AI Blueprint for Retail Leaders

B L U E P R I N T PUBLISHED 2024© Marketing Artificial Intelligence, LLC 2024 Table of Contents The AI Opportunity for Retail LeadersConsider This Your Wake-Up CallThe Data Doesn’t LieAI Understanding On The RiseAI Usage Is On The Rise, TooLeaders Are Focused on Tangible Use CasesThey’re Largely Optimistic About AI’s Potential and ImpactAnd AI Is Already Producing ResultsBut Barriers ExistWhat Should Retail Leaders Do About It?355861093411 The Top Tools for AI for Retail Leaders Da Vinci from Movable InkChatGPT, Claude from Anthropic, and Google GeminiWriterCeltraAmazon Personalize1617151718 How Retail Brands Get Results from AI About Movable Ink23 The AI Opportunity for Retail Leaders Consider This Your Wake Up Call Retail leaders, consider this your wake-up call: Artificial intelligence is changing business as usual in every aspect of retail. And there’snever been more pressure from executives, investors, and boards to build a smarter Yet not nearly enough retail leaders fully understand how AI is going to disrupt andtransform their business, their marketing, and their teams. (And even fewer of them fully But the ones who do are positioned to win big. Today, forward-thinking retail leaders are already capturing massive productivity andperformance gains using AI. They’re also evolving their companies and careers tobecome far more intelligent, predictive, and data-driven, thanks to the formidable In fact, top brands like Victoria’s Secret and Lands’ End are already using AI to do things Significantly boost email click-through rates, conversion rates, and revenue persend… In short, the retail leaders who get it are actively giving themselves superpowers byapplying the right AI to the right use cases in the right way. This guide will show you how to do just that. In it, you’ll find never-before-seen data onhow marketing and retail leaders are using AI, as well as concrete use cases, tools, and We know that what’s inside this guide works—because we’ve done this before. You’lllearn that, unsurprisingly, adopting AI in your marketing is not optional—it’s a mandate;that while generative AI applications are creating efficiencies, uses in machine learningto drive increased personalization are where CMOs are prioritizing; and that AI With an abundance of experience helping retailers, the team atMovable Inkare AIexperts building the AI-native personalization solution of the future. And, the team at Marketing AI Institutehas been helping marketing and business leaders across allindustries and sectors (including retail) understand, pilot, and scale AI since 2016. So if you’re ready to get serious about applying AI to retail, you’ve come to the right Let’s dive in. The Data Doesn’t Lie The data doesn’t lie: AI is big business for marketers and retail leaders. This year, Movable Ink collected data on AI usage from more than 300 marketing leadersat medium and large firms, with the largest cohort of respondents representing retailleaders. These 300+ leaders were asked dozens of questions about how they use AI and Together, their responses give us never-before-seen data on exactly how marketing and AI Understanding Is On The Rise Movable Ink first asked leaders to rate their AI literacy. The majority (53%) said they had anIntermediate understanding of AI, which meant they knew how AI could be used for tasks likepersonalization and optimization but were not deeply familiar with how to execute these That left just 26% saying they have a Beginner understanding of AI, meaning they understandsome basic AI concepts and generally how marketers use AI. When we drill into retail leaders specifically, they’re even more sophisticated than the average.62% say they’ve got an Intermediate understanding; only 23% say they’ve got a Beginner Across all cohorts, leaders at companies with between 500 - 749 employees are most likely tosay they’re Beginner level (32%), while those at companies with 750 - 999 are most likely to be AI literacy among retailleaders is improving, butthere is still a gap. Thecompanies that test and AI Usage Is On The Rise, Too When asked how often they use AI tools in their work, 28%of respondents say they use AI tools daily, and 46% say theyuse them several times a week, totaling 74% weekly. Breakingthis down further and look at just retail leaders,they’re also above average in usage: 34% say they use AItools daily, and 48% report using them several times a week. Usage differs a bit by firm size, too. Firms with 250 - 499 employees have the lowest proportionof daily users at 18%, while firms with 1,500+ employees have the most at 39%. Firms with 750 -999 employees are most likely to say they’re using tools several times per week (64%). Among retail leaders, the biggest firms are also the ones using AI the most, with 48% of retailleaders at firms with 1,500+ employees saying they use AI daily. 62% of retail leaders at firms Also, when asked how much their teams are using AI in t