Retail Untangled
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Retail Untangled
Episode 34: In retail, AI is only as good as the data behind it
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Every retailer is racing to adopt AI, but in this episode of Inside Retail’s Retail Untangled podcast, Richard Widdowson (VP of Global Retail Solutions at SAS Institute) joins host Amie Larter to deliver a brutal reality check: AI won't fix your bad data—it will only expose it faster. Widdowson unpacks the commercial liability of the "garbage in, garbage out" trap, illustrating how fragmented data leads to alienating customer experiences, broken fulfillment promises, and costly pricing mistakes. By looking at real-world successes like Ulta Beauty's hyper-personalised loyalty program, this episode explores how retailers can leverage hyperautomation, bridge internal data gaps, and dismantle departmental silos to turn trusted data into real-time action before the competition wins the race.