New Salesforce Data and AI Innovations for Retail Help Businesses Drive Efficiency and Deliver Connected Shopping Experiences
- 83% of global retailers have seen operational efficiency improvements with AI
- 63% of marketers say that trusted customer data is important
- New tools aim to improve customer interactions, increase loyalty, drive revenue, and boost employee productivity
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Insights
The introduction of Salesforce's new AI-powered tools, particularly those that enhance the retail shopping experience, represents a significant advancement in retail technology and customer engagement strategies. From a market research perspective, the integration of generative AI into Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud has the potential to revolutionize how retailers interact with and understand their customers. The ability to optimize customer interactions using real-time data analytics can lead to increased customer loyalty and revenue.
Moreover, the operational efficiency improvements reported by 83% of global retailers upon adopting AI technologies indicate a substantial impact on the retail industry's bottom line. The emphasis on data governance and security, as part of the Einstein 1 Platform, addresses key concerns surrounding data privacy and compliance, which are critical in maintaining consumer trust.
As AI becomes more ingrained in retail, the competitive landscape will likely shift, favoring businesses that can effectively leverage these technologies. Retailers not adopting similar AI-driven strategies may find themselves at a disadvantage, particularly in terms of customer personalization and operational efficiencies.
From a financial standpoint, Salesforce's announcement is poised to influence the company's stock performance and overall market valuation. The integration of AI in retail operations aligns with broader market trends, where investors are keen on companies that exhibit innovation and potential for market disruption. The ability of Salesforce's AI tools to potentially drive revenue growth and improve employee productivity should be closely monitored by investors as key indicators of the company's future financial health.
Furthermore, the introduction of tools like Einstein Copilot for Shoppers and Global Promotion Management could lead to increased adoption rates among retailers, which in turn, could contribute to Salesforce's recurring revenue streams. The impact on Salesforce's financial results will depend on the adoption rate of these new tools and the effectiveness of their implementation by retailers.
It is important to consider the R&D expenses associated with the development of these AI tools and whether the long-term benefits justify the short-term costs. The financial performance of Salesforce in the quarters following the general availability of these products will provide valuable insights into their market acceptance and financial viability.
Introducing new AI-powered tools in the retail sector brings about legal considerations, particularly in the realm of data privacy and security. Salesforce's emphasis on data governance within the Einstein 1 Platform suggests a proactive approach to regulatory compliance. Legal professionals would be interested in the specifics of how Salesforce ensures compliance with various data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), especially since the platform will handle sensitive customer data.
Moreover, the integration of large language models (LLMs) into retail operations could raise intellectual property concerns, particularly around AI-generated content. Retailers will need to navigate the legal implications of using such content in their marketing and commerce strategies. The legal landscape will continue to evolve as AI becomes more prevalent in business operations and companies like Salesforce will need to remain vigilant in adapting to these changes.
Powered by the Einstein 1 Platform, new commerce and marketing AI for retail tools help businesses enhance shopping experiences with shopper insights, digital storefronts, AI content creation, and more
These new retail innovations are powered by the Einstein 1 Platform. The Einstein 1 Platform connects seamlessly with retail or shopper data, securely integrating with large language models (LLMs) to ensure real-time context, brand voice consistency, data governance, and security. This delivers entirely new shopper, merchandiser, and retail marketer experiences with connected data and AI powered apps.
Why it matters: Eighty-three percent of global retailers have seen operational efficiency improvements with AI, according to new Salesforce data. And
Salesforce perspective: “Companies that leverage their customer's data effectively to build trusted, connected commerce experiences will see stronger customer loyalty and profitability," said Jujhar Singh, EVP & GM, Salesforce Customer 360 Applications and Industries. "Every business must focus on driving efficiency and growth with new integrated and AI-powered innovations that enable a faster path to purchase and greater customer satisfaction.”
What’s new for shoppers:
- Einstein Copilot for Shoppers, a new extension of Einstein Copilot, is a consumer-facing version of the generative AI assistant that powers personalized conversations with shoppers. Customers can find products and make purchases faster using natural language interactions on retailers’ channels like digital storefronts and messaging apps. For example, a shopper in the Pacific Northwest can tell Einstein Copilot for Shoppers they need supplies for a camping trip. Based on existing customer data, such as the shopper’s location, preferences, and past purchases, Einstein Copilot for Shoppers can recommend a waterproof and windproof tent in their preferred color along with a link for immediate checkout.
What’s new for retail merchandisers:
- Page Designer uses generative AI-powered natural language prompts to design, build, and customize ecommerce sites and pages more quickly. For example, a merchandiser can easily build a campaign landing page for a new line of running shoes by inputting a few prompts into Page Designer to quickly generate a new web page that mirrors the branding on its existing storefront.
- Return Insights in Order Management analyzes data, looks at patterns in returns activity, and uses AI to prompt retailers to make product display changes that minimize future returns. It also uses sentiment analysis to assess commentary on product reviews and return reason codes to then recommend actions that quickly address issues with specific products.
- Inventory Insights gives digital retailers a clear view of available inventory so they can ensure products remain in stock whenever possible. With near real-time access to inventory data and insights, retailers can easily manage inventory reservations and product holds, anticipate new inventory demand, and give customer service reps product recommendations that they can add to a cart for their customer.
- Customer and Product Insights uses data from Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Data Cloud to help merchandisers better visualize trends, such as the top product bundles sold and the most engaged shopper demographics, to build new targeted commerce experiences.
What’s new for retail marketers:
- Global Promotion Management helps retailers bring together customer marketing and promotions data with predictive insights to forecast potential promotion revenue, so retailers can easily coordinate pricing and rewards initiatives for both loyalty members and non-loyalty customers. Using guided setup with pre-defined promotion templates, marketers can quickly define, launch, and distribute omni-channel promotions with discounts and loyalty rewards to better engage with their customer base.
- Referral Marketing helps brands launch referral programs and quickly improve conversion with pre-built templates and a built-in ‘Likely to Refer’ AI tool to identify customers with the highest likelihood of participating in referral programs. Brands can now review trends and fine-tune promotions to create connected experiences across interactive email campaigns, landing pages, A/B testing, and send-time personalization.
- Segment Creation helps retailers improve targeting and personalization using generative AI prompts, with trusted data from Data Cloud. Now, retailers can build new segments in minutes that can be activated across marketing, commerce, service touch points for tailored journeys, offers, and recommendations across the shopper experience.
- Content Creation for Marketing Cloud Engagement helps retail marketers solve content bottlenecks in their campaign and personalization strategy. Using natural language prompts powered by generative AI — grounded by first-party data within the Einstein Trust Layer — marketers can automatically create personalized on-brand visual content, email subject lines, and body copy at scale to improve customer satisfaction and conversion.
Customer perspective: “At Shoe Carnival, we pride ourselves on delivering fun, personalized shopping experiences for our customers and loyalty members, both in our stores and online. Salesforce’s unified platform empowers us to leverage data and AI to deliver a tailored omni-channel retail experience across marketing, commerce, service, and loyalty management.” – Kent Zimmerman, VP, ecommerce & CRM at Shoe Carnival
In addition to new commerce and marketing AI product innovations, today Salesforce announced a series of solutions for theft, media networks, employee productivity, and real estate that help retailers better manage operations and create new revenue streams.
Availability:
- Einstein Copilot for Shoppers is in pilot and will be generally available in summer 2024.
- Page Designer is currently in pilot.
- Return Insights in Order Management is generally available today.
- Customer and Product Insights Dashboard and Inventory Insights are in pilot and will be generally available in summer 2024.
- Global Promotion Management is in pilot and will be generally available in spring 2024.
- Referral Marketing is generally available today.
- Segment Creation is in pilot and will be generally available in spring 2024.
- Content Creation is generally available today.
More information:
- Discover how new Salesforce solutions use data and AI to tackle retailers’ top challenges and opportunities
- Learn more about Salesforce for Retail
- Discover Salesforce Commerce AI tools here
- Find the latest ecommerce trends and insights from Salesforce
- Read the Trends in Generative AI for Marketing report
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240114105427/en/
Source: Salesforce
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