https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/ai-in-retail-statistics/

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Global retailers are eager to adopt generative AI to enhance shopping experiences, however, nearly half struggle with data accessibility and integration, leading to potentially ineffective AI outputs. Generative AI is projected to have a $9.2 trillion impact on the retail sector by 2029, yet only 13% of customers fully trust companies to use AI ethically. Retailers are already using generative AI for personalization and customer service, but struggle with unifying their data for effective AI outputs. Trust and ethics are increasingly critical for generative AI adoption, with retailers citing bias as the top risk.

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A new report from Salesforce and the Retail AI Council finds that global retailers are eager to adopt generative AI to personalize and improve in-store and online shopping experiences. However, nearly half of the 1,300 retailers surveyed are struggling to make their data accessible, and just 42% are connecting their various data silos, which can lead to ineffective or inaccurate artificial intelligence (AI) outputs.

Why it matters: Generative AI is expected to have a $9.2 trillion impact on the retail sector by 2029 as retailers see the benefit of implementing this technology to streamline operations, increase productivity, and deliver more personalized experiences for shoppers and associates. However, just 13% of customers completely trust companies to use AI ethically, and 63% are concerned about bias in AI outputs.

The AI revolution is about data, trust, and customer experience. Looking at AI in isolation, without understanding these elements as a package, will hurt a retailer’s ability to build loyalty and improve customer relationships.

Salesforce perspective: “The AI revolution is about data, trust, and customer experience. Looking at AI in isolation, without understanding these elements as a package, will hurt a retailer’s ability to build loyalty and improve customer relationships. The research we’re sharing today will help retailers better understand the need for a unified data strategy and how generative AI can be used to enhance the experience for both shoppers and associates.” – Rob Garf, GM of Retail and Consumer Goods

By the numbers:

Retailers are eyeing generative AI for personalization and customer service use cases

The retail industry isn’t shying away from AI adoption.

• Retail executives surveyed estimate that 36% of their employees are already using generative AI today, with that number expected to grow to 45% by the end of 2025.
• 93% of these retailers state that they are already using generative AI for some sort of personalization, such as personalized email copy and product recommendations.
• 81% of respondents also report having a dedicated AI budget, with an average of 50% of that assigned to generative AI.
• The top three areas where these retailers plan to use generative AI are customer service, marketing, and store operations.
  • Retailers are prioritizing customer service use cases, with a desire to augment agents with highly personalized, automated messages and content to send to customers quickly.
  • After customer service, the second most important use case for retailers is creating conversational digital shopping assistants to recommend products to shoppers based on natural language prompts.

Retailers struggle with data strategies to support effective generative AI

Retailers understand the importance of data, according to the survey, but many are still working through how to unify all of their data and build a single view of their customers to unlock more effective generative AI outputs.

• Only 17% of respondents reported having a complete, single view of their customers and harnessing their data effectively. Forty-nine percent are still in the preliminary stages of building or even considering the creation of a complete customer data profile.