As the retail industry continues to embrace a more customer-centric mindset, other operational mandates have emerged, including greater visibility into customer behavior patterns, more transparency into and granular control over multi-store operations, and an overarching focus on driving more personalized, efficient, and loyalty-boosting customer engagements. As a result of these mandates, many retailers have turned to leveraging AI to address customer and operational demands.
To uncover insights that will ultimately help retailers develop their AI strategy, Microsoft partnered with The Futurum Group to conduct research into the use of AI within the retail industry, surveying 1,002 retail executives globally who work for companies with annual revenue of more than $200 million. To capture shopper sentiment, we also surveyed 502 North American consumers, ages 18-65.
The survey results and related insights are captured in our latest Research Report, Unlocking Value with AI: Opportunities for Retailers in 2024, completed in partnership with Microsoft, which covers retailer and consumer perceptions of how and where AI should be deployed, the challenges faced by retailers to deploy AI, and an assessment of the current progress of AI implementations within the retail industry.
In this brief you will learn:
- The differences between traditional AI and generative AI, and how these technologies are being deployed within the retail environment
- A comparison of how AI-powered experiences are perceived by retailers versus consumers’ perceptions of the benefits they receive from the technology
- The impact of data privacy and transparency on consumers’ acceptance of AI
- The type of AI-enabled programs with which consumers have the most experience and familiarity
- The top AI-powered technologies that influence customer purchases
- Three key considerations for retailers to successfully drive AI adoption
- The most common AI-powered use cases in retail environments
- AI implementation challenges
- Best practices for deploying AI within retail stores
To successfully implement AI, retailers must distinguish between consumers’ preference for AI-assisted and human-powered technologies and clearly communicate this understanding. Retailers should be mindful of the actual benefits consumers perceive from AI technology and, more importantly, how it affects their relationship with the retailer and brand. To learn more, be sure to download your copy of Unlocking Value with AI: Opportunities for Retailers in 2024 today.
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Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
Keith Kirkpatrick is VP & Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
