Despite their limitations, the use of AI in retail is expected to grow, with companies like Victoria’s Secret, IKEA, and Instacart also experimenting with chatbots. However, for these AI shopping assistants to truly transform the shopping experience, they need to be deeply personalized and able to remember a customer’s order history, product preferences, and purchasing habits, according to a report by McKinsey & Company.
Key takeaways:
- Artificial intelligence chatbots are being used by retailers and e-commerce sites to provide enhanced customer service and help shoppers discover or compare products.
- Amazon's AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, and similar chatbots from other companies, can provide product recommendations and answer customer queries, but they are not always accurate or able to offer the best deals.
- Chatbots are still in their infancy and need to become more personalized and capable of remembering a customer's order history, product preferences, and purchasing habits to truly transform the shopping experience, according to a report by McKinsey & Company.
- Perplexity AI has introduced a new feature on its AI-powered search engine that allows users to ask questions and receive specific product results, but it's unclear how the feature recommends products to customers.