The years retail brands have spent building recognition, relationships, and trust with consumers are about to be put to the test. Customers are delegating more and more of their shopping to AI agents. These agents can compare prices, seek out products based on instructions, and make purchases on a customer’s behalf.
If a retailer hasn’t made their data accessible and available to agents, they’re at risk of losing market share. This new report from HFS Research in partnership with EXL surveyed 101 senior retail and consumer-brand leaders. It finds that brands have 24 months to win over AI shoppers. During that time, they must bring together data, analytics, and AI in their agent strategy in order to gain a competitive advantage.
Four key takeaways
01
<p>Enterprises are feeling the time crunch. 84% expect agents to affect revenue within two years, but only one in three has anything live.</p>
02
<p>Agents reward what they can read. Product data has gained newfound importance, with 75% of respondents saying an agent’s ability to read their product data will count for more than years of brand building.</p>
03
<p>Consumer brands trail marketplaces by almost three to one on being found by agents.</p>
04
<p>Once enterprises go live, the barrier moves from data to economics. 19% enterprises with a live agent strategy rank product data as a top-three barrier vs. 46% of those who haven’t gone live.</p>