- Customer service and marketing are the biggest use cases for AI in retail
- Inventory and supply chain management are a big focus going forward
- The maturity of AI is actually very low: it is a largely untapped sector and poised for huge growth.
More than two in three (70%) retailers are testing or have partially implemented agent AI and many (71%) expect the technology to help improve operational efficiency as early as next year, according to a new report from Fluent Commerce.
However, while 12% have already experienced a strong impact, only 8% have fully implemented AI in their operations.
An additional challenge is that only 5% consider their AI systems to be mature and optimized, but there are many other obstacles between retailers and successful AI implementations.
Retailers are optimistic about agent AI
Figures show that 88% of retailers recognize the role of agent AI in keeping them competitive against rivals, but ethical/regulatory concerns (43%), customer trust and transparency (43%), data quality and integration issues (39%) and skills shortages (36%) prevent them from going all-in.
“Retailers are clearly investing in AI, but the journey from pilot to full-scale deployment is proving more complex than expected,” says Nicola Kinsella, chief strategy officer.
At the moment, most AI in retail has focused on customer service and chatbots (56%) and personalized marketing (46%), but we could be on the cusp of a major shift as retailers begin to explore the use of AI in their operations.
Kinsella credited agent AI with being able to “see the full operational picture,” such as order exceptions, processing speeds and fulfillment locations, delivery delays, and more.
Nearly a third plan to implement agent AI in inventory management (30%) and supply chain optimization (32%).
Not only do these new AI opportunities for retail businesses present additional areas to increase productivity, but going forward, retailers clearly expect to see more value from AI-enhanced management rather than AI-enhanced creativity.
By letting human workers come up with the best strategies, AI can be left to generate useful insights and actions from existing data: “With the right data and thoughtful implementation, retailers can capture real, measurable benefits from AI.”
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