One signal

WHSmith is rolling out Wildix’s x-hoppers communications platform to more than 300 UK stores after a pilot at Manchester Piccadilly station. The retailer says its Heathrow Terminal 5 flagship is already live, with 32 priority locations in the initial rollout.

During the pilot, colleagues received more than 43,000 notifications, including customer requests sent by QR code directly to staff headsets. The platform also includes AI features for accessing store broadcasts and contacting colleagues, while managers get data insights on store activity, Retail Gazette reports. That makes this less about an AI assistant serving shoppers and more about using AI-enabled tools to coordinate frontline work. The retailer says the pilot helped staff respond more quickly, particularly during busy periods.

Discuss: Should retailers use AI-enabled tools to coordinate frontline staff, or is better staffing a more useful answer to customer-service delays?

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