Artificial intelligence dominates corporate headlines, but independent shop owners are also using the technology to revolutionize their own operations. To uncover exactly how these small businesses are leveraging new tools, Shop Eat Surf Outdoor Editor-in-Chief Tiffany Montgomery hosted a webinar to gather insights from specialty retailers.
The panel featured a diverse group of industry veterans including Mark Moffett of Rooster Bus in Arizona, Josh Hansen of Hansen Surfboards in California, Laura “Lulu” Carson from Real Watersports in North Carolina, and Surf Expo Show Director Roy Turner.
For those wondering about the financial investment, the barrier to entry is surprisingly low. The retailers noted they typically spend around $25 to $100 per month on platforms like ChatGPT and Claude. Many also rely heavily on tools already built into e-commerce platforms like Shopify, keeping overhead costs minimal while drastically increasing productivity.
Find out more below and watch the full video replay of the webinar here.
Streamlining Ordering, Buying and Merchandising
When it comes to analyzing sales numbers and making buying decisions, the panel agreed that artificial intelligence is a massive asset. Hansen pulls raw reporting data out of his point-of-sale system and feeds it into ChatGPT. The tool quickly generates executive summaries detailing top growth brands, struggling categories, and current margins. It highlights trends that might otherwise go unnoticed during a busy work week.
Moffett takes a similar approach using Shopify’s built-in AI assistant, Sidekick. While at trade shows placing seasonal orders, he asks the software to calculate the exact sell-through rates of specific items. During one session, the tool revealed that large sizes of a popular shirt were selling out rapidly, indicating a missed sales opportunity. Armed with that data, his buying team adjusted their sizing scales immediately.
Roy Turner sees an opportunity to merge data with physical merchandising. He suggests taking a store blueprint and mapping sales data onto it. This strategy helps store owners identify high-traffic, highly profitable “hot spots” on the floor, allowing them to reposition merchandise to maximize inventory turnover.
Carson recently tested this by uploading a photograph of a Sun Bum sunscreen endcap into ChatGPT. The system immediately identified the products and offered detailed merchandising feedback, suggesting specific shelf placements for top sellers and advising on color distribution.
Upgrading Product Descriptions and E-Commerce
Managing an online storefront requires constant upkeep, but automation is cutting that workload down significantly. Lulu Carson uses ChatGPT to standardize product descriptions for her private-label items. By establishing a set format, she ensures that information looks uniform across the entire website. She also uses the software to quickly format and clean up lengthy descriptions provided by external vendors.
Moffett’s team built a custom image processor that prepares vendor photos for the web. The system automatically wipes metadata, adjusts the file to the correct size, and removes distracting backgrounds. The impact on his team’s efficiency has been profound.
“What was about a 40-hour week job on heavy weeks is about 15 hours,” Moffett said.
Managing Operations and Staffing
Retail operations generate a staggering amount of data. Decoding that information used to require specialized staff, but technology has leveled the playing field for independent shops.
Hansen frequently asks AI to benchmark his payroll and inventory metrics against industry standards. He also uses it to summarize complex compliance updates, such as new ADA laws.
“Now, we have that powerful data analyst right there at our fingertips,” Hansen said.
Turner suggested using basic door-counter data to optimize payroll expenses. By analyzing when customers actually enter the building, managers can ensure their strongest sales associates are scheduled precisely when foot traffic peaks.
Executing Creative Marketing Campaigns
Moffett took his marketing strategy a step further by creating a virtual “chief marketing officer” persona. His store managers fill out a brief weekly questionnaire about what products are selling and what customers are asking for. That information is fed directly to the AI, which then determines the best email marketing flow and social media posting schedule for the upcoming week.
Accelerating Private Label Development
Developing private label products offers high profit margins, but the creative process often stalls out. Moffett shared a success story involving a novelty item his team wanted to source directly from overseas. They found a banana-shaped flask from a supplier but needed a brand identity.
He prompted his AI to create a tongue-in-cheek concept. The software named the product “Slippery Sips,” designed the branding, and even generated the precise packaging measurements required by the overseas factory. The boxed item landed for about $2.10 and retails for $28.
For a newer private label apparel brand that he created called Palma, his team used AI to generate vintage-inspired graphic designs that are currently printed on products and selling in-store.
Improving Internal Communications
Keeping a large retail staff informed and educated about new products is a constant challenge. Instead of writing lengthy emails from scratch, Carson drops vendor website links into her chat platform and asks it to generate concise, bulleted summaries. The software instantly highlights the key selling points of the new merchandise, creating an easily digestible email that she can forward to the sales floor.
Moffett uses a unique approach for customer service. To ensure all outgoing customer service emails match his brand’s specific tone, he runs customer inquiries through an AI filter. The software drafts a response in the persona of a “60-year-old man from Austin,” ensuring the brand voice remains consistent regardless of which employee is handling the inbox.
Hansen even uses the technology for self-improvement. One of his staff members recorded a meeting he led and asked AI to critique his management style. For Hansen, the feedback was brutally honest, unbiased, and helpful for his professional development, he said.
The Q&A
Is it secure to put store data into an AI platform?
Retailers must be cautious about data privacy. The panelists agreed that you should never upload sensitive customer information or identifying financial data into a public tool. However, using platforms built directly into your secure e-commerce system, like Shopify’s Sidekick, keeps your proprietary data safely within your own network.
How do I integrate AI into my current Point of Sale system?
Many modern POS and e-commerce platforms are rolling out native artificial intelligence features. If your current software does not offer these tools, you can export reports as PDFs or Excel spreadsheets. You can then upload those specific files into a separate platform to run your analysis.
The overwhelming consensus from the panel is that independent retailers cannot afford to ignore this technology. You do not need to overhaul your entire business model overnight. Start by targeting your most repetitive tasks, like writing product descriptions or formatting vendor emails. As you grow more comfortable with the prompts, you can expand into complex data analysis and marketing strategy.
To hear the full discussion and learn exactly how these specialty retailers are prompting their software, watch the full video replay of the SESO webinar.
