Reference: See hereOf all the ways artificial intelligence (AI) can improve retailers' performance, perhaps the one that offers retailers the greatest promise is putting the power of AI into shoppers' own hands as a personal shopping assistant.
However, retailers prioritize backend operations over the front end customer-facing side when it comes to implementing AI, according to a study by Colliers U.S. Research .
Looking out over the next five years, some 63% of retailers said AI will have the greatest impact behind the scenes, while only 24% view the front end as delivering the greatest benefit and a mere 12% think the impacts will be felt on both sides.
Even if many retailers are slow to catch on to AI's benefit at the front end, shoppers are finding workarounds. A recent survey among 1,000 U.S. shoppers by Future Commerce in partnership with Bloomreach found that 42% have incorporated ChatGPT into their shopping process.
"The real value of AI-powered shopping assistants isn't in the convenience they offer, but in the power to curate experiences that feel deeply personal," Bloomreach CEO Raj De Datta shared with me, though solving the "paradox of choice" problem is a great convenience.
"These assistants can engage in a conversation about your style and needs, learning and adapting with each interaction. This level of personalization is truly consequential. It's bringing the in-store experience online and ultimately redefining what it means to shop," he continued.
These consequential benefits haven't gone unnoticed by the nation's number one and number two largest retailers – Walmart and Amazon respectively. Both are deploying AI shopping assistants this holiday season to improve the shopping experience for their customers.
Once the holiday retail results are tallied, the entire retail industry will learn just how impactful AI can be as a shopping assistant based upon the results from these two retailers.
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