.7T inventory gap
36:00 - Four levels of AI adoption explained
41:00 - Live Q&A begins
52:00 - Clean data as the true AI prerequisite
Guests
Lee Holman, IHL Group
Mike Duncan, Epicor (research sponsor)
Host:Greg Buzek, President, IHL Group
Download slides and research here: https://www.ihlservices.com/product-category/research-papers-webinars/
