UK retailer John Lewis to expand its AI capabilities through a Google partnership.

The British retailer John Lewis and Alphabet’s Google Cloud have reached a five-year agreement that will allow John Lewis Partnership to access the most recent AI and machine learning (ML) technologies.

The employee-owned partnership, which manages the Waitrose grocery chain and John Lewis department shops, announced on Wednesday that the new contract, which expands on a ten-year cooperation with Google Cloud, was worth £100 million ($127 million).

More of the partnership's technology will shift to Google Cloud as a result of the enlarged deal.

According to the cooperation, the cloud provider's employees would become more effective, spend more time concentrating on clients, and make better use of data insights to assist curate goods and services thanks to the AI and ML technologies the toolset provider would supply.

More retailers are using automation, data, and technology like ML algorithms to create more individualised shopping experiences for customers in an effort to save costs.

In November of last year, Google Cloud and European home improvement store Kingfisher reached a comparable agreement.

Zak Mian, chief transformation and technology officer at the John Lewis Partnership, gave the example of consumers utilising the picture scanning function in the John Lewis App to show the company's interior designers a space they want to decorate.

In addition to saving consumers a tonne of time and bother, he added, "we can take inspiration from their particular preferences and give tailored recommendations that can even complement products they already have."

(Sources: Investing.com, reuters.com)