I remember being a 7-year-old, eagerly awaiting the end of the school day to join my father at work. He was a pioneering entrepreneur in Uruguay and my greatest mentor, developing vending machines that helped brands adapt to evolving consumer behavior.

In 2024, the retail industry is once again in need of a modern approach to meet consumer demand. That’s why I created Boxes, to help retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies better engage consumers within brick-and-mortar locations by bringing products closer to them and tapping into new markets.

At Boxes, we believe this can be accomplished by offering an easily deployable device that helps brands dispense samples, track consumer demand, gather insights and generate buyer-ready reports.

Today, our team, based in Houston, Texas and Uruguay, is thrilled to announce the integration of IBM watsonx™ Assistant into our platform. This addition enhances the retail insights experience by personalizing it. With watsonx Assistant now integrated, consumers can effortlessly ask questions about brands or products and even sample new products through our devices.

AI optimizes retail touchpoints

We’ve discovered that effective feedback is essential for brand success. However, many brands struggle to collect this vital information through product sampling and marketing initiatives.

To address this challenge, clients currently use smart devices from Boxes, which are roughly the size of a 40-inch TV, in their retail shops, universities, sports stadiums, airports and other high-consumer foot-traffic locations. These devices offer another engagement touchpoint, enabling brands to directly capture and relay consumer feedback. They deliver a personalized and immersive shopping and sampling experience enriched with gamification, dynamic surveys and digital discount coupons.

We achieved notable success, including a collaboration with a global CPG company to offer customers an immersive shopping experience through a retail device developed by Boxes. Also, we installed the device at a professional baseball game for consumer interaction. It provides rapid feedback that helps brands refine their engagement strategies, ultimately increasing conversion rates in physical stores and e-commerce.

How AI can further personalize the future of retail

In the era of generative AI, retailers and CPG companies can deliver outstanding experiences across multiple channels, including in-store, mobile and web, by improving their chatbot capabilities with watsonx Assistant.

Collaborating with IBM and receiving assistance from technical experts in the IBM Ecosystem Engineering team helped us quickly integrate watsonx Assistant into the Boxes platform. We are excited about the support, resources and benefits we receive as an IBM Business Partner®.