What a 20-Year Fashion Retail Veteran Taught Me About AI

Today, I had a conversation with someone who’s been in the fashion retail business for over 20 decades — a real visionary and retail expert. We talked about AI, and one line stuck with me:

AI shouldn’t replace human instinct on the floor. It should learn from it.

That one sentence made me rethink on how I look at the growing wave of local LLM models showing up in retail. These aren’t generic bots pulled from the cloud — they’re trained on hyperlocal data, from product descriptions to cultural preferences to how people actually shop in that specific environment.

We discussed a use case where store associates carry a tablet connected to a local LLM trained on real-time data like POS logs, Customer behaviour and sentiment, product availability, and even staff actions. When a shopper walks in, the assistant quietly suggests the right greeting, what to show them, and how to guide the interaction based on not only what was bought last time, but how the customer behaved and what the associate chose to do in previous interactions. Ofcourse the data points for this would be immense and details from previous interactions, but if you are a VVIP/HNW customer it would be worth it. 

And the key to this customization is that final decisions are always left to the human. The AI learns from that. Over time, the model doesn’t just get sharper, it also starts to absorb local retail DNA. The way a stylist in Dubai recommends a dress is different from how someone in Vancouver does it. That difference matters and thats where local LLMs preserve that flavour.

This isn’t about automation. It’s local intelligence giving staff a smarter, faster, culturally aware information that reflects the value of the brand and the art of retail. 

We’re not replacing human intelligence. We’re codifying it.

Let’s explore how to turn your frontline staff into AI-augmented superstars — without losing the human touch.

Drop me a message or comment below. I’m happy to brainstorm use cases or discuss what’s possible.

#RetailAI #LocalLLM #DataToAI #HumanInTheLoop #FashionTech #CustomerExperience #Dattanx #MulberryAnalytics