U.S. Hardlines & Food Retail "AI Impact on Retail - Incremental Change o..."

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U.S. Hardlines & Food Retail "AI Impact on Retail - Incremental Change o..."

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U.S. Hardlines & Food Retail Equities

AmericasAI Impact on Retail - Incremental Change or

Structural Shift? - A Deep Dive in Slides Retailers, Broadline

Michael Lasser

Analyst

michael.lasser@ubs.com

Technological change is accelerating and is set to transform the sector. +1-212-713 2440

The Hardline, Broadline, and Food Retail sectors are approaching an inflection point Mark Carden

where advances in automation, AI, robotics, and computer vision are beginning to scale Analyst

in a meaningful way. We expect these technologies to have an outsized impact relative mark.carden@ubs.com

to many other industries—widening the gap between leaders and laggards and +1-212-713 3218

enabling structurally higher profitability for best-in-class operators. Dan Silverstein

Historically, AI adoption in retail has been concentrated in relatively narrow use cases daniel.silverstein@ubs.com

such as marketing content, sales enablement, customer service chatbots, and basic +1-212-713 2459

inventory optimization. However, both the pace and breadth of adoption have Mathew Rothway

accelerated significantly. Looking ahead, we expect AI to become deeply embedded Analyst

across retail operations, with implications spanning demand generation, cost structures, mathew.rothway@ubs.com

and competitive positioning. Importantly, the magnitude and timing of impact will likely +1-212-713 5000

vary across categories and business models. Sachin Verma

Associate Analyst

sachin.verma@ubs.com

A central question is how AI may disrupt retail business models and ultimately influence +1-212-713 3492

valuations. One emerging dynamic is the potential for AI agents to act as a primary