Real estate and retail conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” in four years to build its artificial intelligence-driven consumer sales strategy and is using Will.i.am’s tech company i.am+ for parts of its new app, its chief executive said on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
Despite reports the business deal between Majid Al Futtaim and i.am+ had soured, Alain Bejjani said the Omega product, a voice assistant like Apple’s Siri built by i.am+, was integrated in the company’s new app rolled out earlier this month. After a test by this reporter, the voice assistant is inconsistent in quality and accuracy, and Mr Bejjani acknowledged that the company is actively looking at how it can make the app’s voice function better, either through i.am+ or other vendors.
The owner and operator of Carrefour grocery stores, Vox Cinemas and shopping malls across the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe began its AI strategy in 2016, ultimately building a vast data pool from more than 400 sources like its cinemas, grocery stores and retail tenants, pulled from 16 countries and 13 million customers.
Four years later, this data obsession “is our new normal and we will never stop", Mr Bejjani said. “Today, a lot of [the data] is the backbone of our infrastructure.”
According to a report by consultancy Strategy&, moving towards data-driven technologies like AI increases the economic value of data because companies and governments can get more insight from it. But GCC countries are falling behind. The GCC data economy is worth $4.7 billion (Dh17.6bn or around 0.3 per cent of regional gross domestic product), “a smaller proportion than in the EU, where it is estimated at 1.9 per cent of GDP”.
This lag is because there is a “lack awareness of the value of their data … or data’s commercial potential”.
Not so for Majid Al Futtaim, which is using data to try to spur a comeback for retail, which has been sluggish since the advent of online shopping. Mr Bejjani seems to lament the loss of ‘mom and pop’ stores, where the shop owners knew their customers’ names and preferences.
Consumerism and mass production ruined retail, Mr Bejjani said, but the amount of data gleaned from customers’ online and in-store or in-theatre habits is helping MAF “move to something more empirical, more data-driven … to delight customers with experiences we can offer”.
Majid Al Futtaim has found that “people are willing to invest more on experiential retail”.
This has translated into Carrefour selling groceries online while also building more live cooking stations and offering big barrels of spices and abundant displays of fish to evoke an old-school market in its stores. On its app, freebies such as spa or gym access, desserts at its restaurants or a skin analysis at its Dermalogica stores aim to pull customers into MAF’s malls.
Majid Al Futtaim’s Vox Cinemas uses machine learning to personalise movie recommendations on its website and app, resulting in as much as 30 per cent more ticket sales sold online, according to a case study by consulting firm Strategy&. The company also shares anonymised data with Smart Dubai, the government entity tasked with turning Dubai into a smart city, to collaborate on analytics projects to better understand trends affecting the UAE, according to the same report. To improve the performance of its malls, data is shared with MAF’s mall tenants through an online analytics portal so retail chains like Lululemon, Crate&Barrel and Sacoor can better market to customers.
"Tomorrow is not going to be like yesterday. Tomorrow is going to be more human, smarter and purposeful and all of this can happen with better technology and integration with AI to transform the customer experience,” Mr Bejjani said.
Majid Al Futtaim Group swung to a net loss during the first half of 2019 as it suffered a Dh860 million write-down on the value of its land and property portfolio. But Mr Bejjani, on the eve of opening the largest cinema in Saudi Arabia, sounded optimistic.
Asked if the company would be profitable by year-end he replied, “Of course.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Concrete and Gold
Foo Fighters
RCA records
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
RESULTS
Catchweight 63.5kg: Shakriyor Juraev (UZB) beat Bahez Khoshnaw (IRQ). Round 3 TKO (body kick)
Lightweight: Nart Abida (JOR) beat Moussa Salih (MAR). Round 1 by rear naked choke
Catchweight 79kg: Laid Zerhouni (ALG) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ). Round 1 TKO (punches)
Catchweight 58kg: Omar Al Hussaini (UAE) beat Mohamed Sahabdeen (SLA) Round 1 rear naked choke
Flyweight: Lina Fayyad (JOR) beat Sophia Haddouche (ALG) Round 2 TKO (ground and pound)
Catchweight 80kg: Badreddine Diani (MAR) beat Sofiane Aïssaoui (ALG) Round 2 TKO
Flyweight: Sabriye Sengul (TUR) beat Mona Ftouhi (TUN). Unanimous decision
Middleweight: Kher Khalifa Eshoushan (LIB) beat Essa Basem (JOR). Round 1 rear naked choke
Heavyweight: Mohamed Jumaa (SUD) beat Hassen Rahat (MAR). Round 1 TKO (ground and pound)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammad Ali Musalim (UAE beat Omar Emad (EGY). Round 1 triangle choke
Catchweight 62kg: Ali Taleb (IRQ) beat Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR). Round 2 KO
Catchweight 88kg: Mohamad Osseili (LEB) beat Samir Zaidi (COM). Unanimous decision
MATCH INFO
South Africa 66 (Tries: De Allende, Nkosi, Reinach (3), Gelant, Steyn, Brits, Willemse; Cons: Jantjies 8)
Canada 7 (Tries: Heaton; Cons: Nelson)
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.3-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E299hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E420Nm%20at%202%2C750rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E12.4L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh157%2C395%20(XLS)%3B%20Dh199%2C395%20(Limited)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
