What the retail industry has learned from AI shopping assistants in 2024

In the past year, ecommerce giants including Amazon and Walmart have pushed forward with artificial intelligence efforts, trying new AI-powered shopping assistants. Each launch has accompanied promises to transform the online shopping experience. These digital tools are often designed to streamline product discovery, boost shopper engagement and ultimately increase sales. But are they delivering the expected results?

Generative AI is reshaping shopper expectations, particularly in pre-purchase decision-making. 72% of consumers now expect their online shopping experiences to evolve with the adoption of gen AI, according to survey results in a 2024 report released by the enterprise AI platform Coveo. Moreover, the same survey found 31% expect to use a virtual assistant to help them choose the right products.

Online retailers and tech experts told Digital Commerce 360 that AI shopping assistants are making shopping more personalized and gaining useful feedback from customers. Still, their overall effectiveness remains an open question. The technology is still in its early days. Meanwhile, many retailers are waiting on more detailed data to better understand its impact on ecommerce.

“I think like ChatGPT, the adoption curve will be about two years,” said Joe Monastiero, founder and CEO of visualAI retail solutions, a software company that builds AI solutions for ecommerce.

Aspirations for AI shopping assistants

More than 50 companies — including tech providers, established retailers and startups — are currently developing AI shopping assistants, according to research from the analytics and consulting company GlobalData. The tools assist consumers in navigating online stores. Associated tasks include finding products, answering questions and even handling tasks such as processing orders and tracking returns.

Thomas Randall, director of AI market research at Info-Tech Research Group, highlighted two key benefits for retailers. He cited increased basket sizes and better online customer experiences.

“Many providers we’ve briefed in this software space have demonstrated increases in customer basket sizes and higher margins from cross-selling,” Randall told Digital Commerce 360 via email.

For instance, 35up, a platform that optimizes product pairings for merchants, reported an 11% increase in basket size and a 40% rise in cross-selling margins, he noted.

“Moreover, customers receive a personalized shopping experience, from relevant product recommendations to asking unstructured questions to an NLP [natural language processing] chatbot who can appropriately respond in real-time, 24/7,” Randall added.

Monastiero shared that hyper-personalized shopping assistants, such as the conversational agent developed by his company, can keep shoppers engaged longer. That engagement would ideally drive more interaction and potentially boost conversion rates. Visual search tools, which allow shoppers to search using images instead of text, can extend session durations by up to 30% and improve click-through rates by 15%-25%, according to data tracked by visualAI.

Amazon’s Rufus launch

In 2024, Amazon launched its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus. Now available to all U.S. customers, Rufus can help shoppers make better purchasing decisions by answering questions directly within the Amazon Shopping app, according to the company. Amazon credited Rufus with helping millions of shoppers during its 2024 Prime Day event in July.