“Retailers need to use AI more,” said Harmony Murphy, Retail Head of Advertising at Google UK&I, in an exclusive chat with RTIH after her opening Smart Retail Tech Expo keynote speech today at London ExCel, which discussed the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in the retail industry.
“Generative AI has democratised access and made the technology more popular than ever,” said Murphy, while encouraging retailers to deploy it in all its forms on marketing, CRM, and many other applications.
Machine learning (ML) and robotic process automation (RPA) end uses of the technology are not new.
But Murphy found it shocking in her speech that still only 28% of retailers were using AI in some form or other regularly last year, according to Google’s research carried out with Bain.
This compares to 4% in 2016 when it truly was a nascent field. ”I would expect that figure to be higher by now,” said Murphy in her presentation.
“AI is everywhere,” she continued, citing your smartphone, Excel spreadsheets and so on as common usages.
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Her speech at Smart Retail Tech 2024 looked at how it can cater for the customer by providing granular data to retailers if they are on top of the possibilities. She advised retailers to:
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Follow the demand.
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Deliver specifically: don’t try and cover everything.
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Leverage search and customer data: to feed AI-driven outcomes such as enhancing your online visibility.
Murphy shared examples of how AI can uplift search results for companies if they work out before if they want to target basic requests like ‘where is my nearest gym’ or ‘what is the best moisturiser’ or get more granular in regard to specific luxury brands.
“Customers want inspiration and interaction too. It’s not just a brand play online,” said Murphy, citing a flower seller example where price and reviews were actually behind the search for inspirational ideas in their research into consumer demands.
“Things are getting more complicated,” she added, flagging the growing length of search query ‘strings’.
Where customers would have typed ‘wedding dresses’ in 2016 or added ‘London’ to that in 2019, now they are adding ‘bridal party dresses’ to that same string. They are demanding more particular results. Retailers need to be aware of this and cater for it.
AI can help, especially if you “get creative with it”, as Murphy advised, citing the virtual cartoon band Gorillaz who recently did a ‘live’ gig in New York and London simultaneously via an app with a downloadable location specific QR code to access it.
“You have to be omnichannel … and aware that you are competing with other marketeers who might already be using AI to gain an edge,” said Murphy, while adding it is just a tool. But if you’re not using it and they are it might be detrimental to your business.
“AI cannot see the big picture or be creative,” cautioned Murphy, but it can help identify customers, target them, automate processes like data interrogation and so on.
More retailers should already be using it.
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