Sure! Here’s the translation into American English:
Riverbed, a leader in AI-driven observability, presented the results of its Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience survey focused on the retail sector. The study revealed that 96% of business and IT decision-makers in this sector agree that AI will have a significant impact on improving the digital experience of end-users. Additionally, 95% consider AI a strategic priority for senior management, while 84% identify it as a source of competitive advantage. In a context where customer service is key, AI offers enormous opportunities to personalize products and services, transform delivery channels, and efficiently manage spikes in demand, such as those recorded during events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
By applying AI to forecast demand, optimize inventories, personalize customer interactions, and adjust pricing, retailers can better address operational challenges and deliver seamless digital experiences. However, only 40% of companies in the retail sector claim to be fully prepared to implement AI projects at this time. The main barriers include issues related to data quality and scalability, which limit their ability to maximize the benefits of this technology.
Despite these challenges, rapid adoption is expected in the next three years. According to the report, 93% of retailers project to be fully prepared to deploy AI strategies and initiatives by 2027, surpassing the overall industry average of 86%. This expansion will be crucial for adopting practical solutions that significantly enhance the shopping experience and strengthen the competitiveness of the retail sector.
Currently, 54% of business and IT decision-makers in the retail sector state that the main reason for using AI is to drive operational efficiency over growth (46%). However, in the next three years, as AI matures, these figures are expected to shift, with 56% of organizations in this sector claiming that AI will primarily be a driver of growth versus pushing for efficiency (44%).
Generation Z and Millennials in Retail Show Their AI Expertise
With AI poised to transform retail, the survey revealed that enthusiasm for AI is high among executives, younger generation employees, and organizations as a whole.
- Currently, 71% of retail leaders say that AI is a key strategic priority for their organization, and another 29% say it is at least moderately important.
- There is significant enthusiasm for AI adoption in this sector. 64% say the sentiment toward AI in their organization is positive, 33% neutral, and only 3% skeptical.
- Across all economic sectors, Generation Z is seen as the champion of AI, but business and IT decision-makers in the retail sector perceive Millennials as equally comfortable with the technology. When asked which generation feels most comfortable with AI in the workplace, retail leaders responded that Generation Z (47%) and Millennials (46%) are followed by Generation X (6%) and Baby Boomers (1%).
The research also revealed that most retailers have moved past the evaluation and experimentation phases with AI. Currently, 65% are accelerating their AI strategies with increasing investment in infrastructure and talent; another 25% are in the final phase of transformation, where AI is fully integrated into their business processes.
User Digital Experience Is a Priority for Retail
Riverbed’s previous Global Digital Employee Experience (DEX) survey in 2023 found that digital employee experience (DEX) is a critical focus for organizations, especially with the growing digital expectations of Generation Z and Millennial employees, who represent approximately half of the global workforce. In this year’s survey, companies acknowledged the role that AI plays in DEX, as an overwhelming majority of retailers, 91%, state that AI automation is important for delivering an enhanced digital experience to end-users. Over half (53%) of retail organizations are achieving improved DEX through 24/7 assistance (such as chatbots and virtual assistants). These tools streamline communications, enhancing efficiency across organizations, including customer service.
Respondents reported that the main ways they expect to use AI within IT to improve DEX within 3 years include: automated remediation (76%), availability of 24/7 support such as chatbots (71%), workflow automation (68%), data-driven insights (64%), and feedback analysis (61%).
Despite AI Benefits, Gaps Exist in the Retail Sector
Despite widespread enthusiasm for AI, the research identified three major gaps that organizations must overcome to ensure their adoption of AI leads to benefits and business success. Like other sectors, retailers must address these deficiencies to achieve successful AI adoption.
- Reality Gap. Retailers are particularly confident in implementing AI for IT services and digital experience, with 84% claiming to be ahead of their peers, including 35% stating they are significantly ahead. Only 4% say they are slightly behind. This gap between perception and reality indicates that many leaders are overconfident about where their IT department stands in its AI journey compared to their industry counterparts.
- Readiness Gap. There is a readiness gap, as only 40% of retail leaders claim that their organization is fully prepared to implement AI projects at present. Additionally, 77% report that, as AI is still maturing, it is difficult to implement it effectively and at scale.
- Data Gap. Nearly all retail leaders (87%) recognize that excellent data is essential for excellent AI. However, of the respondents, 72% are concerned about the effectiveness of their organization’s data for AI use, and only 45% rate their data as excellent in terms of accuracy.
There is also growing concern in the sector about data privacy and security risks, with 91% worried that AI may access their organization’s proprietary data publicly due to their company using AI. Since the retail sector increasingly handles sensitive consumer data, it is crucial for retailers to comply with strict data protection regulations and minimize risks associated with customer information leaks.
“As retailers prepare for seasonal flash sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the adoption of AI technology is revolutionizing the sector by providing personalized recommendations and superior shopping experiences,” explains Jim Gargan, CMO at Riverbed. “However, leveraging AI to analyze consumer behaviors and buying trends requires access to big data, and our recent study reveals that only 45% of business and IT leaders in the retail sector rate their data as excellent in terms of accuracy. At Riverbed, we are helping our retail clients close this data gap with a practical AI approach, providing an AI-driven platform that offers comprehensive data and visibility across the entire IT environment. As a result, this enhances employee experience and productivity, which in turn provides superior experiences for customers, ultimately increasing loyalty and sales for retailers.”
Driving Successful AI Initiatives in Retail
Companies are moving forward to overcome challenges and drive successful AI strategies that deliver tangible results. To address AI readiness, 55% of organizations in the retail sector have formed dedicated AI teams, and 50% have teams focused on observability and/or user experience. For this sector, investing in AI talent is becoming a priority as retailers hire data scientists, AI specialists, and engineers to maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Retailers are also exploring other initiatives to successfully drive AI integration. Regarding data, the vast majority of retail leaders (88%) state that using real data, rather than synthetic data, is crucial in AI efforts to enhance digital experience. Additionally, 86% of respondents agree that observability across all IT elements is important in an AIOps strategy, and observability to overcome network blind spots—including public cloud (86%), company-owned mobile devices (85%), Zero Trust architectures (83%), and remote work environments (82%)—is extremely or moderately important.
The Riverbed Global AI & Digital Experience survey reached out to 1,200 IT, business, and public sector decision-makers, with 200 of them belonging to the retail sector, across seven countries, all of which are sectors with more than $250 million in annual revenue (more than $500 million in the U.S., U.K., and France). The survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in June 2024.
For more information on how IT, business, and public sector decision-makers are bridging gaps and navigating the adoption and implementation of AI, consult the full report here.