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| Lotte Group Policy Coordination President Hwang Gak-gyu, left, shakes hands with IBM Cognitive Solutions General Manager Jay Bellissimo, after signing a business agreement at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Lotte Group |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Shoppers will soon be able to make better purchases at Lotte Department Store and Lotte's other affiliates with advice from an IBM Watson artificial intelligence (AI) system, according to Lotte Group Wednesday.
Korea's top retail company said it signed a contract with IBM Korea to provide customers with personalized services, credible information and professional advice through data analysis by Watson's cognitive computing technology.
A chatbot application based on Watson will analyze trends shown on news and social media, as well as customers' personal data, so customers do not need to search for products by themselves to make an optimal choice.
Lotte plans to make Watson interact with customers and to offer shopping information, as most offline store customers prefer to find the goods without the help of clerks.
According to Lotte, the artificial intelligence-based chatbot will also help customers find the nearest stores and receive purchased goods via online delivery services.
Lotte said it will use Watson to analyze market data and product information in confectionary and food businesses as well, especially when they develop new products.
The group said Lotte Data Communication Company will build a system to operate the AI-based platform and Lotte Members will analyze data.
Using the new IT system, Lotte aims to integrate its overall businesses within five years.
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