Rianne Reitsma, an AI Retail Strategist at WAIR, brings over six years of experience in international business consultancy and AI retail strategy to her role. Passionate about empowering retailers to harness the potential of artificial intelligence, Rianne specializes in optimizing inventory management, enhancing customer experience, and driving profitability through innovative solutions.

At WAIR, a prominent retail tech company renowned for its cutting-edge demand forecasting solutions rooted in deep learning, Rianne collaborates with retailers, particularly in the Fashion industry, to address their unique business challenges. She conducts in-depth analyses to identify opportunities for AI-driven transformation and then leads the implementation of tailored solutions aimed at boosting performance and increasing competitiveness within the market. Rianne’s expertise and dedication play a pivotal role in guiding retailers towards sustainable growth and success in the dynamic retail landscape.

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders: 

Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace. 

Inside the company: customer-first mindset (underpromise, overdeliver), driven, reliable, growth mindset, hard-working.

Outside the company: active & sporty, I like to go on adventures; I love to spend time with my daughter Evi, interested in innovation.

Describe your background, and what did you do before you joined the company? 

I’ve mainly been in the tech industry with a connection to fashion retail. I’ve worked internationally.

• Berlin-ZZalando: 2 years (fashion e-commerce)
• Singapore: Sociomantic & Nugit (AdTech)
• Amsterdam: Pixibo (Technology for Fashion Retailers)
• Barcelona/AAmsterdam: WAIR (Technology for Fashion Retailers)

For more information, see my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rianne-reitsma/

What has made you successful? What do you value? 

I believe I am very driven and hard-working, if I want to achieve something, I will commit 120% to it. I value long-term relationships and adding value through collaboration.

Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?

We make existing business processes intelligent by adding artificial intelligence. We are ahead of the competition for our solutions in inventory management → helping fashion retailers allocate stock to stores where there is actual customer demand. Instead of pushing the stock to the store (based on rules), our deep learning models predict customer demand with an accuracy of 95%, ensuring that you will have stock in the store where it will actually sell. We currently have a solution for replenishment: https://wair.ai/the-ai-replenisher/ and the end of this quarter, we will launch our solution for reallocation.

What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?

We used the newest AI / deep learning technology. Read more about our technology here: https://wair.ai/technology/

Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?

On team processes: Combining our knowledge in our case, Machine learning engineering, and domain knowledge (retail knowledge), WAIR evolved from a fashion retail company – so we 100% understand our customers.

What are your responsibilities as AI Retail Strategist for the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?

I help fashion retailers understand what AI can do for their businesses and how they can get started. Besides that, I do some account management and marketing activities to spread the word about what we do. What I like most is telling our story and explaining that even though the technology we use is very complicated, working with us is very easy since we do all the heavy lifting for our clients (we know fashion retailers are always busy because we originated from a fashion retailer).

What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time? 

Listen-listen to your team, your colleagues, and your prospects and clients. Only in that way can you understand what they actually need and how you can help them.

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