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Important
The 2025 release wave 1 plan covers all new functionalities planned to be delivered to market from April 2025 to September 2025. In this article, you'll find the product overview and what's new and planned for Microsoft Cloud for Retail.
Overview
The retail industry is undergoing significant transformations driven by advancements in data and AI technologies. In the retail sector, predictive AI continues to be widely adopted for traditional workloads. However, generative AI is emerging as a transformative technology, enhancing customer experiences through multimodal shopping advisors, personalized product recommendations, and adaptive advertising. In line with these trends, we are doubling down on our investments in generative AI-based copilot solutions for personalized shopping and store operations.
Despite the increased adoption of AI, challenges such as data silos and concerns about data privacy and protection remain major barriers. To address these issues, teams across the retail industry are making concerted investments in security-related features.
Investment areas
Personalized Shopping Agent
Consumers often start shopping without a specific sense of what they want. Often, they browse and browse without seeing the right item, or without having confidence in it. The advent of large language models is changing that. Now shoppers can interact with a copilot who plays the role of an expert shopping assistant. It will help them find and buy exactly what they want. The Personalized Shopping Agent lets any retailer easily add this conversational shopping experience to their website, mobile app, or in-store kiosk. It is a complete solution that can be deployed by retailers with limited AI expertise. It can also be the starting place for a more tailored solution. It connects to existing item catalogs and troves of media. It can be configured to represent each retailer’s tone and brand values.
Store Operations Agent
Retail workforce management aims to enhance store operations and improve customer experience. The features under this workstream provide store associates with insights, information, and tools to manage store tasks and customer interactions more efficiently. Additionally, AI-enabled data-driven insights help managers monitor operations, ensure compliance with HQ standards, and improve overall store efficiency. These features help create a seamless and productive environment for both store employees and customers.
To learn more about the entire set of capabilities being delivered during this release wave, check out the release plan for Microsoft Cloud for Retail below: