Post the pandemic; the retail sector saw a significant rise in phygital retail. The highlights of phygital retail include seamless customer experience and personalization across all retail channels. With digital transformation in retail, there was an increased adoption of artificial intelligence across all channels. At the same time, the shopper behavior has evolved to become highly dynamic and volatile. Customers are always running short on time and want to avoid dealing with decision fatigue. Retailers must create localized, tailored, space-aware offerings that resonate with their shoppers. Technology can bring about the much-required simplicity in the inherently complex process of personalization. Recommendation engines and personalization in retail are key to its success. Now, with generative AI disrupting the technology scene with its generative qualities, let us understand how we can leverage the latest offerings from Microsoft Copilot and further transform retail processes.
Copilot’s impact on the Retail industry
According to a study by IBM on 500 major global retailers in 2022, more than 50% have adopted AI to enhance customer experiences and back-end functions. At the forefront of this transformation stands Copilot, which supports retailers globally across every retail sector. For instance, Copilot manages over 5 million customer service inquiries for Walmart every month, sorting out over 70% of issues on the initial contact itself. The result is an increase of 25% in the customer satisfaction scores at Walmart, as per their internal surveys.
Similarly, at Target, Copilot streamlines 15,000 work hours of administrative work weekly, freeing up employees’ time and adding to the revenue by 10% through enhanced merchandising efforts.
At BestBuy, Copilot’s suggestions to the development teams have reduced bug-fixing time by a staggering 50% and increased the e-commerce site’s uptime to an impressive 99.9%. The results have triggered a chain of positive impacts, surging the monthly online sales by 15% and a 25% notable rise in new customer acquisitions. Microsoft 365 Copilot is transforming retail operations at scale through such tangible impacts. Human-like assistance makes it seamless for businesses to deliver the right experiences that today’s consumers need.
Latest Copilot offerings for Retail
Online shopping Copilot – enhancing the customer experience
Microsoft has recently released innovative generative AI capabilities along with more updates to assist retailers in creating better customer experiences for their online shoppers. It includes a Copilot template (presently in preview) that allows retailers to craft personalized shopping experiences that they can later integrate into the app or website. This GPT-4-powered copilot template enables shoppers to enquire simply in natural language. The result is that the Copilot can serve the online customer in the same fashion as a physical store associate assists a buyer in a brick-and-mortar store. The copilot template also has the capability to recommend complementary items according to the customer’s preferences, increase the cart size, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Store operations Copilot – Natural language assistants
For physical stores, Microsoft has another new Copilot template (in preview) that assists store operations by enabling associates and managers to glean insights from their daily workflow. Managers and store associates can harness the Copilot to create a Gen AI assistant for themselves. Using simple natural language, they can get the answers to store-related questions, access product catalogs, store processes, HR policies, employee benefits, and much more. The store associates can also leverage their (genAI) assistant to garner customer information and build enhanced and tailored in-store experiences for their customers.
Store managers can also examine the frequently asked questions by customers and employees. By harnessing the insights, Copilot can support them in executing meaningful actions such as updating processes or providing training.
Retail analytics with Microsoft Fabric
With the unified data warehousing and analytics service, Microsoft Fabric has new data capabilities that allow retailers to glean actionable insights from their data. Harnessing these capabilities, retailers can plan, architect, and design data solutions for governance, reporting, business intelligence, and analytics. With Fabric, retailers get a unified view of their operations, get insights, and can proactively improve their business operations and customer satisfaction. For example, the analytics can show the frequently bought together items and suggest actionable, data-driven recommendations to retailers that optimize the inventory and product upselling.
Enhanced Copilot features in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
Microsoft has also released new Copilot features in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights that can help marketers craft comprehensive campaigns. Marketers can type in their natural language or upload an existing creative brief and get a centralized project board to manage and update their campaign workflows. This integration can eliminate the need for various siloed applications and save time.
Enhancing retail search with GenAI
Having intuitive search methods can be a game-changer in driving a better digital shopping experience. There is a shift in online retail- from customers navigating traditional menus to searching for what they need to getting dynamic product recommendations and a better browsing experience. For instance, Walmart curates personalized lists of items for their shoppers, leveraging gen AI. Consider a parent planning for a mermaid-themed birthday party. Instead of searching tirelessly for various items, she can ask, “Help me plan a mermaid-themed birthday party for my 6-year-old daughter.” And voila! Walmart presents the complete list instead of searching multiple times for balloons, streamers, napkins, and more. Accessibility to advanced AI models, backed by enterprise-grade capabilities in Microsoft Azure such as security, compliance, and regional availability, make Copilots a true game-changer.
Let us connect!
The retail sector and CPG brands constantly face pressure to present their customers with a seamless and personalized buying experience while addressing individual interests and needs. The latest Copilot offerings by Microsoft offer promising avenues for achieving these goals. At Saxon AI, we have been helping businesses and retailers in their efforts to modernize systems, create unique experiences, get a competitive advantage, and gain market presence across diverse channels and customer segments. If you are wondering where you can start or want to explore the possibilities of implementing Copilots or AI in your company’s strategies, reach out to us today. Our experts will help you jumpstart your copilot journey and open a new world of business potential.
