Innovative Retail Tech Engages Savvy Shoppers

By Meghan Stabler, SVP of Marketing at BigCommerce

Over the last year, the omnichannel data approach made its debut, turbocharging existing omnichannel strategies that brands and retailers rely on to connect with savvy online shoppers and to stay competitive.

Enter new technologies such as AI which have bolstered the omnichannel model into a data feed management powerhouse giving retailers a new way to drive better ad performance and sell more products.

In 2024, AI will continue to play a significant role in shaping the customer journey. The retailers and brands that will come out on top are those that double down on generative AI. While AI is used to drive efficiency and cut operating costs, retailers today are using the technology to elevate the individual shopping experience through data-driven personalization and customer service.

The potential applications of generative AI are endless, but the key to truly harnessing its power lies in effectively integrating the technology with a comprehensive customer data set. This approach not only enables detailed customer segmentation based on individual needs, desires and preferences but also aids in offering personalized product recommendations and targeted messaging. Businesses that adopt this tailored approach are more likely to see a notable increase in customer engagement and loyalty.

To excel and stand out in today's crowded online landscape, brands, retailers and agencies require effective product feed management, bolstered by AI. This technology not only optimizes product listings for each shopping destination but also enables the syndication of optimized feeds to hundreds of global channels. Additionally, it ensures the synchronization of orders, inventory and product data across various systems. Through AI-driven product categorization offered by companies like Feedonomics, a BigCommerce company, retailers can enhance search accuracy, yield a greater return on ad spend and prevent products from being undiscoverable or incorrectly categorized in search results. In the context of potentially tighter budgets, expect to see brands get more strategic by using data to optimize and prioritize channels for reaching customers.

Retailers will also need to balance delivering a personalized experience, while also focusing on investing in the channels with the best return on ad spend. Rather than inundating customers with a blanket brand message or generic product offering, a well-executed omnichannel strategy places the customer at the heart of the experience and allows brands to meet customers where they are with precisely the product they desire.

The market has been marked by uncertainty for the last few years, and this is likely to continue into 2024. With that as the backdrop, brands and retailers are going to be cost-conscious when it comes to tech investments. That doesn’t mean they won’t make investments where needed, but they will increasingly embrace composability to deliver the flexibility to add and subtract from their tech stacks as priorities and conditions change.