How LLMs Will Transform The 3 Pillars Of Brick-and-Mortar Transactions

"Walk into almost any barbershop, spa or fitness studio, and the fragmentation is obvious. A client books their massage on one device, browses products on another and purchases a gift card through a separate system. Everything technically works, but friction shapes the journey. These siloed interactions can frustrate customers, complicate operations, reduce cross-selling opportunities and pull staff away from delivering the human connection that drives loyalty."

"Large language models (LLMs) don't just speed up transactions; they can dissolve the boundaries between them, creating a unified conversational experience that feels natural and intelligent. This shift can move brands from managing tasks to strengthening relationships at scale. Platforms like Zenoti, Mindbody and Boulevard have modernized scheduling and reporting, yet the customer experience remains fundamentally broken. Booking can still force clients through rigid menus rather than letting them express what they want."

"Tanuj Joshi is CEO of , an AI-based multi-location digital marketing platform serving franchise and service-based businesses. If there's one thing I've learned running service-based businesses, it's that every customer transaction involves one of three actions: booking a service, buying a product or purchasing a gift card. For many multilocation brands, these separate pathways quietly limit efficiency, revenue and customer experience."

Service-based, multi-location businesses face fragmented customer journeys across booking, retail and gifting channels that reduce efficiency, revenue and personalization. Clients commonly book services on one device, browse products on another and buy gift cards through separate systems, creating operational friction and poorer customer experiences. Siloed transactions frustrate customers, complicate staffing and diminish cross-selling and loyalty. Large language models can unify these pathways into a single conversational interface that dissolves boundaries, streamlines transactions and enables contextual cross-selling. Integrating service, product and gift-card interactions can close data gaps, improve attribution, optimize inventory planning and strengthen customer relationships at scale.

Read at Forbes