Dive Brief:
- About two-thirds of consumers say they either somewhat or completely trust AI-powered shopping recommendations, according to a Bloomreach survey of 1,000 people released last week.
- Shoppers expect AI assistants to help them find products faster. That was one of the top three expectations shoppers said they have of AI assistants across retail, beauty, grocery, financial services, and home appliances and furniture industries.
- About half of respondents say they want AI to help them book flights and/or accommodations, according to the survey.
Dive Insight:
Natural language is the biggest advantage AI offers, whether it’s powering a chatbot or enhancing a search engine, according to Bloomreach.
About 2 in 5 consumers say they currently use natural language when shopping for products — and more than 9 in 10 consider conversational capabilities important.
“Even though people have been trained since the birth of e-commerce to search a certain way, it’s clear they’re relishing the opportunity to speak like people again when shopping online,” according to Bloomreach in the study.
The survey found that two-thirds of shoppers are already familiar with AI shopping tools, and nearly 3 in 5 have used an AI shopping assistant within the past six to nine months. Bloomreach attributed the familiarity to the rollout of AI assistants at retailers including Amazon.
Over three-quarters of consumers say an AI shopping assistant has helped them purchase an item faster than if they were shopping on their own. The technology’s ability to guide shoppers with questions drives this capability, according to Raj De Datta, CEO and co-founder of Bloomreach.
De Datta offered the example of an AI chatbot asking a customer searching for shoes about the kind of running they do, the colors they prefer and the size they wear. The tool could take the customer’s responses and return three options based on their preferences.
“You’d not only find your shoes faster — you’d probably enjoy that experience way more, too,” De Datta said in an email
Other surveys have also found an uptick in familiarity with generative AI shopping experiences. More than 7 in 10 consumers say they use generative AI tools regularly, according to an Accenture study released earlier this month.
Business leaders can prepare for the growing interest in conversational AI experiences by investing in their knowledge bases, experts told CX Dive. Information is the lifeblood of AI tools, whether first or third party, and a proper knowledge sharing strategy can help AI tools provide accurate, relevant results to end users.
