Some of the biggest crowds at Retail’s Big Show in New York this month were drawn not by retailers, but tech executives. Groups such as Google, Microsoft and Salesforce erected stands the size of houses, while an advertising truck cruising the avenue outside the convention centre summed up the zeitgeist, its backlit cargo box promoting “AI chat that’s meant to deliver”.
Bots are learning how to shop. Sales driven by AI platforms will account for about 1.5 per cent of US retail ecommerce this year, according to a forecast by research company Emarketer, but the potential impact of the technology was the dominant topic of conference conversation.
“For years, online shopping has been about keywords, filters, drop-down menus. And scrolling through multiple pages [of search results] until you find what you want,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, who was joined on stage by Walmart’s incoming boss John Furner, told his audience at the show. “Now . . . AI can do the hard work.”