- Customer service and marketing are the main use cases for AI in retail
- Inventory management and supply chain are a major priority for the future
- AI maturity is actually very low – it is a largely untapped area and poised for strong growth.
More than two in three retailers (70%) are testing or have partially implemented agentic AI and as many (71%) expect the technology to help improve operational efficiencies as early as next year, according to a new Fluent Commerce report.
However, even though 12% have already seen a strong impact, only 8% have fully deployed AI in their operations.
Another added challenge: Only 5% consider their AI systems mature and optimized, but there are many other barriers to successful retailer AI deployments.
Retailers are optimistic about agentic AI
Figures show that 88% of retailers recognize the role of agentic AI in remaining competitive with their competitors, but ethical/regulatory concerns (43%), customer trust and transparency (43%), data quality and integration issues (39%), and lack of skills (36%) are preventing them from going all-in.
“Retailers are clearly investing in AI, but moving from pilot to full-scale deployment is proving more complex than expected,” comments Nicola Kinsella, Director of Strategy.
Currently, the majority of AI in retail is focused on customer service, chatbots (56%), and personalized marketing (46%). But we could be on the cusp of a major shift as retailers begin to explore the use of AI in their operations.
Kinsella credited agentic AI with the ability to “see the full operational picture,” such as order exceptions, processing speeds and fulfillment locations, delivery delays and much more.
Nearly a third plan to deploy agentic AI in inventory management (30%) and supply chain optimization (32%).
Not only do these new AI opportunities for retail businesses present new areas for productivity improvement, but in the future, retailers clearly expect to see more value in AI-enhanced administration rather than AI-enhanced creativity.
By letting human workers develop the best strategies, AI can be driven to generate useful insights and actions from existing data: “With the right data and thoughtful deployment, retailers can realize real, measurable benefits from AI. »
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