Retail is an excellent example of an industry that has been transformed by technology in just a few short years. This change has been exemplified by the ongoing transition of retail from the high street to online, and the overall trend seems to be toward making retail as quick and simple as possible for customers.

One form of technology with the potential to have a huge impact on retail is AI and, more specifically, AI chatbots. In this article, we take a look at some specific examples of how retailers can potentially use chatbot virtual assistants to become more efficient and offer a better experience to their customers.

What are AI chatbots for retail?

As the same suggests, all chatbots are designed to converse with users and provide some kind of useful service. At a simple level, they offer basic answers to common questions, but they have become vastly more complex over time and now offer far more complex services.

Chatbots, or virtual assistants, for retail are no different, they are simply tailored for use in a retail setting. For example, they may be able to answer questions about specific products, deliveries, and so on.

AI has made retail virtual assistants more powerful than ever, enabling them to understand and react to a wider range of user inputs. They can also often learn over time, helping them to provide a highly personalized experience.

As they become more advanced, AI chatbots are able to automate more and more stages of the retail experience, taking pressure off retail employees and improving overall efficiency for customers and businesses alike.

Possible use cases for AI retail chatbots

Always-on customer support

The feature of chatbot virtual assistants that have, arguably, the greatest impact is the fact they are always available. Customers can contact your business at any time of day, 365 days a year with any kind of query and receive a relevant, helpful response.

Processing complaints and returns

With the proliferation of online retail in recent years, returns have become more common than ever. Retailers that can offer a seamless returns process therefore have an advantage over those that don’t.

AI virtual assistants for retail provide an accessible, easy-to-follow route for customers to request returns. Without any need for human intervention, customers can request returns and receive the necessary instructions.

Push notifications

Retailers can benefit in various ways by offering direct push notifications to customers. The main challenge with this style of marketing is avoiding the perception of pestering customers. AI chatbots can help you to get this balance right by automatically sending highly specific personalized notifications only when they are useful.

Upselling products and services

Effective upselling and cross-selling can have a huge impact on the bottom lines of retailers while also helping to make customers aware of products they may enjoy and improving their retail experience.

AI chatbots for retail can be deployed to assist with upselling and cross-selling by proposing products in a natural and relevant way. This can be enhanced by using existing customer data, and the assistants can also adapt over time to become tailored to individual customer preferences.

Order tracking and management

When customers have placed online orders, the main interaction they are likely to have with a retailer is going to be checking order status. AI virtual assistants can be integrated with ordering systems and couriers to make this as accessible as possible, offering instant up-to-date information.

Additionally, chatbots can be used by customers to make changes to orders, such as adding products, altering delivery dates, making cancellations, and so on.

Making purchases

When integrated with a retailer’s purchasing systems, AI virtual assistants can give customers an interactive and highly responsive route to browse products and even complete purchases. Many retailers use this kind of system to facilitate smooth conversions, providing customers with an opportunity to immediately buy products they have shown interest in.

Personalized and interactive recommendations

As part of any conversation with customers, AI chatbots for retail can give tailored recommendations to browsing customers in a number of innovative ways. Some retailers, such as some major clothing brands, use this concept very effectively, showing images of models and asking interactive questions about preferences to provide customers with personalized look recommendations.

How can Skil.AI improve your retail outcomes?

At Skil.AI, we create bespoke AI chatbots and virtual assistants to improve the efficiency of businesses across all industries, including retail. We build our virtual assistants from the ground up, using cutting-edge AI and machine learning technology to enable them to adapt, integrate, and automate key parts of the retail journey.

                               Talk to our team today to find out more and see Skil.AI in action

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