- Monday.com study finds almost all decision makers in retail saying they have internal AI-Expertise now
- Half agree that AI agents will soon handle most customer interactions
- Many of the same old obstacles still present challenges
New research has found nearly two-thirds (61%) of retailers now dedicated AI leadership and teams (including chief AI officers), with almost all (99%) British retail decisions reporting AI-Expertise in their business-but when this technical adoption continues to rise, many must still remind to maintain a human touch.
A survey of Monday.com found almost half (49%) of retailers also do not believe that AI tools are ready to manage the full customer travel, with even more (92%), which agrees that it is not yet to make important business decisions autonomous.
When it comes to the adoption of AI, 97% of the Monday.com survey responded to at least one obstacle despite the perceived benefits.
Retailers use AI but they also see the value of people
One -third (36%) of the respondents agreed that they use AI mainly for insight, where people eventually make the final calls. Where AI proves to be particularly advantageous across customer service (55%), the operational efficiency increases (49%) and marketing and content creation (48%).
“AI is no longer a future investment for British retailers – it’s something they are using right now to remain competitive in a high -pressure sector,” commented Monday.com UK & I Regional VP Ben Barnt.
However, 54% noticed output quality and consistency problems, with privacy, system integration and costs are also mentioned.
“AI works best when it is embedded in the system teams that are already using – when it reduces friction instead of creating more,” the Barnt added.
Looking ahead, 90% of organizations are already investigating AI agents who can take ownership of tasks autonomously, with about half (51%), which agrees on AI agents, could handle most customer interactions within five years.
Three out of four (73%) already see generative AI and chatbots that handle most of the basic customer requests, releasing people to deal with more complex and personalized questions.
“The most successful teams do not use most technically, they use it in the clearest, most integrated way,” the Barn concluded.
