- Customer service and marketing are two of the biggest use cases for AI in retail
- Inventory and supply chain management is a big focus for looking to the future
- AI maturity is actually very low, it is largely untapped and poised for significant growth
More than two in three (70%) of retailers are piloting agent AI or have partially implemented it, and as many as (71%) expect the technology to help improve operational efficiency as soon as next year, according to a new Fluent Commerce report.
However, although 12% have already seen a strong impact, only 8% have fully deployed AI across their operations.
In an additional challenge, only 5% see their AI systems as mature and optimized, but there are plenty of other obstacles standing between retailers and successful AI deployments.
Retailers are optimistic about agent AI
Figures show that 88% of retailers acknowledge the role of agentic AI in staying 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 doing it all.
“Retailers are clearly investing in AI, but the journey from beta to widespread deployment has proven more complex than expected,” commented chief strategy officer Nicola Kinsella.
Right now, most AI in retail revolves around customer service, chatbots (56%), and personal marketing (46%) – but we may be on the cusp of a big change when retailers start exploring the use of AI across their operations.
Kinsella credited agent AI for its ability to “see the full operational picture,” for example, order exceptions, processing speeds and fulfillment locations, delivery delays and more.
Nearly a third plan to deploy agentic AI across inventory management (30%) and supply chain optimization (32%).
Not only do these new AI opportunities provide retail companies with additional areas to enhance productivity, but looking ahead, it is clear that retailers expect to see more value from AI-enabled management rather than AI-enabled creativity.
If we leave it to human workers to come up with the best strategies, AI can be left to generate useful insights and actions from existing data: “With the right data and a thoughtful rollout, retailers can get real, measurable benefits from AI.”
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