GS Retail(007070) said on the 20th that it held the 4th cohort meetup for the open innovation program "The GS Challenge Future Retail" at GS Tower in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 16th, and began proof-of-concept (PoC) projects with five AI startups that were finally selected.
GS Retail aims to fully push an on-site focused AX (AI transformation) project that integrates the technology of AI startups into retail operations to solve practical tasks.
This year's program proceeded by having business units first present tasks that need to be solved on the ground and then finding startups with the technology and execution capability to carry them out. Whereas cohorts 1 to 3 collaborated with startups centered on technology, starting with the 4th cohort the focus shifted to strengthening consolidation between on-the-job tasks and external technologies.
In designing the program, GS Retail surveyed 17 business units companywide for the necessary technologies and problems to solve. Based on this, it set three core areas—data/AI intelligence, autonomous operations optimization, and digital customer engagement innovation—and selected five startups with high potential for business application.
GS Retail's business units and the participating startups will run proof-of-concept projects using AI technology for about four months from this meetup through mid-November.
Key tasks include a project that uses vision AI to analyze the behavior and purchasing patterns of customers visiting fresh-food specialty stores. It will also pursue generative engine optimization (GEO) to respond to the search environment shifting around Generative AI and AI-based customer relationship management (CRM) automation.
A proof-of-concept project will also be carried out to identify products likely to see rising consumer interest by analyzing social media data and to nurture new brands based on influencer and fandom data.
To increase the intensity of collaboration with startups, GS Retail narrowed this year's selected companies to five. Before the full selection, it strengthened the review process by holding prior consultations between business units and startups to examine task–technology fit and real-world applicability. It also plans to expand the scale of support allocated to some proof-of-concept projects by linking with government support programs.
Meanwhile, a total of seven corporations were selected for the 3rd cohort, and they jointly developed with GS Retail solutions such as short-form creation automation, an AI-based 3D content generation platform, and a Gen AI-based commercial content creation solution.
Lee Seong-hwa, head of new growth at GS Retail, said, "The core of AX innovation with startups is consolidation of excellent technology with tangible customer value and business performance," adding, "Through this 4th cohort, we will further advance Future Retail as an open innovation platform that links solving on-the-job tasks with business application."