Customers’ use of AI-powered shopping experiences grew during the 2024 holiday season separate research reports from Salesforce and Adobe.
Two in 5 holiday purchases were influenced by consumers engaging with AI-powered tools and assistants, a 6% increase from the prior year, according to Salesforce data released Monday.
A total of $229 billion of global online sales were influenced by AI, according to Salesforce, which analyzed 1.5 billion shoppers and 1.6 trillion page views across the Salesforce platform.found that
The growth shows the significant potential of generative AI for enhancing e-commerce experiences, especially when it integrates into existing journeys.
Seven in 10 consumers who have used generative AI for shopping say it enhances the experience, according to an Adobe survey of 5,000 consumers released Tuesday. AI’s most common use was finding the best deals, followed by quickly finding specific items online and getting brand recommendations through AI.
However, the growing popularity of AI doesn’t make it a replacement for traditional browsing experiences even during the busiest parts of the year.
Holiday e-commerce experiences should be consistent above all else, according to customer experience expert and author Shep Hyken. Retailers should strive to make browsing feel the same, even if the site is receiving more traffic or search is being powered by new technology.
Good generative AI experiences enhance, rather than replace, existing options, according to Kassi Socha, director analyst at Gartner. “GenAI should be additive to a team or experience, not replace people or experiences at this time,” Socha told CX Dive in an email.
That doesn’t mean generative AI has to be invisible. Adobe and Salesforce’s data showed that generative AI chatbots in particular are gaining popularity as shopping assistants.
AI-powered chatbots drove 1,300% more traffic through links to retail sites in the 2024 holiday season than in the 2023 holiday period, though the total amount remained modest, according to Adobe.
Generative AI is playing a bigger role in customer service as well. Customers used AI-powered chat options for customer service 42% more during the 2024 holiday season than they did during the 2023 season, according to Salesforce.
Companies need to put in the work before they launch customer-facing AI tools or assistants, according to Socha. While it can be tempting to ride the AI wave as soon as possible, teams need to identify potential use cases and properly weigh the risks before rolling out new features.
“Retailers who have spent time properly training their ML models, setting up guardrails for usage, and ensuring quality inputs will realize the benefits of generative AI quicker,” Socha said.
