Do Exceptional Retail Experiences Actually Drive Profit?

Designed for retail leaders and lovers alike, Retail Refined explores the in-store technology of the future, challenges the industry’s preconceived notions, and brings together retail’s biggest names to understand the brand strategies that will define the next decade in retail.

 

Customer experience is a priority for any retail space. Understanding their behaviors and identifying opportunities helps brands maximize those experiences. Companies that do this take this spatial intelligence and can accurately attribute ROI to efforts. Discussing this technology innovation, Retail Refined host Melissa Gonzalez spoke with Ken Jackowitz, Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager of TideSmart. TideSmart is an experiential agency with expertise in designing wellness solutions, retail spaces, and experience analytics.

“The insights business focuses on space utilization and helping clients post-COVID think differently about space and maximize for the time of day or how people are behaving,” Jackowitz explained.

One of the biggest gaps in spatial marketing or merchandising is knowing the ROI. To understand this, you have to examine the behavior of the people as they come into contact with it.

“In traditional retail merchandising, what’s the value of the end cap? You don’t know how many people were looking at it but didn’t buy it. Was it the wrong product? Presentation? Spatial intelligence solutions close the gap.” – Ken Jackowitz

How this works without becoming a cost burden is by using the existing infrastructure of cameras. They can collect the data, which then gets uploaded to the cloud, where AI processes it.

One thing this can help with is grouping customers. “In a grocery store, there are traffic counters, but it’s not a one-to-one usually. There are families, and they are a grouping, which may change your staffing and inventory,” Jackowitz noted.

Another aspect of the technology is face-to-face AI. It’s like taking the recorded call center conversation to a live space. “The last mile is the conversation between two people. You can capture these key moments of truth and provide them in a dashboard to a customer. AI calls out areas of opportunity like retraining a subset of people,” Jackowitz shared.

Listen to Previous Episodes of Retail Refined Right Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

business
How Thoughtful Experience Design Leads to Better Business Outcomes
February 1, 2026

Salesforce gives organizations the ability to automate marketing, personalize outreach, and manage leads at scale—but those benefits only materialize when complex capabilities are implemented cohesively. Through its Salesforce Practice, CG Infinity brings together Marketing Cloud capabilities—including Email Studio, Automation Studio, and Journey Builder—alongside dynamic content, Cloud Pages, and third-party lead integrations. By designing these…

Read More
client
One Team, Shared Goals: Inside CG Infinity’s Client Philosophy
January 31, 2026

Successful Salesforce initiatives rely on alignment as much as technology. When partners stay focused on delivery rather than shared priorities, projects risk meeting technical requirements without achieving real business success. The strongest outcomes come from teams that treat client priorities as the foundation for every decision. That mindset defines how Meagan Diegelman, Principal at…

Read More
Salesforce
Salesforce Works Best When Informed Judgment Comes First
January 31, 2026

Salesforce can be a powerful growth platform, but its complexity can put inexperienced organizations at a disadvantage. Without strong in-house expertise, leaders may struggle to assess recommendations, push back on unnecessary scope, or determine whether proposed solutions truly support business outcomes. Over time, this can lead to overbuilt systems, excess cost, and decisions driven…

Read More
customer advocacy
How CG Infinity’s Focus on Customer Advocacy Drives Better Delivery Outcomes
January 31, 2026

Strong delivery starts with advocacy—making sure customer priorities are clearly represented, consistently elevated, and never lost as work moves forward. At CG Infinity, that advocacy shows up through proactive thinking, idea-sharing, and a commitment to pushing for better outcomes at every stage of an engagement. Customer voices remain front and center, shaping decisions and guiding…

Read More