GenAI could help boost the efficiency of customer service teams and give shoppers access to fast, personalized, 24/7 support. To make the most of the technology, retailers and brands need to understand the key use cases in a customer service setting—and stay mindful of the risks.

The gap is closing between AI customer service agents and humans, according to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: But customers have plenty of concerns—including their shrinking ability to access human assistance and the possibility of hallucinations.

Mass affluent consumers are a $177.2 trillion global market that banks have struggled to serve. Now emerging technologies are finally enabling them to capture this lucrative demographic.

Fast shipping, the vast selection of products, and high-quality customer service add to consumers’ growing attraction to online retail marketplaces, our analyst Sky Canaves said. “If there are any issues with the order, for example, there’s a trusted intermediary between the buyer and seller, which is why consumers may often feel that they have greater trust in marketplaces,” she said.

Our third annual study reveals which account opening features US consumers value most, based on our exclusive survey.​

Amazon returns partnership is a huge hassle for Kohl’s, Staples employees: Despite an increase in foot traffic, the constant deluge of packages fails to deliver the expected sales bump.

Retailers are racing to implement genAI-powered virtual assistants capable of creating human-like responses and handling complex queries. But there are challenges to overcome.

Brands’ customer experience is declining: Consumers are frustrated over shrinkflation and AI customer service, forcing retailers to do more to demonstrate their value to cautious shoppers.

Brands and retailers need to understand what customers expect from the ecommerce experience—and how to deliver on it. This infopack provides the most relevant information to help you navigate the opportunities in ecommerce.

37% of ecommerce marketers worldwide use AI for customer service and support, according to February 2024 data by Qualtrics and Klaviyo.

Some are disproving the commonly held belief that they can’t reach profitability.

Our fourth annual study reveals which of the seven largest Canadian banks lead in mobile app innovation, based on an exclusive survey around which features consumers value most.​

This tactic reflects customers’ desire for stability and safety in the rocky year following last March’s US bank collapses.

On this podcast episode, we explore the deployment of AI in payments in 2024. First, we discuss the most impactful use cases for AI in payments, such as fraud detection and prevention, false declines and purchase conversion, B2B payments, enhanced customer service, and digital wallets. In our "For Argument’s Sake" segment, we rank these use cases in order of impact and debate our decisions. Join the conversation with host Rob Rubin, our analyst David Morris, and Angela Murphy, PhD, client partner at Persistent Systems.

On the podcast we discuss what to expect as banks deploy more AI in 2024. We chat about several use cases for AI, like customer service and chatbots, personalized banking services, fraud detection and prevention, credit scoring and risk assessment, as well as personalized marketing. In “Place Your Bets,” we distribute 10 points to four predictions in order to rank the relative likeliness that each one will come true. We rank the following to see which is most likely to happen in 2024: news stories about overzealous chatbots stops banks from rolling them out, regulators squash attempts to use AI for investment advice, the deployment of AI enables banks to initiate massive layoffs, and small banks and credit unions are able to win more customers because of their deployment of AI for customer service. Listen to the conversation with host Rob Rubin and our analysts Jacob Bourne and Gadjo Sevilla.

To improve the shopping journey, 86% of adults worldwide want AI to help with product research or information, according to October 2023 IBM data.

Dollar stores and off-price retailers set to once again dominate store openings in 2024: Economic uncertainty continues to fuel expansion opportunities for budget retailers.

Leading financial institutions have discovered new ways to harness the power of AI to supercharge their operations and customer service.

What trends will we be talking about this year? Consumer behaviors will be shaped by continued uncertainty and cultural trends spilling over into commerce.

Financial institutions will need to jump through some hoops to attract these young adults and build long-term relationships with them.