Almost a third of shoppers in the UK have said that personalisation assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) increases their loyalty to brands, according to research from Bazaarvoice.
The content generation platform’s Shopper experience index report found that 31% of shoppers in the UK believe AI-driven loyalty rewards increase their brand loyalty, and 28% claimed tailored rewards makes them shop more often.
More than 40% of shoppers in the UK also reported that personalised discounts or offers are more likely to encourage them to share a product or brand on their social media.
Zarina Stanford, CMO of Bazaarvoice, said: “In an era where consumers are inundated with choices, personalisation and contextualisation can prove to be a differentiator for brand loyalty and customer engagement.
“Why? It creates seamless and relevant experiences. Personalised and contextual – right time, right place, right form – offers and rewards go beyond generic discounts; they shape consumer decisions by delivering meaningful value tailored to individual preferences.”
Retail isn’t the only place where AI is having a huge impact, with a large number of companies and individuals already using technologies such as generative AI (GenAI) in their daily lives.
Personalisation has played a large role in retail over the past 10 years as consumers become increasingly demanding, so AI becoming entangled in the generation of personalised rewards is a natural step that has developed along the way.
Shopping habits have been changing as younger consumers grow to gain spending power, leading a large number of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 to increasingly turn to social media for inspiration about what to buy and from where.
But consumers have also been turning away from shopping online in recent years as physical discount stores offer more lucrative deals, forcing online retailers to try harder to entice shoppers back to the web through the use of loyalty schemes and personalised deals.
Content from other shoppers, such as reviews, are also becoming increasingly important for UK consumers when online shopping, with more than half of shoppers saying they find reviews useful, and 45% saying an item needs to have between 11 and 50 reviews before they will even consider buying it.
Almost 70% of shoppers said they also find content generated by other shoppers useful when making decisions about what to buy, with 12% saying it definitely impacts their shopping behaviour, and 43% saying it can have an effect most of the time.
Some 16% of shoppers report they are likely to make a purchase based on user-generated content such as reviews, ratings, photos and videos.
Stanford said that retailers need to be utilising personalisation, combined with good timing, to encourage consumers to make more purchases, something AI can help with, adding: “AI-infused tools like product recommendations and targeted offers and social proofing present a massive opportunity to amplify these personalised, relevant, contextual experiences. They save time and deliver tailored information to shoppers that brands might not otherwise have the resources or ability to provide.”
But personalisation isn’t the only aspect of retail AI is helping with – this year’s Retail Federation Big Show saw retailers showcase AI use cases such as creating “digital twins” of stores to keep track of inventory, or helping retail associates use generative AI to more easily access and interpret store or product data.
Regardless of how they are using it, retailers using AI to help boost purchases and productivity is an inevitability as AI dominates the next wave of tech adoption.
