How AI is Revolutionizing Retail Prototyping

At ACV Consulting, we're seeing a seismic shift in retail development and prototyping. 

Traditionally, crafting a retail prototype could take many months. From briefing designers to multiple iterations, it was costly, slow, and often a bottleneck in innovation.

We recently introduced AI to streamline this process and for anyone in retail, the implications are huge. With AI, we can now have clients reviewing 15+ design concept approaches within mere weeks of our initial in-store visit. 

This past month we completed a Retail Workshop and prototyping for a luxury women’s fashion brand. The aim was to update the brand’s store designs to enhance the retail environment, merchandising approach, and client experience–all within budget constraints. 

AI allowed us to produce quality yet cost-effective initial prototypes that gave our client a vision of what’s possible across layouts, branding, lighting, and more (see below for one concept). 

After using the tool to produce these prototypes, here are some of my learnings:

• Balance speed with human insight: While AI can significantly accelerate the prototyping process, we need to bring in-store insights and experience into our prompts to effectively align with brand values and market needs.

• A good brief is still critical: just like working with designers, your output from an AI tool will only ever be as good as the brief provided. Get crystal clear on your goals and translate that with descriptive language in your prompts.

• Customization requires a human touch: AI can tailor designs based on data, but human understanding of emotional and psychological consumer drivers is key to personalizing experiences.

Quicker prototyping means faster feedback and implementation. In a market where trends come and go, speed is invaluable. But leveraging AI in retail isn’t just about doing things faster—it’s about doing them smarter. That’s why at ACV, we lead with human insight and experience while leveraging tools such as AI to help us bring the most value to our clients. 

Looking to elevate your retail experience? Schedule a call today with Christopher Peak to learn more about our retail services.

About Christopher Peak

Christopher’s career spans from his start in retailtainment at Universal Studios Citywalk to Global Head of Apple Retail Design, where he brought updated store, flagship, and global flagship programs to the world. Christopher has provided transformational leadership in the retail development space for decades. Now, that experience and leadership are available to brands at all stages of development through ACV Consulting, through interim and fractional roles that help brands transform at key inflection points.