Solutions for retail
More margin. Less tied-up capital. More revenue per customer.
In retail, hours decide between write-offs and missed revenue. Agents read sell-through, stock and price together and act within your rules: in the store, in the online shop and wherever customers now research with AI assistants.
The starting point in retail
The four hurdles on the way to the agentic enterprise show up in retail in familiar places: in merchandise, price and customer.
Merchandising sees sell-through, purchasing sees stock, pricing sees the competition. Each department decides on its own figures, and what belongs together only meets in the monthly report.
Solution: One view of merchandise and customer
We bring sell-through, stock, prices and customer data together on one data platform, with consistent definitions. On that basis, agents detect signals while there is still time to act.
Two stock views, two processes, a loyalty program that only works in one place. For customers, these are two shopping worlds; for the company, an online business that falls short of its potential.
Solution: One business across all channels
We connect processes and platform: availability per store, click & collect and the loyalty program work everywhere. On this basis, agents route stock between stores and warehouse to where it sells.
Consumers already compare products in AI assistants and still buy in the online shop. As soon as agents also complete the purchase, the shortlist includes those who provide assortment, prices and availability in machine-readable form.
Solution: Visible to people and agents
We make assortment, prices and availability readable for agents via APIs and MCP servers and prepare your commerce stack for agentic commerce. Advice and checkout follow your rules.
A pricing agent in testing, a chatbot in customer service: many retailers have pilots, few have operations for them. The impact remains an assumption.
Solution: Operations with measurement
Every agent is tied to a KPI you already manage by: write-offs, margin, basket size. We take over monitoring and further development until your team runs operations on its own.
With merchandise, price and customer in one view, you decide the moment the signal appears.
Value levers in retail
Every agent is assigned to a value lever. In retail, three matter most: gross margin, working capital and revenue.
Agents detect price and promotion signals from sell-through, stock and competition. They propose adjustments or implement them within approved limits. Fitting advice before the purchase also reduces returns.
Result: fewer write-offs, fewer returns, higher gross margin.
Forecasting and inventory agents anticipate demand per item and location and reroute merchandise before it sits unsold. Reorders follow sell-through.
Result: lower stock at the same availability, more working capital.
Agents know each customer’s history and needs: personal advice in the online shop, a search that understands what is meant, offers that fit. And your assortment is visible where customers research with AI assistants.
Result: higher conversion, more repeat purchases.
Platforms agents can build on.
Together with foobar Agency, porta Möbel switched its search to Google Vertex AI Search in eight weeks, made possible by the composable architecture that has been growing together since 2019. Agents for advice, pricing and inventory build on the same foundation.
References
The journey often begins with a platform that makes merchandise, prices and customers accessible. The agents build on it. These retailers are on that journey with foobar Agency.
Since 2019, foobar Agency has accompanied porta Möbel on its path to digital market leadership: from legacy analysis via incremental headless commerce to a full composable commerce architecture on MACH principles.
The goal: turn a leading pet supplies retailer's previously isolated online business into a profitable growth driver. After joint strategy work, foobar Agency built the platform from the ground up – live in six months, with expanded Click & Collect and a loyalty program that works everywhere.
The outdated search was costing Cyberport measurable conversion. With Algolia integration, a new search experience, and a training program for the internal team, performance was significantly improved.
Frequently asked questions
Where a value lever currently depends on manual work or late figures: pricing and promotion decisions, stock rerouting, purchase advice or customer service. In the Impact Check, we work with you to identify the process that delivers impact fastest.
Sell-through per item and location, inventory in stores and warehouses, prices and promotions as well as customer data, each with consistent definitions. Once they sit together on a data platform, agents detect signals while there is still time to act.
You do. For each agent, you define which steps a person approves and within which limits the agent acts on its own, such as price ranges per product group. Every decision is traceable, and the data stays within your company.
By making assortment, prices and availability per store current and machine-readable. Then an assistant finds the product and the store where it is ready for pickup today. The groundwork already pays off in search and click & collect.
Through shared processes and a platform that supports both channels: availability per store in the online shop, click & collect, one loyalty program for all channels. For a leading pet supplies retailer, this foundation was in place six months after implementation began.
The Impact Check, at a fixed price: afterwards, you know the maturity level of your retail business, the hurdles along the way and the blueprint for your first agent.
We look forward to your enquiry.
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