Explaining life out here

The Hey GURA assistant includes a wide-ranging “life out here” knowledge base, echoing Tractor Supply’s corporate brand message. The knowledge base offers information about land, animals, and other rural topics customers may ask about, even when the request isn’t about a product in the store, says Glenn Allison, vice president of IT enterprise architecture and IT solutions.

Hey GURA includes a history of past questions and answers it has tackled, and it can learn to provide customized answers for customer queries in different parts of the country, Mills says. Customers may have questions about plants to grow in a certain climate zone, for example.

Rob Mills / Tractor Supply Co.

“It’s about having the right information at the right time at all times for that customer that leads back to that legendary service,” Mills says.

In addition, Hey GURA has become part of Tractor Supply’s new employee training program, Mills adds. “One of our differentiators is we hire team members from the community,” he says. “We’re always hiring and growing and looking at new team members. With this tool, you’re able to get a team member very efficient very quickly.”

Identifying customers who need help

Meanwhile, a second AI-driven project, called Computer Vision or Tractor Vision, uses AI and in-store cameras to alert store employees not only when lines are building at check-out registers but also when browsing customers look like they need help, with the goal of eliminating the need for customers to search for an employee. If a customer is browsing alone in the garden center, the Computer Vision AI can alert an employee with gardening expertise to meet the customer there.

“It’s about how we make sure we match up the customer team or the team member’s skill with the customer when they need it,” Mills says.