Holiday shopping has evolved. Customers are no longer able to select between in-store and online options. People browse through their smartphones, GenAI at the time of Thanksgiving, compare costs during Black Friday sales, and might visit a store towards the end of the day to finish their purchase. The shift from digital to physical shopping is becoming more natural and is expected.
For retailers, this means both pressure and opportunity. Customers should feel a sense of belonging. Customers should be able to see the identical prices and information about the product and be provided with the same level of support regardless of the location they shop from.
This is the place where GenAI is combined with strong control of data and the PIM (Product Information Management), which can really make a difference.
Hybrid shopping is the new Normal.
Customers don’t stay with one channel. They explore different choices available on websites, apps, and in retail stores before making a choice.
- 78% of customers start their shopping online before completing their purchases in store, or the opposite (Salesforce).
- 70% of retailers are investing more funds in AI to assist with cross-channel travel (Gartner).
Being active on multiple channels doesn’t suffice. The most important thing is how well the channels work together.
How do retailers cope with the current challenges?
Despite the advancements in technology, however, retailers face persistent issues:
- Different product information on websites, marketplaces, and even stores.
- Online, the levels of stock displayed don’t match store inventory.
- Prices and promotions that differ across channels.
- Customer interactions with service (like Chatbot or customer support are like a generic, repetitive.
These issues stem from one factor: a disconnected data system. If the data for product information, as well as customer histories and inventory levels, doesn’t communicate to Customers, particularly in busy times like the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday.
How can GenAI enhance the shopping experience?
GenAI can enhance the shopping experience by addressing customer demands in real-time. But, it works only effectively when the retailer:
- Product data that is clean through the Product Information Management (PIM) Pyssystemonnected systems that use data management.
- An approach to provide an experience across the web, as well as app and store, by integrating Omnichannel CX.
In practical terms, Data ensures accuracy. PIM assures the consistency. GenAI delivers relevance.
Holiday Scenarios Where GenAI Delivers Value
- The Thanksgiving gift exploration: Customers frequently seek out ideas. GenAI can analyze patterns of browsing and suggest appropriate gift categories or bundles that are curated bundles. This assists customers in moving from browsing to making choices.
- Black Friday high-demand moments: When the most sought-after items sell out, GenAI is able to automatically direct customers to similar items in stock or ready to pick up at nearby locations. This prevents lost sales.
- The New Year is a time to retain customers: Following the holidays, GenAI can recommend related services or products in light of recent purchases. This increases customer engagement and increases repeat sales.
Improving Business Decision-Making
GenAI is not only able to support interactions with customers. GenAI can also aid in a etter business plan:
- More precise inventory forecasting.
- More effective promotional strategies.
- Markdown and overstock losses were reduced.
As per McKinsey According to McKinsey, retailers who use AI-driven planning models have an improvement of up to 41% in the performance of their campaigns during peak shopping periods. This is crucial in times of rapid change in demand during the holiday season.
The steps retail leaders should take now
- Unify customer, product, and inventory data across different systems.
- Enhance PIM to ensure that product information is exact in every channel.
- Train GenAI models using actual business contexts to increase their relevance.
- Examine the entire journey of the customer to identify bottlenecks and decrease friction.
- This doesn’t need to replace existing systems; it’s just a matter of improving the connection between these systems.
Important Takeaways
- Hybrid retailing will continue to shape the expectations of customers during the holiday season, including Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the New Year.
- GenAI is valuable when it is backed by solid data and constant product information.
- The unification of data and PIM and the omnichannel CX offer reliable shopping experiences that are relevant and reliable.
- Retailers who focus on connecting experiences will be in a much better position to win customers’ trust and build long-term loyalty.
If improving the customer experience and efficiency of operations is a top priority this Christmas season, we can assist. Get in touch with Innowinds to learn more about what GenAI, PIM, and enterprise data platforms can help create integrated, personalized retail experiences for customers.