Last year, Lyon-based management solutions specialist Cegid announced that it was bringing its Forward 2026 development strategy into line with generative artificial intelligence. Renamed Forward.ia, the development program continues, in particular for the Cegid Retail division, which is stepping up deployment and experimentation of retail solutions, while taking care not to fall into the trap of multiplying useless generative tools.

“Our approach has always been to make innovation useful and not to create gas factories that serve no one,” Nathalie Echinard, general manager of the retail division, tells FashionNetwork.com. “Nevertheless, we know that AI and generative AI will transform the business, both for our team internally and for our customers.”

Last year’s biennial Cegid Connections Retail event in Rome featured eight AI use cases anticipating the needs of commerce to 2030. Four have since been delivered. Starting with an enhancement to the Livestore checkout solution. This now enables a sales assistant to interact with customers with whom they do not share a common language, via a split screen.

The Cegid Retail Store Excellence tool, used for communication between a head office and its store network, has also been enhanced. “It can now translate and send messages to each store, for example to explain a new collection, in the case of fashion brands”, explained Echinard. The manager also points out that AI can now directly generate message bases or visuals to guide sales teams.

In the apparel business, these teams are subject to high turnover and have no time for training. In the past, Cegid has responded to this need with simplified dashboards that are easy to learn. But AI now enables the salesperson to exchange directly with the system verbally to explain their problem, so as to be guided through the task.

“We’re gradually moving towards an augmented sales assistant,” explained Echinard. “Augmented vis-à-vis the customer, but also in terms of efficiency and time optimization. Applications will help them to choose their priorities according to what’s happening in the store, but above all to navigate from one task to another without really realizing it.”

Personalization has not been forgotten. A tool, presented last year to Cegid’s partners, is currently being developed based on customer data and product recommendation learning. AI will reinforce the Livestore tool by helping the sales assistant to identify the needs of existing tastes and customers.

“This takes the form of a 6-8 word cloud that gives maximum information in a short space of time to the salesperson. After all, no one wants a sales assistant who remains immersed in the tablet”, explained the Cegid Retail manager.

A manager who also bears witness to the growing demands of brands in terms of security. Security breaches, cyber-attacks and data ransomware are on everyone’s mind. “When our customers are major players in the luxury goods and CAC40 sectors, we take this very seriously”, sais Echinard. She points out that, by contract, security updates are the only ones Cegid can launch to warn its customers.

“And, given what’s at stake, no brand has a problem with that,” said Echinard.

After the NRF (formerly Paris Retail Week) trade show, to be held in Paris from September 16 to 18, she will be preparing the 2026 edition of Cegid Connections Retail, to be held in Prague in the spring. Perhaps by then, the market will have taken a more rational look at AI.

“The enthusiasm it generates needs to stabilize, and everyone needs to stop going off in all directions,” concluded Echinard. She is mindful of the Gartner study which, last June, estimated that 40% of AI tools in development could be abandoned by 2027.