{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"CommerceAI","title":"\"Democratising Intelligence\" - Stephen Dewar of Blackcircles.com","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2113,"description":"In this episode of CommerceAI, Ian Jindal speaks with Stephen Dewar, Director of Marketing and AI Transformation at Blackcircles.com, the UK’s leading online tyre retailer and part of the Michelin Group. They explore how a business that turns an anxious, “your money, your life” purchase into a simple, people‑centred journey is weaving AI through every layer of its operations – from customer research and tyre merchandising to internal tooling and board‑level decision‑making. Stephen shares how Blackcircles built its own Nexus platform with 30–40 AI agents, set out a people‑first AI policy, and uses AI to democratise intelligence without compromising privacy or safety. This is a grounded, practitioner’s view of AI transformation in a very real, very physical commerce business. \nKey themes\nMaking a stressful purchase simple: Blackcircles was founded to take the complexity and anxiety out of buying tyres by guiding customers from number plate to the right product, backed by strong data and people‑centred service.AI lands with employees before customers: A turning point came when an internal presentation, powered quietly by an AI tool, made the leadership realise AI would reshape how staff, stakeholders and partners work long before it showed up in marketing decks.Customers arrive better briefed: Search behaviour has shifted from “buy tyres” to natural‑language questions like “what are the best tyres for my Volvo,” with customers arriving more informed and conducting research through LLMs and agents before they ever hit the site.A cyborg approach to merchandising: Product selection combines internal tools and AI with human specialists who still override and fine‑tune recommendations for safety‑critical “your money, your life” purchases, boosting both conversion and customer satisfaction.Nexus: internal AI for everyone: Blackcircles built Nexus, a browser‑based internal hub of 30–40 AI modules that any employee can use for tasks ranging from email drafting to legal...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/6XUPDihUkuCPm3PnIb8K-PUA2E498QQeSfVpKPViPOk/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MmRl/ODliZTRlNjQ0OTVm/MGNkNmNjYjQ1YmM3/ZDE3YS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}