2021 AI Trends in Retail
Technology is changing at a pace that is sometimes difficult to keep track of and certainly to keep up with. And with the unlimited possibilities that artificial intelligence (AI) provides, there is an endless supply of knowledge and learning.
With the decline of brick and mortar stores, the rise of e-commerce, and an economy trying to recover post-pandemic, the retail industry needs to find ways to innovate.
The adaption of AI can help them do that.
According to a report conducted by Gartner, 77% of retailers plan to have some kind of AI in place in their business operations this year.
When we talk about AI, we’re not talking about replacing in-store sales consultants with robots. We’re talking about how data can be harnessed to better inform content and strategy and provide better experiences for your customers.
Here are a few AI trends in retail that should be on every business’s radar.
Augmented Reality
Of course, because of COVID-19, augmented reality (AR) is top of the list for many retailers now that in-store experiences are an unreliable way of engaging customers.
American department store Kohl’s partnered with Snapchat to create a virtual dressing room, enabling in-app purchases to drive conversion.
Shopify has reported that interactions with products shown with AR result in a 94% higher conversion rate than products shown without AR.
Personalized Recommender Systems
Personalized content helps drive conversions, and recommender systems are a great way of ensuring an efficient personalized customer experience.
Amazon has one of the best and most well-known systems in the e-commerce sphere, providing millions of customers with personalized interfaces depending on the products they view.
Also, Netflix not only saves $1B each year through AI-powered systems, but it also provides 75% of content to users through personalized recommendations.
Localized Customer Experience
Providing a localized customer experience is key for driving brand loyalty and repeat customers, but this shouldn’t stop with human customer service representatives.
Chatbots are becoming more popular and more important when it comes to customer service. They allow customers to find solutions to common problems quickly and without having to sit on hold waiting to speak to someone.
AI-powered tools can also provide customers with recommendations based on their behavior, allowing customers to make informed purchasing decisions based on location and interests.
Visual Search
Considering 90% of information transmitted to the human brain is visual, it’s no surprise that visual search is gaining momentum as AI technology continues to develop.
Though visual search is not as effective as text search—due to the huge data set needed for the systems to learn—the image recognition market is valued at $30.28B and set to grow exponentially in the future.
Visual search has already proven to help offer intuitive customer experiences, with Google, Kiddle and ASOS leading the charge. With this in mind, it makes sense to prep your website search function for future image-based queries.
To conclude, AI is transforming the face of retail and e-commerce. Customers are getting used to the high level of personalization that these systems provide. AI-powered systems can help you save money and make the overall shopping experience for your customer better—encouraging repeat business.
If you want to know more about localizing chatbots or how TransPerfect’s AI solutions can help your business grow, get in touch with us today.
