Online, brick-and-mortar and brick-and-clicks retailers feel like unchartered territory this year as the usual long-standing peak sales windows are looking very different. Peak sales ad slots are being driven up by a variety of factors including the FIFA effect, and the overlapping promotional windows of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Christmas in general. This is all set against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, with customers all ready to make cuts on non-essential spending. The usual golden quarter for the retail industry might not be so golden this year.
To get ahead, brands will need to compete heavily for their share of the consumer’s holiday spend by driving customer acquisition and retention. Brands like John Lewis are ditching the big-budget magic of Christmas brand messaging for a more down-to-earth, community-centered approach. Others like TK Maxx are centered around low prices and saving money. All of this empathetic and authentic positioning is well placed to win the hearts, minds, and available spend of customers. However, it is not just brand messaging that attracts attention and loyalty in retail: customer service plays a huge role, too.
According to The Convers-AI-tional Nation Report, conducted by customer engagement platform CM.com, 42% of customer queries to leading UK retailers go unanswered. This is where the power of AI can step in and bridge the gap across all omnichannel communications. Brands and retailers can use AI text and voice-activated bots to support both the in-store and online shopping journey.
The COVID pandemic accelerated digitization across many landscapes, especially retail increasing consumer expectations to have optimized and personalized consumer journeys. In this omnichannel retail era, AI chatbots and virtual assistants are ideally placed to bridge the online and in-store shopping experience gap by making it a more personalized and interactive experience.
Brick-and-mortar stores are working to integrate AI technologies to help streamline their in-store experiences as 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. Today, more than a billion people interact with businesses using text or voice conversation tools. Therefore, chatbots or voice assistants can become an accessible customer communication channel, and empower self-service.
To understand more about the Tovie AI offer in this space please visit Tovie AI.
With the provocative power of the holiday season upon us, Alex Lartey, CBDO at Tovie AI steps up the conversation on the power of personalization. Personalized gifting makes people feel special, and when personalization is applied to a wider cross-segment customer retail journey, it is key to driving customer loyalty, especially in the disrupted retail environments of late.
See also: Another View: 5 Ways To Show Empathy And Loyalty In A Digital-First World
