Lee Eun-gwan (left), head of BGF Retail's CX division, and Baek Seung-guk, CEO of Intellicia, pose for a photo at the MOU signing ceremony held Tuesday at BGF Retail's headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [BGF Retail]
Lee Eun-gwan (left), head of BGF Retail's CX division, and Baek Seung-guk, CEO of Intellicia, pose for a photo at the MOU signing ceremony held Tuesday at BGF Retail's headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [BGF Retail]

BGF Retail, the operator of convenience store chain CU, said Wednesday it has signed a strategic MOU with Intellicia, an AI synthetic consumer technology startup, to drive retail innovation.

The signing ceremony was held Tuesday at BGF Retail's headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with key officials in attendance, including BGF Retail's CX division head Lee Eun-gwan and big data team leader Kim Hyeong-jun, along with Intellicia CEO Baek Seung-guk and director Im Gyeong-eop.

The partnership centers on using AI synthetic consumer technology and a store digital twin solution called ParaStore to sharpen consumer insights and apply them across product planning and store operations. To that end, the two companies agreed to collaborate on product planning and consumer response prediction using AI synthetic consumers, product display and merchandising simulations based on an AI store digital twin, and the development of an AI-driven data decision-making framework.

AI synthetic consumer technology generates millions of virtual consumer models without conducting actual consumer surveys, allowing AI to predict responses to new products, prices and promotions. Before launching a dosirak or dessert product, for example, the AI analyzes purchase intent and preferences as a real consumer would. The technology can cut the research period to three to five days while reducing costs.

The two companies have been running a joint proof-of-concept project focused on convenience store dosirak products since May, verifying the technology's applicability in real operations. The AI synthetic consumer analyzed the criteria consumers use to weigh taste against health, offering new directions applicable to dosirak product composition and menu development.

The companies also plan to use Intellicia's digital twin solution, ParaStore, to recreate actual CU stores in a virtual environment and apply the results to product display layouts, customer traffic flow and merchandising configurations.

"Through AI, we will achieve digital innovation that goes beyond analyzing customers' past consumption patterns to predicting the experiences future customers will want," said Lee Eun-gwan, head of BGF Retail's CX division. "We will create a new retail experience that delivers personalized products and services."


spa@heraldcorp.com