News
Online retailers struggling with various issues, AI tools gaining ground
November 4, 2019
Retailers are launching AI tools at a relatively high rate, but there is still room to improve when it comes to serving hyper-personalized experiences and understanding the customer intent.
They are also struggling with a slew of issues during high-demand times, such as the holiday season, ranging from site performance to serving up personalized recommendations — both key factors in a consumer's journey when shopping online.
Those are top findings from a Lucidworks Retail TouchPoints best practices survey that outlines retailers' top concerns, such as performance, product "find-ability" and customer experience.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of retailer cite downtime, degraded site performance, and poor customer experience, as top worries during peak shopping periods, according to a press release.
"Retailers put endless pressure on themselves to create the perfect shopping experience for customers," said Diane Burley, Lucidworks vice president of content, in the release. "They know that they have a minute amount of time to prove to customers that they have the products they want. This has retailers constantly measuring to seek ways to improve.
"But what is aspirational and what is realistic? We created this survey so retailers could measure themselves against other retailers. This survey is groundbreaking because it shows the collective worries of brands doing more than $100 million in sales."
The survey found loyalty programs are by far the most common data source that brands use as part of their stack, at 76%, with point-of-sale data at a distant second (59%). Sixty percent of shoppers visit a site up to four times before making a purchase, with 40% making five visits or more before they buy.
