Why retail AI projects stall and how to get them moving again: Lessons from retail AI rollouts

AI investment in retail is accelerating. Boards are paying attention. Retailers who got the foundations right are seeing revenue and margin move. So why do most rollouts stall?

Join Competera and Athena Solutions for a conversation about what separates AI projects that pay off from the ones that don't. Two experts who work inside these projects every day walk through where the organization breaks down, where the data falls short, and what AI readiness actually looks like before the technology goes live.

Join us to:

• Understand why AI investments stall: Hear from experts who have worked across dozens of retail AI and data projects, and learn the patterns that separate fast ROI from rollouts that never gain traction. Relevant whether you are about to invest or your current project is still finding its footing.
• See both sides of the problem: Anna Sydorenko (Competera) covers the human and organizational causes, from missing strategy to resistance to change to the team structures that make or break adoption. Alla Zaykin (Athena Solutions) covers data readiness and maturity, and what AI systems actually need from their inputs to produce decisions your team will trust.
• Walk away with next steps: Pinpoint the gaps between where your data and organization sit today and where they need to be, and know which one to close first.
• Ask your questions live: Bring the specific challenge you are facing to the Q&A and get a practitioner's read on it from both speakers.

Speakers

Anna Sydorenko, 
Chief of Customer Success at Competera

Anna leads customer strategy at Competera, helping enterprise retailers turn AI pricing into measurable results. She partners closely with retail teams to strengthen pricing governance, sharpen decision quality, and align Competera capabilities with real commercial goals, guiding organisations through pricing transformation from day one through long-term success.

Alla Zaykin,
Data and AI Strategy Practice Lead at Athena Solutions

Results-driven Data Governance and AI Strategy leader with over 15 years of experience building enterprise data platforms that break down organisational silos and make corporate data usable across departments. Known for bringing data governance and data quality concepts to life for diverse audiences, from technical teams to C-suite leadership. Combines strategic thinking with a collaborative, coaching-oriented approach that helps organisations move from data readiness to measurable business outcomes.

Moderator

Oksana Chypchyruk, 
Head of Partnerships at Competera

With deep expertise in retail technology and AI-driven solutions, driving Competera’s growth through key partnerships with global leaders like SAP and Google Cloud.

About Competera

Competera is an AI pricing platform that meets enterprise retailers at any point of their pricing maturity and grows from there. Contextual deep-learning models optimize prices across entire product portfolios, considering over 20 demand factors up to store-level granularity; fully explainable and easy to use. Competera’s customers see ~7% gross profit uplift, proven through multiple A/B-tested pilots.

About Athena Solutions

Athena Solutions is a data management and business intelligence consultancy with over 20 years of experience helping enterprises build the data infrastructure that makes AI possible. Their work spans data maturity assessment, AI readiness, data governance, and enterprise data platform implementation across retail, financial services, healthcare, and technology. Athena’s approach starts with organisational readiness, not technology, ensuring that data investments translate into business outcomes rather than stalled projects.