Short Description

Utilizing advanced technologies and focusing on customer experience, CRAFTER is setting new standards in the home projects sector. This study covers all aspects of the company’s business, from its corporate culture to the implementation of artificial intelligence in optimizing customer experience and operational efficiency.

City: Beograd
Website: https://www.crafter.rs/
Sector: Construction
Activity: Retail of tools and materials

Company Portrait

Every innovation begins with a simple question: “How can it be better?” CRAFTER emerged as an answer to this question in the context of home projects. Founded in 2020 as a startup, the company quickly advanced in collaboration with well-known brands such as Wurth and Tehnomanija. The company’s mission isn’t just to provide top-quality materials and tools, but to enrich the entire home project experience.

CRAFTER’s retail space spans over 10,000 square meters and serves as a home for more than 50,000 carefully selected products. What sets the company apart from the competition is its diverse range of services that provide complete support for every project, from idea to realization.

The expert team at CRAFTER is there to offer clients not just materials, but also expert advice, planning, and technical support. CRAFTER has meticulously designed every segment of its store to make the shopping experience as efficient and enjoyable as possible. Signposts are placed to guide customers through different categories of products and services. For the youngest visitors, there is a specially designed children’s corner. Tool rental service is also available for those in need.

Additional services include 3D design and planning of kitchens and bathrooms, color mixing, personalized printing on work equipment, and many others.

CRAFTER’s clientele is diverse, from professional craftsmen and artisans to amateurs passionate about home projects. All have found in CRAFTER a partner capable of providing more than materials—expert advice and support.

With its approach that includes free parking and flexible working hours aligned with customer needs, CRAFTER not only positions itself as a leader in the home projects sector but also as a company deeply rooted in the everyday lives of its clients. CRAFTER’s ambition is to grow and enrich its offerings in line with customer needs, with a continued focus on innovative services and products.

Requirements

Following a comprehensive analysis of the current state at CRAFTER, key indicators affecting business performance and customer experience were identified. Although the company utilizes a centralized BI solution and has an integrated CRM system with an impressive number of loyalty program members, certain areas require attention. These include improving post-sale product tracking, further integration of technological solutions into daily business processes, and transforming innovative ideas into clearly defined projects.

Considering the identified directions for improvement, CRAFTER has decided to develop a strategy focused on optimizing in-store performance and enhancing the customer experience through the use of artificial intelligence. The goal is to relieve employees from repetitive tasks and allow them more time for interaction with clients.

AI Solution

The digital transformation project in a large retail outlet is focused on optimizing customer experience and operational efficiency through the application of artificial intelligence and Computer Vision methods. The goal is to analyze customer behavior in real time to improve customer experience and operational processes. The technology uses a combination of existing and new cameras integrated into an AI system. This system is capable of recognizing, classifying, and sorting customers based on various visual parameters such as color, shape, and movement.

Using artificial intelligence to analyze data from video surveillance, the system enables employees to gain real-time insights into customer behavior and preferences. Through this approach, employees deployed across different areas, receive timely information about customer movements and interests from the dispatch center, allowing them to approach clients more quickly and efficiently to offer targeted help or advice.

This increases the efficiency of field teams and allows them to personalize interactions with customers.

In addition to the immediate benefits for customer interaction, the project provides analytical tools for management to gain a deeper understanding of consumer habits. These data will serve as a basis for future strategic decisions, continuous innovations, and business improvements.”

The project represents a significant step in the company’s long-term digital transformation strategy, with plans for further scaling and adaptation in line with future technological trends and market needs.

Measuring Success

Given the clearly defined objectives, the digital transformation project has achieved significant successes in the first phase of implementation.

Improvement of Employee Efficiency. The application of Computer Vision technology has enabled real-time collection and analysis of customer behavior data in the small tools and materials department. This functionality has been fully integrated, and employees have adopted it as a useful tool in their work. The precision of information delivery to employees has increased their efficiency by 25%, enabling them to approach clients more quickly and with greater focus.

Increased Revenue. After three months, analyses have shown a 15% increase in revenue in the small tools and materials department with the same number of employees. This indicates successful optimization of working hours and resources.

Better Customer Experience. Customer satisfaction surveys indicate a 20% increase in satisfaction, reflecting greater brand loyalty.

Continuous Improvement. The system now generates historical trends that serve as a basis for further analysis and future strategic decisions, laying the foundation for further digital transformation.

Concluding Considerations

In a world increasingly dominated by data, this ambitious project has not only opened doors for new operational efficiencies and improvements in customer experience but has also set a new standard for the analytical depth that technology can bring into everyday business operations.

Analytical Capabilities The extraordinary power of the implemented analytical tools lies not just in the ‘what’ and ‘how’ but also in the ‘why’ behind consumer behavior. The depth this tool provides remains to be fully discovered. For instance, analytical reports could reveal that customers spend more time in certain departments on specific days or times of the day, which could lead to a strategic reallocation of the workforce to better meet customer needs during those periods. In another case, data analysis might show that promotions and discounts reflect better on sales when announced on certain days. Such insights will not only improve financial performance but also enable the team to make informed and strategic decisions based on facts, not intuition.

Ethical and Social Aspects Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. The implementation of technology like Computer Vision must proceed with full awareness of potential ethical and social consequences. Privacy issues are of paramount importance; therefore, the company, in collaboration with a digital transformation expert, has been proactive in ensuring that all data are anonymized and encrypted, with clear policies on how and when they can be used. By setting these ethical frameworks, the project becomes not only technically advanced but also morally conscious.

In a world increasingly oriented towards technology, it’s important to remember that technology itself is neither good nor bad; it’s a tool that can be used in many ways. What truly matters is how we use it to improve lives and make the world a better place.