Coca-Cola’s AI Just Solved Retailers’ Inventory Headache

Coca-Cola's artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Coke Buddy, has addressed a long-standing challenge in the retail industry: determining optimal stock levels and quantities to purchase. Coca-Cola's self-ordering platform, accessible via app, website or WhatsApp, offers personalized purchase suggestions, promotions, and order tracking to retailers.

One critical feature of Coke Buddy, Perfect Basket, employs Coca-Cola's Central Recommendation Engine to analyze historical orders, purchase frequency, seasonal demand, weather conditions, and purchasing trends among similar businesses. Using this data, Perfect Basket suggests specific products and quantities for each individual retail outlet.

Despite the AI-driven recommendations, retailers retain control over their final decisions. Patrick Go, commercial director for Malaysia and Brunei at Coca-Cola Bottlers Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, explained that Perfect Basket provides retailers with a practical starting point for their orders, helping them strike a balance between product selection, pack mix, and complementary items.

Perfect Basket's recommendations have been adopted by 83% of participating retailers in Malaysia, according to Coca-Cola. Additionally, retailers who followed the recommendations experienced stronger sales revenue growth during the campaign, although the company did not disclose the exact magnitude of the difference. Go noted that the high level of participation demonstrates retailers' openness to digital tools within Coke Buddy and that Coca-Cola plans to continue refining both Coke Buddy and Perfect Basket based on retailer feedback.