AI at the Point of Sale

In today's retail environment, blending online and offline experiences is key to providing customers with varied and unique shopping journeys. The advent of AI technologies, including advancements in natural language processing and generative AI, offers new ways to enhance the shopping experience. These technologies are proving crucial in transforming service bots from simple cost-cutting measures to integral parts of customer engagement by generating effective 'conversational cues'. Major companies across different sectors are adopting these innovations, creating tailored AI solutions to engage customers directly on their digital platforms.

In physical stores, Digital Sales Assistant can provide customers with immediate access to product information and support, seamlessly integrating the convenience of online shopping with the tangibility of offline experiences. The challenge for retailers now lies in using these technological advances to build trustworthy and compelling customer experiences.

A critical question arises: how do consumers perceive machine-generated conversations, and what design aspects of digital sales assistants do they value at the point of sale? This research aims to shed light on consumer preferences for interacting with digital sales assistants in physical retail settings by employing Discrete Choice Experiments. By understanding these preferences, the study seeks to identify utility-maximizing designs for digital assistants that can foster trust and purchase decision making.

Quick Facts:

• AI technologies, including natural language processing and generative AI, are essential for merging online and offline retail experiences, enhancing customer engagement, and transforming service bots into central elements of customer interaction.
• Innovations in AI are prompting companies to explore tailored AI solutions for customer engagement on digital platforms, with the potential introduction of Digital Sales Assistants in physical stores to provide seamless access to product information.
• This study investigates consumer attitudes towards machine-generated conversations and seeks to identify the preferred design elements of digital sales assistants at physical stores, aiming to enhance trust and decision making.

Cooperation Partner:

Prof. Dr. Michael Jungbluth, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt

Prof. Dr. Patrick Cato, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt