Using AI for Awareness & Influence within the Retail Customer Journey

How Artificial Intelligence is used to increase awareness and influence in the retail customer journey

Awareness is a primary battleground for any consumer brand or retailer in the pursuit of growing sales and profit within the customer journey, but how is AI going to impact this? There are various ways a consumer can become aware of a brand, from TV, to print advertising, to social media, but using big data and emerging machine learning techniques appears to be the next step for optimisation.

From our research, we identify five key stages within the retail customer journey. Stage one is ‘Awareness and Influence’ from consumer and retailer perspectives respectively (as shown in the diagram) . Retailers seeking to gain an advantage in the battle for awareness are turning to AI. Two of the most dominant technologies being used are Personalisation and Product Recommendations.

Personalisation

It is generally accepted that shoppers are more likely to purchase items in-store or online from retailers that send them relevant, personalised promotions and tailored offerings. One such offering is the personalised landing page that only displays selected clothing in the customer’s size and/or preferred brands. Shop Direct’s technology allows 1.2 million versions of its very.co.uk landing page, and Amazon attributes 35% of sales to its personalisation strategies. Our survey found that while shoppers wanted greater personalisation, only 45.3% believed targeted online adverts provided appropriate content to them. Nevertheless, technological advancement will keep personalisation a major tool for retailers. The key thing to focus on is to make sure it is effective and maintains shopper’s trust.