How AI and Automation are Changing the Retail Game
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, retailers are increasingly turning to AI and automation to gain a competitive edge. Forrester interviewed Perficient for its recent report The Forrester Tech Tide™: Retail AI And Automation, Q1 2024 , and listed Perficient among sample vendors for Digital Experience Optimization. According to the report, “AI and automation are increasingly critical to retail firms’ ability to win, serve, and retain their customers,” and the report analyzes the importance of these technologies in retail initiatives.
The Retail Imperative: AI and Automation
In today’s hyper-competitive retail environment, companies must navigate a complex web of customer expectations, supply chain challenges, and operational efficiency. Enter AI and automation, two powerful tools that can transform the retail landscape. Here’s why they matter:
- Winning Customers: AI-powered personalization, chatbots, and recommendation engines enhance the customer experience. By understanding individual preferences and behavior through AI and automation tools, retailers can tailor offerings, drive conversions, and foster loyalty with consumers.
- Serving Efficiently: Automation streamlines processes across the retail value chain. From inventory management to order fulfillment, smart algorithms help optimize operations, reduce costs, and improve speed.
- Retaining Loyalty: Predictive analytics and AI-driven insights enable retailers to proactively address customer needs. Whether it’s replenishing stock or suggesting complementary products, these technologies enhance long-term relationships.
According to the report, “GenAI exhibits great promise but risks confusion” in transforming the retail industry, while currently, “The MVPs of retail AI and automation are some of the oldest solutions.”
Navigating AI and Automation Technologies in The Forrester Tech Tide™
The Forrester report explores “Sixteen Technologies [that] Underpin Growth” in retail. Two areas of focus that Perficient helps retailers with are Digital Experience (DX) Optimization and Generative AI implementation.
Digital Experience (DX) Optimization: In today’s hyper-connected world where customers can begin a shopping spree on one device, checkout on another, and pick up in person or request delivery, a seamless and agile digital experience is non-negotiable for retailers. DX optimization contributes to organizational success in a number of ways, and we believe Perficient’s contributions to retailers has allowed us to be listed among DX Optimization sample vendors in Forrester’s Tech Tide.
According to Forrester, “Digital experience (DX) optimization solutions leverage recommendation, testing, and personalization engines as well as other operations inputs such as inventory availability, weather, day part, shopper preferences, demographics, or retail media availability to optimize the shopper’s experience across touchpoints and to reduce costs.” We believe Perficient consistently helps brands enhance their commerce capabilities and deliver immersive and hyper-personalized experiences with the use of innovative AI and automation implementation. Namely, retailers can delight shoppers with features like AI-driven search, mobile payments, virtual product experiences, and product education.
Generative AI: As retailers navigate the intricacies of today’s dynamic market landscape, the integration of generative AI emerges as a pivotal strategy in enhancing customer engagement and operational efficiency. Forrester underscores the significance of generative AI in reshaping retail dynamics, stating, “The biggest use cases for genAI in retail are chatbots, generative code and code copilots, and text and images to support marketing…All of these solutions exhibit promise in their ability to reduce retailer costs by improving operational efficiencies.”
This technology not only enables retailers to craft compelling narratives but also facilitates personalized interactions that resonate with diverse consumer segments. With its potential to revolutionize content creation and campaign optimization, we believe the integration of generative AI stands as a cornerstone in Perficient’s commitment to empowering retailers with cutting-edge solutions for sustained market relevance and customer satisfaction.
We’ve helped many organizations, including a large automotive company, integrate chatbots and virtual assistants to make their website more user friendly, improve the customer experience, and ultimately to drive sales. Learn more about how we are utilizing NLP-powered chatbots to drive customer experiences.
Putting Insights Into Action
As a digital business professional, how can you leverage the Forrester Tech Tide™ insights? Consider the following steps:
- Assess Maturity: Evaluate where your organization stands in adopting AI and automation technologies. Are you an early adopter or catching up?
- Prioritize Investments: Based on the report’s maturity assessment of each technology, prioritize investments to allocate resources in areas that promise maximum impact.
- Collaborate Across Functions: AI and automation transcend silos. Involve marketing, operations, and IT teams to create a holistic strategy.
- Stay Agile: The retail landscape evolves rapidly. Be prepared to adapt as new technologies emerge.
The Forrester Tech Tide™ report is a compass for retail leaders navigating the AI and automation landscape. As you shape your investment approach, remember that bold decisions lead to customer-centric success. Unlock growth, serve efficiently, and retain loyalty—powered by AI and automation. Read the full report here (available to Forrester subscribers and for purchase).
