The common theme discussed during Shoptalk Europe 2024 was: The early bird gets the worm. Join us as we unpack key discoveries from the conference, including more on how a laser focus to improve overall customer experience will help retailers maintain their competitive edge.
Continue (Or Start) Using AI to Enhance the Shopping Experience
Executives from companies like Kingfisher, JD Group, Otto Group, and Amazon took the stage this year to share how they’re using AI to enhance the shopping experience and streamline operations.
Stijn Demeersseman, Chief of Staff at Amazon Fashion Europe, discussed how the company uses AI and large language models (LLMs) to analyse customer reviews and provide real-time size recommendations that are informed by brand-specific insights and customer preferences.
And in the keynote “Winning in the Evolving European Grocery Market,” Giorgio Busnelli, Vice President of Consumer Goods Europe at Amazon, revealed three ways in which Amazon is currently using Generative AI (GenAI):
- Providing a conversational shopping experience (called Rufus)
- Improving its product cataloguing processes (via a program called Starfish)
- Summarising customer reviews
In the session titled “Pioneering Applications of Generative AI,” Daniel Krantz, Division Lead, Digital Product and Customer Experience, at Otto Group, shared that they’ve also employed AI in their search bar to accommodate natural language queries and use the tech to aggregate customer reviews. He admits customer feedback informs their company’s decisions. And when applying GenAI, the company is focusing on different steps of the customer journey and listening to their customers.
Haven’t embraced AI and other emerging technologies? Now may be the time to do so to get and keep a competitive edge. Discover what product discovery experts from Sephora and Constructor had to say about how to unlock the potential of AI and transcend the current hype.
Put the Customer First to Build Brand Loyalty
Regardless of what technology a company chooses to employ, Arianne Parisi, Global Chief Digital Officer at JD Group, explained that “the customer should be at the heart of all decisions.”
And as Sara Sjöberg, Head of Marketing and Digital Sales for South Europe at H&M, further advised: “It’s super easy to get derailed by shiny, fancy new tech, that sounds super cool. But if it doesn’t sell for a customer in the end, it will not be of value to the business nor to the customer.” As such, all initiatives — especially digital ones — should be measured against KPIs to judge their impact on customer loyalty.
So, as retailers, what’s the best way to optimise the customer experience, build brand loyalty, and drive business goals in the age of tight competition?
According to panellists from Digitas UK, Bata, H&M, and Amazon in a session titled “Meeting Consumer Expectations: Balancing Between Convenience and Value,” it’s essential for retailers to prioritise the following:
- Creativity, which is key to providing unique, branded experiences.
- Curation, which helps with always delighting customers.
- Innovation, to determine how to bring back customers while still balancing value and convenience.
Move Beyond Omnichannel to Unified Commerce
The idea of "unified commerce" was brought up as an essential part of retailers’ future. It’s a step above omnichannel efforts. Unified commerce involves not only integrating all sales channels, but also unifying technology, data, and organisation structures with the end goal of meeting evolving consumer expectations.
According to Ben Miller, Vice President, Original Content and Strategy, at Shoptalk, unified commerce should be built around four components:
- A unified tech stack, with retailers potentially needing to justify their tech over time.
- A unified data platform to enable a seamless exchange of data and a centralised view of the customer and operations.
- A unified corporate structure that breaks down silos and other barriers.
- A unified customer experience enabled by the prior components and focusing on enhancing in-store elements, creating a throughline that reflects the entire shopper journey across digital and brick-and-mortar stores.
Alongside Rebecca Bemhena, Vice President of Content, Europe, at Shoptalk, Miller shared that physical stores will still remain a critical part of a unified commerce strategy. Moving forward, retailers should carefully consider investments in in-store technology and training. If executed well, retailers can unlock benefits beyond the customer experience.
One thing is clear coming out of Shoptalk Europe 2024: Implementing new AI technology for the sake of it won’t cut it during our current economic landscape. For sustainable business growth, customer-centric actions are required.
This involves not only keeping the customer top of mind when choosing new tech, but also prioritising the delivery of a more seamless customer experience. With a pinch of tech and a heavy hand of customer centricity, retailers can come out and stay on top of competitors.
