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Diving briefs:
- According to Google Cloud, Albertsons was the first retailer to debut Google Can's conversation commerce agent via ASI AI tools. Launched earlier this year, ASI AI aims to simplify product discovery, personalize recommendations and provide a more intuitive shopping experience.
- Consumers can access tools in the search bar of the Albertsons Banner Store app, such as Albertsons, Safeway, and Shaw's.
- Albertsons AI tools are mentioned in a press release by Jill Pavlovich, SVP of Digital Customer Experience at Albertsons. “Our ASK AI tools provide personalized interactions and intuitive guidance that are changing the way our customers buy groceries, ultimately making their experience more enjoyable and life a little easier.”
Dive Insights:
As more consumers use AI tools to discover products, retailers from Ralph Lauren to Lowe aim to meet their needs by deploying conversational interfaces for customers to browse and purchase items.
Over two-thirds of consumers say they interacted with AI prompts and results when searching for products online. AdmarketPlace Survey from April.
According to Julie Geller, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group, the standout application of Albertsons' tools is to reduce friction during discovery. Keyword searches include: “Dinner needs something quick. What can I buy to make a perfect meal?”
Albertsons' Ask AI tools can have such conversations with consumers, clarify their preferences through prompts and questions, and suggest new items of preferences.
Early evidence shows that basket sizes also appear to be increasing. Customers using Ask AI tend to frequently add one or more additional items, Albertsons found.
Discovering better products is one of the biggest desires of consumers. A careful survey earlier this year found that customers ranked “finding the product I'm looking for easier” as the most improved factor in the shopping experience. According to an Omnisend survey earlier this year, consumers say personalized product recommendations and product discovery will help them discover AI's most useful applications faster.
While some retailers are beginning to build their own AI assistants from scratch, most retailers lack the resources and infrastructure to do so, Geller said. She often recommends that they take a hybrid approach.
“Proven platforms like Google Cloud provide scale and guardrails, and then stack your own data, brand-specific conversational designs and customer insights,” Geller said in an email. “That balance gives the market speed without losing its own uniqueness.”
But no matter how you do it, data hygiene is paramount to building successful AI tools, says Geller.
“Conversation agents can't hide bad data,” she said. “A messy catalogue, thin product attributes, or outdated stock feeds will affect the entire CX, no matter how innovative the design is.”
