During a panel hosted by Infosys on the topic of innovating with AI, Tarang Sethia, the GM of digital products, mobility, and convenience for the Americas at bp, discussed how the company is helping to close the digital gap for mom-and-pop stores, which make up to 60% of all convenience and gas stations in the US.
Sethia cited the example of a standardised loyalty program, Earnify, which has been scaled to 8,000 stores over the past year with 68% more active, loyal consumers, and a cloud-based retail operating system, Crosscode, which offers an automated help desk using AI technology to reduce downtime by six to eight hours.
According to Sethia, the company’s success can be measured by increased store efficiency, reduced operating costs, and — most importantly — greater customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Focusing on the customer experience was the most important consideration when scaling new products and technologies, said Sethia, who added that the company’s metrics for success include uptime rate, meantime to resolve issues, sales uplift, and consumer ratings, which are all measured transparently using the same scorecard as store owners.