Top 10 AI Prompts and Use Cases and in the Retail Industry in Indianapolis
Last Updated: August 19th 2025

Too Long; Didn't Read:
Indianapolis retailers can pilot 10 AI use cases - recommendations, chatbots, visual search, dynamic pricing, forecasting, robotics, loss prevention, content generation, labor planning, and agentic commerce - to boost conversion ~15–30%, cut stockouts ~35%, reduce carrying costs up to ~30%, and potentially 2.3x sales and 2.5x profits.
Indianapolis retailers face a moment of choice: adopt AI to compete on personalization, fulfillment speed, and inventory accuracy, or risk losing market share as digital-first competitors reshape shopper expectations; national analyses show AI-driven sellers can see dramatic gains - Nationwide reports adopters enjoyed roughly a 2.3x sales lift and 2.5x profit boost - and Insider's roundup of the “10 breakthrough trends” for 2025 highlights agents, visual search, and demand forecasting as immediate wins for local stores.
Practical pilots in Indy - documented in local Indianapolis AI retail case studies with measurable ROI - show measurable ROI from targeted inventory and loss-prevention projects, so the actionable step for store owners is clear: test small, measure stockouts and conversion lifts, then scale.
Program | AI Essentials for Work - Key details |
---|---|
Length | 15 Weeks |
Focus | Practical AI skills, prompt writing, workplace applications |
Cost (early bird) | $3,582; later $3,942; 18 monthly payments |
Syllabus / Register | AI Essentials for Work syllabus and course overview • Register for the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp |
“AI shopping assistants ... replacing friction with seamless, personalized assistance.” - Jason Goldberg, Publicis
Table of Contents
- Methodology: How we picked prompts and use cases
- Hyper-personalized product discovery - Prompt and use case
- Conversational AI shopping assistants - Prompt and use case (e.g., ChatGPT/Sendbird integration)
- Multimodal search & visual discovery - Prompt and use case (e.g., Amazon/Warby Parker-like)
- Dynamic pricing & promotion optimization - Prompt and use case (e.g., simulation prompt)
- Demand forecasting & inventory optimization - Prompt and use case (Onebridge example)
- Warehouse automation & fulfillment robotics - Prompt and use case (e.g., Lowe's/Alibaba examples)
- Loss prevention & CV-based shrink reduction - Prompt and use case (CCTV and self-checkout)
- Generative product content & automated attributes - Prompt and use case (SEO and local content)
- AI-powered labor planning - Prompt and use case (Memorial Day staffing)
- Agentic commerce & payments integration - Prompt and use case (Buy for Me agents)
- Conclusion: Next steps for Indianapolis retailers
- Frequently Asked Questions
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Methodology: How we picked prompts and use cases
(Up)Methodology focused on three practical lenses for Indianapolis retailers: measurable impact, operational readiness, and low-barrier execution. First, selected prompts with documented outcomes in retail - for example, AI chatbots raised Black Friday conversions by ~15% in broader retail benchmarks - so use cases prioritized conversion, basket size, or stockout reduction as core KPIs (Mezzi AI adoption trends 2025 retail benchmarks).
Second, evaluated readiness along CB Insights' execution vs. innovation framework (does the retailer have the data, partnerships, or foundation to scale?), which steered choices toward solutions that map to both merchant workflows and vendor partnerships (CB Insights retail AI readiness report).
Third, accounted for local feasibility: prompts emphasize off-the-shelf models, clear KPIs, and staff-friendly workflows because industry surveys flag skills and leadership gaps as principal barriers; local pilots in Indianapolis that show measurable ROI helped validate use-case selection (Indianapolis retail AI case studies and pilot results).
The result: a ranked set of prompts that trade novelty for repeatable impact, with every entry tied to a specific metric retailers can track within a pilot window.
Criterion | Why it mattered / Evidence |
---|---|
Measured impact | Conversion & basket KPIs prioritized (chatbots: ~15% uplift) - Mezzi |
Readiness to scale | Execution vs. innovation scoring - CB Insights |
Local feasibility | Validated by Indianapolis pilot case studies showing measurable ROI - Nucamp |
“Organizations need to first sit down, establish realistic goals, and evaluate where AI can support their people and how it can be incorporated into their business objectives.” - Max Belov, CTO at Coherent Solutions
Hyper-personalized product discovery - Prompt and use case
(Up)Hyper-personalized product discovery turns first-party signals (browsing, purchase history, loyalty tier, location) into real‑time recommendations that meet shoppers where they are: on the product page, in-cart, or in post-purchase messages.
A practical prompt for Indianapolis retailers looks like this: “Recommend three Indy‑made gifts under $50 for a loyalty Gold member who viewed home goods in the last 7 days and is within 5 miles of my store,” which can be executed using a recommendation engine and Shopify's Product Recommendations API that “embeds predictive logic on product pages, in‑cart, and inside post‑purchase emails.” Use case: surface those local, in‑stock items across the PDP, cart pods, and a triggered in‑app geofenced push (Shopify examples show geofencing triggers within a 5‑mile radius), then A/B test against generic pods; track conversion lift, average order value, and repeat-purchase rate - industry benchmarks show highly personalized interactions can lift conversion by ~30% and top performers drive roughly ~40% more revenue from personalization.
Begin with a narrow pilot (local SKUs + loyalty segment) and iterate; Indianapolis pilots already demonstrate measurable ROI from targeted AI pilots that combine recommendations with inventory and loss‑prevention signals.
“A strong data strategy will distinguish industry leaders from followers.” - Snowflake (quoted in Idomoo)
Conversational AI shopping assistants - Prompt and use case (e.g., ChatGPT/Sendbird integration)
(Up)Conversational AI shopping assistants let Indianapolis retailers deliver the in-store concierge across app, web, SMS, and social channels - reducing friction for BOPIS and curbside shoppers and turning routine queries into measurable lift.
A practical prompt for a local pilot: “Act as an Indianapolis store assistant - greet the customer, confirm nearest store, check SKU availability and loyalty discounts from our CRM, suggest same-day pickup windows, and escalate to a human agent if the customer requests returns or complex troubleshooting.” Implementing a ChatGPT-powered bot via the Sendbird AI agent platform streamlines continuous context and omnichannel handoffs, connects to knowledge bases like Salesforce or Zendesk for accurate answers, and frees associates to handle high-value exceptions; pilot metrics to track are resolution time, CSAT, and conversion on assisted sessions.
For implementation details, see the Sendbird AI Agent overview, the Sendbird AI integrations guide, and Indianapolis retail AI case studies that validate pilot ROI.
Integration | Primary purpose |
---|---|
Sendbird AI Agent Salesforce integration for CRM and knowledge management | Agent handoff, knowledge management |
Sendbird AI Agent Zendesk integration for ticketing and handoff | Centralize tickets, seamless AI→human handoff |
Sendbird AI Agent Google Drive and Notion integration for up-to-date knowledge training | Train agent with up‑to‑date knowledge |
Indianapolis retail AI pilot case studies and measurable ROI | Validate pilot KPIs and ROI |
“Let your AI customer service agent pick up the conversation exactly where your customer left off, on any channel.”
Multimodal search & visual discovery - Prompt and use case (e.g., Amazon/Warby Parker-like)
(Up)Multimodal search and visual discovery turn a shopper's camera roll into a high-converting storefront: an Indianapolis use case could prompt, “Find items visually similar to this photo, filter to in‑stock items within 10 miles of 46204, show sizes, price, and same‑day pickup windows,” then surface matches on the PDP, SMS, or in‑app map so local shoppers complete purchases the same day.
Proven patterns from enterprise write‑ups show multimodal systems index images, video, and text into a shared embedding space to enable text→image or image→text queries with fast, business‑grade relevance - Google's Vertex AI demo indexed 5.8M item images and returns visual matches in tens of milliseconds - and platforms and tutorials (see Aperture Data multimodal AI use cases for retail, Google Cloud Vertex AI multimodal demo and benchmark, Amazon OpenSearch multimodal search tutorial) demonstrate how to generate and store embeddings for retail catalogs.
The payoff is tangible: one multimodal provider reported a 5x conversion rate versus standard search, so a small Indy pilot that connects photos to real‑time inventory and pickup slots can turn window shoppers into same‑day buyers while trimming returns from mis‑matched expectations.
Aperture Data multimodal AI use cases for retail, Google Cloud Vertex AI multimodal demo and benchmark, Amazon OpenSearch multimodal search tutorial.
Metric | Example / Source |
---|---|
Demo scale | 5.8M images indexed (Vertex AI demo) |
Latency | Search results in tens of milliseconds (Google Cloud) |
Reported uplift | ~5× conversion vs. standard e‑commerce (industry provider) |
Dynamic pricing & promotion optimization - Prompt and use case (e.g., simulation prompt)
(Up)Dynamic pricing and targeted promotions turn predictable weekday lulls into revenue opportunities and help control peak‑day crowds - a practical Indianapolis example: the State of Indiana's entertainment discounts show the Indianapolis Zoo listing adult online prices at $10.75 (Jan.
6–Mar. 21, 2025) versus $21.75 in peak season (Mar. 22, 2025–Jan. 4, 2026), a near‑2× swing operators can simulate and exploit for off‑peak demand. Start small: use a simulation prompt such as “Simulate an 8‑week weekday/weekend pricing test for SKU/attraction X with min price $10.75 and max price $21.75; forecast weekly revenue, expected weekday attendance lift, and recommended promo windows to shift 10–20% of weekend demand to weekdays,” then run the scenario against historical traffic and inventory.
Follow proven setup steps - set min/max per product and per day, monitor next‑unit price visibility, and measure bookings and CSAT - a playbook described by dynamic‑pricing vendors and pilots that show large upside (early adopters nearly doubled bookings in ResortPass examples).
Use the simulation to balance revenue gains with transparency so customers understand why prices change and to avoid surprise resentment.
Example / Metric | Source data |
---|---|
Indy Zoo low vs. peak adult price (2025) | $10.75 (Jan 6–Mar 21) → $21.75 (Mar 22–Jan 4) - Indiana State Employee Discounts - Entertainment Discounts (Indianapolis Zoo pricing) |
ResortPass early adopter uplift | Miami hotel gross monthly sales: $37,872 → $69,558 after enabling dynamic pricing - ResortPass dynamic pricing case study and results |
Practical setup | Set per‑product min/max by day; first unit = min, last unit = max (Partner portal flow) |
“The significant advantage this model offers to visitors is to save money by purchasing further in advance and [visiting] during the week.” - Karen Burns, Indianapolis Zoo
Demand forecasting & inventory optimization - Prompt and use case (Onebridge example)
(Up)Turn Indianapolis's seasonal swings and logistics advantage into predictable inventory: run an AI prompt that ingests 12–24 months of POS, local-event calendars, and 3PL lead‑time feeds and returns SKU‑level 8‑week forecasts, safety‑stock recommendations, and recommended POs to hit a target service level while minimizing carrying cost - then test via a tight pilot across a few downtown and suburban stores.
Local logistics write‑ups emphasize real‑time tracking and warehouse integration for Indiana operations (MyShyft Indianapolis inventory management overview), while industry studies show AI demand sensing can boost forecast accuracy by 10–20 percentage points and unlock cross‑functional decisions that reduce overstock and waste (Retail TouchPoints: AI demand forecasting improvements).
Use an AI inventory optimizer to run what‑if PO scenarios and allocation across 3PL nodes - vendors report outcomes like $1.2M dead‑inventory reductions in months and 35% fewer stockouts for early adopters - so the practical “so what?” is clear: better forecasts free cash, shrink carrying costs (local reports cite up to ~30%), and turn Indy's distribution strengths into on‑shelf availability and fewer delayed orders (ConverSight inventory optimization solutions).
Metric | Source / Result |
---|---|
Forecast accuracy uplift | ~10–20 percentage points - Retail TouchPoints |
Carrying cost reduction | Up to ~30% reported for Indianapolis deployments - MyShyft |
Example vendor outcomes | $1.2M dead inventory reduced; 35% fewer stockouts - ConverSight |
“Demand is typically the most important piece of input that goes into the operations of a company.” - Rupal Deshmukh
Warehouse automation & fulfillment robotics - Prompt and use case (e.g., Lowe's/Alibaba examples)
(Up)Warehouse automation and fulfillment robotics turn Indianapolis distribution centers from choke points into scalable throughput engines: run a practical pilot prompt such as “Model AMR + goods‑to‑person deployment at a 50,000‑sq‑ft Indy DC using 12 months of POS and labor data - forecast pick accuracy, cycle‑count throughput, travel‑time reduction, and months‑to‑ROI,” then measure pick error, labor hours saved, and inventory visibility as your core KPIs.
Industry reports show robotics can boost productivity 25–70% and slash picking errors (up to ~70%), while real‑time inventory scanning enables rapid, actionable stock insights - Dexory's platform can scan up to 10,000 pallet locations per hour - so the “so what” is tangible: faster same‑day fulfillment, fewer stockouts, and payback windows that enterprise deployers report hitting in roughly 18–24 months.
For vendor case studies and implementation patterns, see Element Logic's overview of AI robotics in warehouses and Dexory's inventory‑automation outcomes, and validate locally with Indianapolis pilot playbooks and ROI examples.
Metric | Reported outcome / Source |
---|---|
Productivity uplift | 25–70% (robotics & automation) - Addverb |
Picking error reduction | Up to ~70% - Element Logic |
Inventory scan rate | Up to 10,000 pallet locations/hour - Dexory |
Typical ROI timeline | Recoup investment in ~18–24 months - Element Logic |
“Accuracy is incredibly important,” Maria emphasised during the webinar.
Loss prevention & CV-based shrink reduction - Prompt and use case (CCTV and self-checkout)
(Up)Self‑checkout lanes are a fast‑growing shrink hotspot - organized shoplifting and scan avoidance surged in recent years - so Indianapolis grocers can use a focused computer‑vision + POS analytics pilot to reclaim margin: deploy an edge‑running CV engine that performs item‑level recognition, matches the camera's visual classification to the scanned barcode in real time, prompts customers to confirm mismatches, and sends a staff alert only when visual validation and POS counts disagree; vendors like Shopic Vision‑Powered Loss Prevention describe item‑level matching and edge inference to cut false alarms, while POS‑camera integrations outline the detection→alert workflow that stops mis‑scans before the transaction completes in a POS analytics and computer vision overview.
Run a 60‑day pilot on 2–4 self‑checkout lanes, track shrink, false‑alert rate, staff interventions, and CSAT; real‑world AI surveillance pilots report measurable shrink drops (one provider cites ~30% reduction) and faster, less intrusive interventions - so the concrete payoff for Indy stores is fewer lost units and a cleaner checkout experience with limited infrastructure spend, as shown in an AI video surveillance impact case summary.
Metric | Reported result / source |
---|---|
Increase in shoplifting incidents (2019–2023) | +93% - New Hope Network |
Shrink reduction from AI surveillance pilots | ~30% reduction within first year - Pavion case summary |
Edge item‑level visual + barcode matching | Real‑time validation, fewer false alerts - Shopic |
“AI is giving grocers new vision - literally and strategically.” - Donnafay MacDonald, Info‑Tech Research Group
Generative product content & automated attributes - Prompt and use case (SEO and local content)
(Up)Generative product content turns raw SKUs into search‑ready listings that drive local discovery: prompt an LLM or enrichment tool to “produce an SEO‑optimized product title, five benefit‑led bullets, meta description, schema markup, five alt texts, and localized attributes (store availability, same‑day pickup windows, neighborhood keywords like Broad Ripple or 46204, and Google Business Profile copy)” so each item surfaces in Indianapolis searches and maps; platforms that automate this (for example, Cension AI data enrichment and SEO product content) can fill missing attributes at scale while keeping copy consistent with product‑title best practices (product title optimization tactics).
Local SEO fundamentals matter here: optimize GBP citations and on‑page local keywords because over 50% of queries have a local intent and 86% of customers rely on Google Maps - putting accurate, richly tagged product pages and local pickup details into the crawlable web can turn a SKU into a same‑day store visit (76% of local smartphone searchers visit within 24 hours).
Use case: run a 30‑SKU pilot that enriches titles, meta tags, and schema, push updates to the CMS and Google Business Profile, then measure local impressions, map pack entries, and in‑store pickup conversions to prove lift.
ID | Status | Brand | Title | Meta Title | Meta Desc |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
001 | Done | Nike | Air Max 270 React | Nike Air Max 270 React - Ultimate Comfort Sneakers | Shop Nike Air Max 270 React for revolutionary cushioning and modern design. Free shipping on orders over $50. |
002 | Partially done | Adidas | Ultraboost 22 | Empty | Empty |
003 | Partially done | Apple | iPhone 15 Pro | Empty | Empty |
“Cannot tell you enough what a good decision it was to hire EverEffect. It is really nice knowing that I've got a person to contact, a human being that I can communicate with at one second's notice and they'll be right back with me. EverEffect has done a great job with our marketing. I couldn't recommend them any more than I am right now, they're tremendous.” - Chris Rhoads, Partner
AI-powered labor planning - Prompt and use case (Memorial Day staffing)
(Up)Plan Memorial Day staffing in Indianapolis with a tight, testable AI prompt:
Ingest three years of POS and foot‑traffic data, local events calendar, weather forecasts, and planned promotions for all Indy stores; produce an hourly demand forecast for Memorial Day weekend, recommended headcount by role, overtime risk, temp‑hire recommendations, and a labor‑on‑demand fill plan with suggested shift windows.
Running that prompt through an AI forecasting tools for retail labor scheduling reveals when to staff registers, curbside, and stock rooms rather than guessing; tie outputs to an AI-driven labor-on-demand platform for retail labor demand planning to convert recommendations into vetted shift hires, and feed schedules into an AI-powered retail workforce scheduling system to balance preferences and compliance.
The practical payoff: a Memorial Day pilot that replaces last‑minute overtime with matched temp shifts reduces cost volatility and keeps checkout lines short - benchmarks show measurable productivity and cost gains when forecasting and on‑demand staffing are combined.
Metric | Reported result / source |
---|---|
Productivity gains | 5–20% - Tompkins Ventures |
Labor cost reduction (typical) | 3–5% - MyShyft |
Forecast accuracy uplift | ~10–20 percentage points - Retail TouchPoints |
Agentic commerce & payments integration - Prompt and use case (Buy for Me agents)
(Up)Agentic “Buy for Me” flows promise friction‑free, same‑day conversions for Indianapolis shoppers but demand a tightly governed payment and trust stack to avoid fraud and margin erosion; practical pilots should use a short, testable prompt such as “Act as a Buy‑for‑Me agent for Indy stores: prioritize in‑stock local pickup, use tokenized credentials, keep daily spend ≤$150, require explicit owner approval for purchases >$50, log every action to an auditable trail,” then enforce cryptographic agent identity and adaptive permissions at the gateway.
Build that pilot atop proven guardrails - real‑time agent visibility and policy enforcement as described in HUMAN's agentic commerce guidance, merchant risk models and mitigation playbooks from Riskified, and tokenization to solve the “last mile” of autonomous payments described by VGS - so the “so what?” is concrete: a controlled Buy‑for‑Me pilot lets Indy merchants capture new agentic revenue without surrendering checkout control or exploding chargebacks, while buying time to evaluate longer‑term integrations with network token flows and agent attestations.
“LLM‑referred traffic is riskier for some industries than other kinds of traffic.” - Nic Adams
Conclusion: Next steps for Indianapolis retailers
(Up)Next steps for Indianapolis retailers: stop treating AI as theoretical and run short, measurable pilots focused on one clear KPI (conversion, stockouts, or labor cost) while building staff capability and governance so wins scale safely - start small, measure, then iterate.
Local pilots already show measurable ROI, and national research reinforces the playbook: begin with targeted tests, invest in workforce literacy, and set data and fairness rules before wide rollout (Building Indiana AI disruption analysis).
Plan hires and enablement - the EPAM retail report notes broad hiring intent with 96% of retail/CPG firms planning AI roles in 2025 - then partner with proven local vendors and training paths; for example, consider short courses that teach prompt strategy and operational AI use cases to reduce implementation risk (AI Essentials for Work registration and syllabus).
A focused 60–90 day pilot plus deliberate upskilling converts uncertainty into measurable improvement and a repeatable scaling path (EPAM AI adoption findings).
Program | Length | Early bird cost |
---|---|---|
AI Essentials for Work | 15 Weeks | $3,582 (AI Essentials for Work syllabus) |
“AI shopping assistants ... replacing friction with seamless, personalized assistance.” - Jason Goldberg
Frequently Asked Questions
(Up)What are the highest‑impact AI use cases Indianapolis retailers should pilot first?
Begin with short pilots that tie to one clear KPI. Top priorities for Indy retailers are: 1) hyper‑personalized product recommendations (conversion and AOV uplift), 2) conversational AI shopping assistants for omnichannel BOPIS and curbside (resolution time, CSAT, assisted conversion), 3) demand forecasting and inventory optimization (forecast accuracy, stockouts, carrying cost), 4) loss prevention with edge computer‑vision at self‑checkout (shrink reduction, false‑alert rate), and 5) dynamic pricing/promotions (revenue and demand shift). Local pilots have shown measurable ROI when scoped narrowly and measured over 60–90 days.
How should a small Indianapolis store structure an AI pilot to get measurable results?
Scope a narrow, time‑boxed pilot (60–90 days) with a single hypothesis and KPI (e.g., reduce stockouts by X% or increase conversion by Y%). Use off‑the‑shelf models/APIs and focus on local data (first‑party browsing, POS, loyalty, nearby inventory). Example steps: define metric and baseline, run the prompt/use case on a small SKU set or a few lanes/stores, instrument measurement (A/B test or pre/post), collect results, iterate, then scale. The article emphasizes measurable impact, readiness to scale, and local feasibility as selection criteria.
What concrete prompts or examples can Indy retailers use for key use cases?
Examples from the article: 1) Recommendations: “Recommend three Indy‑made gifts under $50 for a loyalty Gold member who viewed home goods in the last 7 days and is within 5 miles of my store.” Track conversion, AOV, repeat rate. 2) Conversational assistant: “Act as an Indianapolis store assistant - greet the customer, confirm nearest store, check SKU availability and loyalty discounts from our CRM, suggest same‑day pickup windows, and escalate to a human agent if needed.” Track CSAT and assisted conversion. 3) Multimodal search: “Find items visually similar to this photo, filter to in‑stock items within 10 miles of 46204, show sizes, price, and same‑day pickup windows.” 4) Demand forecast prompt: ingest 12–24 months POS, local events, and 3PL lead times, return SKU‑level 8‑week forecasts and PO suggestions. 5) Loss prevention: edge CV that matches item recognition to scanned barcodes and alerts staff on mismatches.
What metrics and benchmarks should retailers track to evaluate pilot success?
Track KPIs tied to the use case: personalization and recommender pilots - conversion lift, average order value, repeat purchase rate (benchmarks: personalization can lift conversion ~30% with top performers higher); conversational assistants - resolution time, CSAT, assisted session conversion; demand forecasting - forecast accuracy (+10–20 percentage points possible), stockouts reduction, carrying cost decrease; loss prevention - shrink reduction (some pilots report ~30%), false‑alert rate; multimodal search - conversion uplift (some providers report ~5× vs standard search). Also track pilot ROI, time‑to‑value, and staff time saved for operational cases.
What operational and governance considerations should Indianapolis merchants address before scaling AI?
Ensure data readiness (first‑party signals, POS, inventory feeds), clear pilot KPIs, and simple staff workflows. Build governance: model and agent guardrails, payment/tokenization rules for agentic commerce, human escalation paths for conversational agents, and transparency around dynamic pricing. Invest in workforce literacy (short courses on prompt strategy and operational AI), vendor validation, and phased rollouts. The article recommends starting small, measuring, then scaling while documenting ROI and enforcing fairness/security rules.
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Ludo Fourrage
Founder and CEO
Ludovic (Ludo) Fourrage is an education industry veteran, named in 2017 as a Learning Technology Leader by Training Magazine. Before founding Nucamp, Ludo spent 18 years at Microsoft where he led innovation in the learning space. As the Senior Director of Digital Learning at this same company, Ludo led the development of the first of its kind 'YouTube for the Enterprise'. More recently, he delivered one of the most successful Corporate MOOC programs in partnership with top business schools and consulting organizations, i.e. INSEAD, Wharton, London Business School, and Accenture, to name a few. With the belief that the right education for everyone is an achievable goal, Ludo leads the nucamp team in the quest to make quality education accessible