The IT Nerd

Salesforce’s latest Connected Shoppers Report highlights how retailers are feeling pressure as costs mount, customer expectations rise, and technology gets increasingly complex.

Canadian retailers are turning to AI agents to improve customer experiences and beat the competition. In fact, 60% of Canadian retailers say AI agents will be essential to compete within a year. A seamless shopping experience is critical for retailers as they face economic uncertainty and more complex shopping behaviour. With more unified data, AI agents can provide more personalized and real-time responses – improving efficiency and shopper experience.

Further findings include:

Shoppers show readiness for the AI era

• 35% of Canadian shoppers have used AI for product discovery.
• Canadian shoppers are interested in using AI agents for:

• (72%) optimizing loyalty points 
• (67%) answering questions for faster customer service
• 63% of Gen Z global shoppers are interested in agents purchasing items on their behalf.

Retailers see AI agents as a way forward

• 65% of Canadian retailers say they’re increasing AI investment this year.
• As AI agent adoption continues, customer service emerges as retail’s top agent use case followed by merchant assistance and marketing.
• Over three quarters (81%) of Canadian retailers say inefficient processes and technology drain store associate productivity.

Methodology

Data in this report is from two double-anonymous surveys conducted November 27 through December 26, 2024. The surveys generated responses from 8,350 shoppers and 1,700 retail industry decision-makers across 21 countries in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, including 500 shoppers and 100 retail decision-makers in Canada.

This entry was posted on March 27, 2025 at 9:50 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Salesforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.