Top Retail Generative AI Use Cases

Description

This IDC Perspective discusses the top retail generative AI (GenAI) use cases. Over 63.8% of retailers are investing in generative AI, focusing on use cases like natural language understanding and content generation despite facing challenges such as IT complexity and talent shortages. Retailers prioritize GenAI applications that offer measurable business value with top use cases including customer support chatbots, in-store associate knowledge bases, and digital search/product discovery. These applications align with GenAI's unique capabilities, offering potential for improved efficiency, productivity, and customer engagement."Generative AI is taking the retail industry by storm - what we think is an innovative use case now will be routine in less than 18 months." - Ananda Chakravarty, research VP, IDC Retail Insights

Product Code: US51474424

Executive Snapshot

Situation Overview

Adoption of GenAI and Challenges for Retail
Retail GenAI Use Cases Proliferate
GenAI Use Cases Categories
- Alignment of Use Cases
  - Data Characteristics
  - Interface Characteristics
  - Generative Characteristics
- Minimal Change or Easy Transition
- Immediacy of Results
The Top Use Cases for Retail
- Use Case 1: Customer Support Chatbots and Assistants
  - Example: Otto Group's AI Assistant Chatbot
  - Deployments
- Use Case 2: In-Store Associate Knowledge Base
  - Example: Tractor Supply In-Store Knowledge Management
  - Deployments
- Use Case 3: Retail Conversational and Contextual Search/Product Discovery
  - Example: Carrefour's Hopla Chatbot
  - Deployments