内容来源：https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/25/1137848/repositioning-retail-for-the-ai-era/

内容总结：

AI重塑零售业：从幕后决策到前台体验的全面变革

人工智能正以消费者不易察觉的方式深刻改变零售业。美国梅西百货工程高级总监穆拉利·穆鲁根指出，AI带来的最大变革并非花哨的虚拟试穿或聊天机器人，而是隐藏在幕后的决策流程——如何优化搜索结果、管理库存供应链、加快代码交付速度，以及实时响应客户行为。面对碎片化且竞争激烈的市场，传统零售商正将AI视为一种运营哲学。

梅西百货采取“AI优先”策略，不是简单地在现有工作流上叠加智能，而是重新设计决策方式，使业务运行更快、用户体验更具个性化。公司已将AI嵌入个性化推荐、搜索、运营规划及软件开发等核心系统，旨在缩短“信号与行动之间的差距”。早期应用集中在搜索推荐和客户互动等高影响力领域，快速取得转化率提升和体验改善等成效。穆鲁根表示：“一旦确立速赢成果，规模化就变成了商业决策，而非技术争论。”

这一趋势正延伸至对话式商务。梅西百货推出的AI购物助手“Ask Macy’s”更像一位私人造型师，用户可用自然语言描述需求（如参加舞会、度假或临时活动），系统结合历史购买记录、偏好和场景给出精准推荐。不过，梅西百货认为AI更多是增强人类判断的隐形层，而非替代品。长远目标是打造无缝、自适应且个性化的零售体验，而消费者甚至可能察觉不到背后的AI系统存在。

穆鲁根强调：“真正的变革来自持续改进——从错误中学习，快速适应新技术标准，把握时机和执行，最终累积成更有意义的客户体验。”

中文翻译：

赞助内容
为人工智能时代重塑零售业

梅西百货高级工程总监穆拉利·穆鲁甘表示，从对话式购物助手到超个性化推荐，人工智能能够让数字零售体验变得更直观、更流畅、更个性化。

与印孚瑟斯联合呈现

人工智能正在迅速重塑零售业，但其方式可能并非消费者能立刻察觉。最大的变革或许并非炫目的虚拟试穿或聊天机器人购物助手，而是幕后决策方式的改变：产品如何出现在搜索结果中，库存如何在供应链中流转，工程师如何更快地发布代码，以及零售商如何实时响应客户行为。当传统零售商在碎片化且竞争白热化的环境中摸索前行时，人工智能正成为一种运营理念。

在梅西百货，这种理念更多地被定义为高级工程总监穆拉利·穆鲁甘所说的“AI优先”方法。“AI优先并非在现有体系上叠加智能，”穆鲁甘表示，“而是要重新设计决策方式，让业务运转更快，让每一次体验都默认更具相关性。”梅西百货并非简单地将AI叠加到现有工作流程中，而是将智能直接嵌入到包括个性化、搜索、运营规划乃至软件开发本身的系统中。

该公司的战略反映了整个零售业正在发生的更大转变：从孤立的AI试点项目转向旨在缩短、用穆鲁甘的话说，“信号与行动之间差距”的集成系统。早期的努力集中在搜索推荐和客户互动等影响显著的特定用例上，在这些领域，转化的可衡量增长和摩擦的减少迅速积聚了内部动力。“一旦我们取得了速赢，规模化就变成了一个商业决策，而不再是技术争论，”他说。

这种动力如今正通过像Ask Macy's这样的工具延伸到对话式商务领域。Ask Macy's是一个由AI驱动的购物助手，其设计更像一位私人造型师，而非传统的搜索栏。无论是为舞会、度假还是临时突发事件做准备，客户都可以通过对话方式描述他们的需求，并收到基于过往购买记录、偏好和具体情境提供的精选推荐。

尽管如此，该公司仍将AI视为增强人类判断的隐形层，而非替代品。其长期愿景是打造一个越来越流畅、自适应和个性化的零售体验，其背后是由客户可能从未注意到的系统所驱动的。

“这场变革真正的驱动力来自于持续改进，”穆鲁甘说，“关键在于从错误中学习，快速适应新的技术标准，把握好时机和执行，这些因素的累积最终会带来有意义的、更好的客户体验。”

本次网络研讨会是与印孚瑟斯合作制作的。

本内容由《麻省理工科技评论》定制内容部门 Insights 制作，并非由《麻省理工科技评论》编辑人员撰写。其调研、设计、撰写工作由人类作家、编辑、分析师和插画师完成，包括问卷编写及数据收集。可能使用的人工智能工具仅限于经过严格人工审校的辅助制作流程。

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英文来源：

Sponsored
Repositioning retail for the AI era
From conversational shopping assistants to hyper-personalized recommendations, AI can make digital retail experiences feel more intuitive, seamless, and individualized, says Macy’s senior director of engineering Murali Murugan.
In partnership withInfosys
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping retail, but not in the ways consumers might immediately notice. The biggest transformation may not be flashy virtual try-ons or chatbot shopping assistants, but in how decisions are made behind the scenes: how products surface in search results, how inventory moves through supply chains, how engineers ship code faster, and how retailers respond to customer behavior in real time. As legacy retailers navigate a fragmented and hyper-competitive landscape, AI is becoming an operating philosophy.
At Macy’s, that philosophy is more often defined by what senior director of engineering Murali Murugan describes as an “AI-first” approach. “AI first isn’t about adding intelligence on top,” Murugan says. “It’s about redesigning how decisions happen so the business moves faster and every experience feels more relevant by default.” Rather than layering AI onto existing workflows, Macy’s is embedding intelligence directly into systems that include personalization, search, operational planning, and software development itself.
The company’s strategy is reflective of a larger shift taking place across retail: moving from isolated AI pilots toward integrated systems designed to compress, as Murugan puts it, “the gap between the signal and the action.” Early efforts focused on narrow, high-impact use cases like search recommendations and customer engagement, where measurable gains in conversion and reduced friction quickly built internal momentum. “Once we established the quick wins, scaling was a business decision, not a technology debate anymore,” he says.
That momentum is now extending into conversational commerce through tools like Ask Macy’s, an AI-powered shopping assistant designed to act more like a personal stylist than a traditional search bar. Whether for a prom, a vacation, or a last-minute event, customers can describe what they need conversationally and receive curated recommendations informed by past purchases, preferences, and context.
Still, the company sees AI as more of an invisible layer augmenting human judgment than a replacement for it. The long-term vision is retail that feels increasingly seamless, adaptive, and personalized, powered by systems customers may never even notice are there.
"The real transformation in this all comes from continuous improvement," Murugan says. "It's about learning from the mistakes, quickly adapting to the newer technology standards that are coming into play, timing, and execution which compound into a meaningfully better customer experience."
This webcast is produced in partnership with Infosys.
This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. It was researched, designed, and written by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.
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