Page 43 - #200 June/July 2025

RLI Industry Insight
EXPERIENCE

Retail’s AI Revolution: ON MAIN STREET CONFERENCE

Less Hype, More Strategy

In this month’s Industry insight, Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO of
CM.com takes some time out to discuss how artificial intelligence 8-9 JULY MANCHESTER
can be utilised in many positive ways, but that companies must first
understand how to use it and get the best out of it for their purposes.
Make no mistake - artificial intelligence right - understand your customers’ needs, your brand’s own data and customer jour-
is taking the world by storm, promising to map out the journey and fix pain points. Only neys. Generative AI models might be great
revolutionise retail and customer experience then should you bring in the machines to for producing content or answering general
(CX). But transformational change doesn’t optimise and scale. questions, but they often lack context
happen overnight and technology alone isn’t specific to a business. By contrast, agentic
a catch all fix for customer engagement MEET CUSTOMERS WHERE THEY ARE AI acts more like a smart virtual agent
issues. Too many retailers are rushing into A clear example of not getting the funda- within your business. It’s powered by your
AI for CX without first getting the basics mentals right is failing to meet customers internal data, understands processes and
right. The result: AI tools layered on top of where they are. It is a must for the modern can take actions to serve your customers.
broken processes and impersonal services. retailer to have presence on the channels An agentic AI system might proactively
It’s time to step back and take a more that shoppers know and trust - from social resolve an issue - for example, checking a
thoughtful approach, where AI serves as a media to messaging platforms. CM.com’s customer’s order status, initiating a return,
powerful tool paired with strong CX funda- latest audit of retailers in a major European or offering a personalised product recom-
mentals. Not a replacement. market reveals how powerful this alignment mendation based on purchase histories.
So, what can retail leaders do to get it can be. Retailers offering WhatsApp support These AI agents function almost like digi-
right? There are three steps. First, recognise outperformed their peers by 58 per cent tal employees capable of handling specific
AI to be a tool and not a saviour for poor when it came to speed and effectiveness of tasks on your behalf. The value of this
CX. Second, meet customers on the chan- customer support. And live chat use has also approach is immense for retail. At CM.com,
nels they trust. And third, prioritise agentic surged as brands recognise the value of real- we’ve seen consistently that when AI is
AI tailored to your brand’s needs. Only then time, contextual support. informed by a retailer’s product catalogue,
will retailers start to get the most out of this This isn’t about adding more technology inventory levels and past customer interac-
transformational technology. for technology’s sake. It’s about using it in tions, it can deliver far more personalised
the places where customers are engaging - experiences than others chatbots.
AI IS A TOOL, NOT A CX SAVIOUR and making those interactions more impact-
There’s no denying AI’s huge potential to ful. Only then can AI integrations start to AI TRANSFORMATION
improve customer experiences - especially help with CX. THAT’S BUILT TO LAST
with today’s advanced AI agents. But it’s What’s striking, however, is that even with AI is here to stay but success lies in how
not a silver bullet for every CX challenge. more channels open than ever - an average you wield it. The leaders in digital trans-
If your underlying customer experience is of seven per retailer – eight per cent of the formation will be those who blend tech-
broken, throwing AI at the problem will only most common customer queries still go nology with human-centric strategy. That
amplify the cracks. unanswered. Worse still, nearly half of those means treating AI as an augmentation
This is because AI doesn’t fix bad service; ignored queries came through Instagram, to human insight, not a replacement. It
it simply makes the same mistakes faster if a platform many retailers publicly list as a means doubling down on customer-centric
the fundamentals aren’t in place. The lesson customer service touchpoint. These gaps basics. And it means choosing AI solutions
for retail leaders is that AI should augment, show that European retailers have work to that genuinely fit your business. Custom-
not replace, a solid CX foundation. Before do - AI can help with these issues, but only ers reward companies that respect their
investing in AI, ensure you have thoughtful when part of a wider strategy to enhance CX. time, needs and interact with authenticity
customer engagement strategies, clear - whether through a human representa-
processes and quality data. Poor AI strategy THE POWER OF AGENTIC AI tive or an AI agent. Retailers that invest
leads to ineffective CX. It magnifies broken Brands must also recognise that not all AI in thoughtful, tailored AI systems can
processes and disconnects customers from serves the same purpose. There’s a differ- provide the convenience and personalisa-
real value. ence between deploying a generative AI tion of cutting-edge tech without losing the
The lesson here is to get the foundations tool and harnessing agentic AI tailored to human touch.
www.experienceonmainstreet.com

42 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL JUNE/JULY 2025

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