Intelligent Shopping Journey in a Digital Age
W&W Insights
W&W uses creativity, channels, and market insights to help brands achieve sustainable growth efficiently.
We'll unfold the article following the shopping journey, and explore customers' attitudes to AI differ in purchase phases and what they are looking for from AI tools assistance with brands and e-commerce. ‘Shopping journey’ is frequently used. It describes a shopper’s actions before, during, and after a purchase. The path of the shopper might be compared to a course with obstacles. The sale is yours if you can clear each obstacle.
Emerging intelligent shopping journey
AI shopping has numerous benefits for retailers, and fortunately, customers also love using AI to make purchases. 62% of consumers are willing to share personal information with AI to enjoy a better-branded experience. We're going to reveal the powerful role of AI in the shopping journey and hopefully help your retail business. According to HubSpot's survey, in 2023, AI tool usage has increased over 3 times in marketing than in 2022.
Consumers are also very curious about the future of shopping with AI. 44% of American adults are interested in AI-designed products, and 42% welcome AI-generated shopping recommendations. They appreciate the convenience of AI. 74% say that they are more likely to do business with a company if they can message rather than call them. AI can totally handle an online customer service job that uses instant messaging to chat. With AI playing a leading role in chatbot technology, it’s safe to say that shoppers are growing more comfortable with AI-powered experiences.
Actually, a large number of consumers remain skeptical about the use of AI technology in retail. Only 27.3% think it has the potential to improve customer experience, while just 26.0% believe AI will lead to a more personalized experience.
Let's take a step back to when consumer demand first popped up and check out how AI has quietly shaped the way we shop.
Before purchase
Nearly 52% of survey respondents said they’d be likely to use AI to get information, with Millennials aged 25-34 being the most keen (60.2%). AI chatbots can understand customer queries and mimic human conversation, so they can provide an extension to staffed customer support. Amazon’s recently unveiled shopping assistant Rufus, for example, uses information from the web, product listings, customer reviews, and community Q&As to answer questions and help shoppers compare products.
Customers are increasingly turning to AI for research purchases. Over 41% of consumers say they’re likely to use an AI tool like ChatGPT to research potential purchases (rising to 50.1% of Gen Z). And they’re likely to place trust in the results: 39.9% of consumers say they would trust information given to them by an AI tool, versus 28.8% who would distrust it.
AI technology can analyze customer data, including browsing and purchase history, to provide personalized recommendations that make sense to your customer and encourage a purchase. For example, many online fashion retailers offer an AI-powered “shop the look” feature, suggesting outfits or other suitable products based on the customer’s preferred styles and previous purchases.
For retailers, artificial intelligence systems can predict or forecast outcomes using historical shopping data to inform future results. Common predictions that sales AI systems can make include:
Now, the accuracy of those predictions depends on the system being used and the quality of the data. But the fact is that, with the right inputs in the past and present, AI is capable of showing you who is most likely to buy in the future. New customers that may be interested in what you're selling. This is a great way to pull in new customers. Guests will think, "Wow, this business really gets me!
Predictive forecasting can also create value for your sales team internally. AI can help sales managers forecast their team's performance for the quarter well in advance, so they can take proactive steps based on the numbers.
Research also shows that ‘priming’ consumers with OOH(Out of Home) ads means they’re likely to look at online ads for 37% longer. Adding AI into the mix can make OOH even more impactful. Using contextual information, such as the weather, times of day, or local area to tailor digital OOH ads, can increase consumer receptivity and responsiveness – 70% of consumers find contextual ads more creative, while 77% agree timely content is valuable for discovering new products and brands.
During purchase
Once a consumer picks an item, it looks like there's not much AI can really do at that point while the transaction is happening. Not really.
Reactive AI can quickly answer customer questions, provide product information, and help with basic troubleshooting. In online shopping, reactive AI is commonly used for chatbots, AI shopping assistants, and other automated customer service tools. According to HubSpot's survey, chatbot is the most popular marketing tool.
AI tools will comprehensively consider factors that affect user experience (UX) in the digital realm, such as:
Then it also enables dynamic pricing strategies that adjust prices in real time based on demand, customer behavior, and market conditions. This personalized pricing approach can effectively increase sales and customer satisfaction.
After purchase
The after-sales part is where AI tools can really free up a lot of manual customer service work. AI will automate repetitive tasks. Most customer service requests are fairly mundane or repetitive, such as tracking an order, checking a balance, or resetting a password.
Generative AI enables dynamic and adaptive troubleshooting. When customers report issues, AI algorithms can analyse patterns from historical data and suggest tailored solutions.
Generative AI's impact extends to warranty fraud prevention as well. By constantly learning from data patterns, AI algorithms can detect anomalies that may indicate fraudulent or erroneous claims. This not only protects manufacturers from financial losses but also ensures that legitimate warranty claims are processed more swiftly.
Keeping communication open is another key thing that AI can manage. One of the most important problems and tasks regarding the shopping journey is communicating with your customers and encouraging them to stay connected to all of your channels (offline, social networks, website, and email). Interactivity takes on great significance in this sense, especially for Internet commerce. The customer cannot touch or feel the product when making an online purchase. To convey to the user that people are trying to fulfill their wants, you must make them feel the product.
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What can brands do with AI in the digital age?
Actually, there are tons of chances for brands to make the most of AI tools at various points in the purchase journey.
Achieve consumers' trust
Companies will need to work hard to overcome consumers’ misgivings. Transparency over what data is collected, how it is used, and how it is protected will be key to building trust.
Nearly 43% of consumers say they worry about privacy or security weaknesses when it comes to brands using AI. And 35.0% say they distrust companies with the data they collect through AI tools (while only 29.4% trust them).
The lack of regulation in this area is fuelling the concern, with a huge 79.1% of consumers agreeing that there needs to be laws to control the use of consumer data to train AI. Until the law has caught up, companies will need to work hard to overcome consumers’ misgivings. Transparency over what data is collected, how it is used, and how it is protected will be key to building trust.
Consumers don’t want employees replaced with machines; 58.3% believe brands introducing AI technology could lead to the loss of the human touch. Nearly 55% can foresee a future where they can’t speak to a real person when interacting with businesses.
Even though AI comes up with suggestions by taking customer feelings into account, users are still a bit unsure if it feels real enough. Consumers feel strongly about keeping it real; nearly 70% say it’s important to them to see models that haven’t been digitally altered.
With all these in mind, as brands embrace the creative possibilities of AI, they must take care not to undo the progress that’s been made in increasing the diversity of models and promoting a wider view of beauty.
Social media marketing
Enhancing Engagement Metrics: The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) extends to analyzing and monitoring engagement metrics across various social media platforms, offering valuable insights into the performance of your content.
Precision Audience Targeting: AI's capabilities are harnessed to pinpoint and engage the right audience effectively.
Streamlined Social Media Management: Managing a robust social media presence can often be an intricate and time-consuming endeavor.
Supply chain & logistics
AI can optimize supply chain and logistics processes, leading to more efficient inventory management and order fulfillment. Early AI adopters have trimmed logistics costs by 15% and increased inventory levels by 35% when compared to competitors.
There are several excellent applications for AI in supply chain and logistics. Predictive analytics can help your business anticipate demand for certain goods and services, so you can minimize stockouts and prevent overstocking. AI can optimize delivery routes, considering things like weather and traffic patterns; automate warehouse duties, like packing and sorting products; and provide detailed order tracking, so customers know exactly where their package is at all times.
Product development & innovation
You can find inspiration in your customer records. AI can help you collect, analyze, and extract powerful insights from your customer data and preferences. This information can then be used to develop new products, enhance features, and more.
Shopping AI can expedite product development by automating tasks like data analysis, design, and testing. This way, you can go to market swiftly and get new products in customers’ hands as quickly as possible.
If you’re looking to really dive into integrating AI tools into your product sales process, don’t hesitate to reach out so we can chat about marketing strategies!
Reference
AI in Retail: Transforming Shopping Experiences
Shopping Journey: Definition, Elements + User Cases
Notes From The AI Frontier Insights From Hundreds Of Use Cases
2024 AI Trends for Marketers: How AI Is Driving Personal Productivity and Business Growth
How to build human relationships in an emerging AI world
AI in the shopping experience
How To Leverage AI To Build Your Professional Brand And Scale Your Business
AI in Shopping: 4 Types of AI + 4 Examples of AI in Shopping