The customer journey should be fun, exciting and, most of all, frictionless. Shopper technologies continue to evolve and 2023 saw a number of advancements helping retailers get that much closer to making frictionless shopping a reality. Here are just a few of the scientific advancements that caught our attention.
Artificial Intelligence Changes Everything for Everyone
Though artificial intelligence has been around since the 1950s, one of the biggest scientific advancements this year was ChatGPT. Because it requires no downloads, no technical expertise, and is genuinely simple to use, ChaptGPT quickly became an indispensable tool for researchers, marketers, and shoppers.
Researchers and marketers now use AI in every stage of the shopper insights process from sampling and research design to data analysis and report writing. This year saw the launch of a multitude of AI-focused conferences to put on your watch list for next year.
- AI Online Summit by The Research Society, 2024 date TBD
- IIeX.AI by Greenbook, 2024 date TBD
- Food AI Summit, 2024 date TBD
- AI: Powering-up consumer insights by the MRS, January 18, 2024
- 2024 ANA AI for Marketers Conference by ANA, April 8 to 10, 2024
- Digi-Tech Pharma & AI 2024, May 28-29, 2024
- Marketing AI Conference by MAICON, September 10-12, 2024
- Annual Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services Conference, September 10-11, 2024
Similarly, shoppers have begun to leverage ChatGPT for a range of purposes. They’re using it to get answers to complicated product questions, generate product recommendations, create detailed product comparisons, and troubleshoot problems with products.
Over the last few decades, shoppers had to find and search through thousands of retailer and product websites or online product reviews and forum topics to get answers. Today, they can gather the precise answers they need from one source: ChatGPT.
Just as the pandemic did in 2020, AI is changing consumer shopping behaviors in 2023. Retailers will need to understand how this change is affecting their shoppers and adapt their digital marketing tactics to keep up.
Increase Shopper Comfort and Convenience with Virtual Fitting Rooms
Imagine a fitting room in your favorite clothing store that stocks every item in your size, in every color, and also offers customized product substitutes and complements for each item. Even better, imagine purchasing any item from the fitting room and having it delivered to your home within 24 hours.
Virtual fitting rooms equipped with AI mirrors and scanners benefit both shoppers and retailers. Unlike traditional fitting rooms, shoppers are never disappointed with out-of-stock colors and sizes, or unwanted prying eyes. Similarly, retailers can leverage data gathered by those AI systems to create optimal assortments of sizes, colors, and styles rather than relying on purchase data that is biased by shelving and stocking constraints.
This dream is not too far away. Zara, a fast fashion, trendy retailer is testing digital tablets in fitting rooms thereby allowing shoppers to request different sizes and colors of clothing without having to leave their fitting room or find an attendant. They can also use a tablet to see 3D images of themselves wearing any item of clothing.
Savage X Fenty, a lingerie brand by Rihanna, has gone even further by testing AR body scans and AI to generate customer measurements without cameras and offer personal product recommendations. So far, the test has been very successful generating 4 times higher conversion rates, 20% higher order values, and 40% more units per transaction.
Fitting rooms in retail shops may soon be ancient history, replaced by personalized fitting rooms in the home or anywhere.
Biometrics Speed Up and Increase Inclusivity of Shopper Check-Outs
Say goodbye to employees requesting IDs at the check-out when age-restricted products like tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis are involved. Fingerprint swiping will soon be a standard method of determining whether someone meets a purchase age requirement.
Retailers will no longer have to worry about longer queue times due to searching for ID cards or dangerous confrontations when an ID is suspected to be false. Fingerprint payments could also stall price increases. Since employees know their whereabouts are being tracked and customers know their self-scanned purchases can be traced back to them, they may be less likely to engage in theft.
This age-verification technique is already being successfully tested by a Norwegian company called Extenda Retail for its sales of alcohol and tobacco. It’s led to faster check-outs for each verified customer. And, in the USA, J.P. Morgan is testing out biometrics payment systems that capture faces or palms in order to speed up check-outs for shoppers.
Not only will biometric payments help people whose device has run out of battery power or those who can’t afford a device, but biometric payments will also allow consumers to use ATMs, public transportation, or vending machines without currency or cards.
The path to purchase is truly becoming more frictionless.
A Solution for Inarticulate Participants
Using the same AI technology as ChatGPT, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have created a method for converting neural activity into text using MRIs. Unlike previous innovations which allowed researchers to identify one word from a prepared list of words, this advancement reveals complete phrases without any constraints.
Marketing researchers have long struggled to gather insights from people who have limited verbal or written communication capabilities. With this technology, participants who’ve been deemed inarticulate would be able to participate in interviews or focus group research. Researchers would be able to gather opinions from people who don’t wish to discuss a specific topic out loud. People who have disabilities and cannot vocalize might be able to share their needs and wants for products and services. And of course, it would make conducting research in quiet or excessively loud spaces more feasible, e.g., religious buildings, theatres, music clubs, and factories.
The pool of research participants could soon become much larger!
Summary
Scientific advancements are intended to make life easier and better not only for shoppers but also for retailers, marketers, and brand managers. However, technologies that excite one shopper can easily create apprehension and fear for others. Retailers must ensure that any advancements they incorporate into their business create excitement for both eager and apprehensive shoppers. As a research agency with behavioral shopper labs in Chicago and Toronto, Explorer Research can help you truly understand how your customers react to and perceive your innovations. Get in touch with us to understand your shoppers even better!
