The analysis, primarily based on a survey of 19,000 customers throughout 12 international locations highlights the difficulty of ‘information overload’, with 73% of customers feeling inundated by an excessive amount of selection and 75% saying they’re bombarded by promoting, leading to 74% abandoning purchases within the final three months of 2023.
Titled “The Empowered Consumer,” the analysis report affords recent insights into customers’ decision-making experiences throughout the retail, journey, and shopper items industries. Amid competing claims, messages, promoting, decisions, suggestions, algorithms, and apps, it emphasizes an pressing want for manufacturers to faucet into the transformative energy of generative AI (gen AI) to scale back the “noise” round decision-making and improve engagement, loyalty, and gross sales.
The analysis additionally discovered that most individuals (71%) see no enchancment and even see a rise within the effort and time required to make a purchase order resolution. This is comprised of the 41% who suppose it’s got tougher, and 30% who see no change. 29% suppose it takes much less effort and time.
Looking throughout classes, the analysis additionally factors to the challenges that buyers expertise when attempting to make buy selections. These will not be confined to large ticket gadgets. For instance, customers really feel much less assured about bookinga lodge than shopping for a automobile; reserving a flight is sort of as nerve-wracking as getting a mortgage and selecting a moisturizer is on par with shopping for a washer.
Reinvention within the age of Gen AI
The report states that the empowerment of customers by means of generative AI, different applied sciences and new methods of working will shift how folks take into consideration manufacturers. Companies could make basic shifts throughout discovery, conversion and loyalty to reinvent resolution making course of and the relationships they’ve with customers and the function they play of their lives. Early mover benefit shall be particularly necessary for consumer-facing corporations intent on capturing worth from gen AI throughout all elements of the enterprise rapidly, and at scale.
We count on that within the subsequent three years, the adoption of those gen AI applied sciences by customers will convey probably the most important reconsideration of what and the way they resolve to buy that we’ve got seen in a long time. Why? Because customers are telling us they’ll use conversational gen AI options to assist them analysis and purchase merchandise and experiences, and these instruments will reduce by means of the normal gross sales and advertising messaging that, to this point, has been the dominant shaper of consumption. This will seemingly be the most important alternative to realize or lose market share that shopper corporations have seen in latest reminiscence.Oliver Wright, senior managing director and world lead for Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services trade observe
According to the report, customers themselves are more and more looking for methods to lighten the workload and are beginning to see how gen AI may tackle a number of the leg work. Accenture’s remark, primarily based on conversations with executives throughout industries, is that buyers are on observe to undertake generative AI-powered advisors quickly and at scale over the subsequent two years. Indeed, half (51%) of survey respondents stated they’re open to utilizing conversational AI options.
“Gen AI has the potential to deliver the hyper-relevant recommendations to consumers in the moment, whether it is the sandwich that meets their dietary needs, the family meal that fits their weekly budget, or the personalized skincare that really meets their needs.” Wright added.
The report additionally emphasizes the significance of wanting on the core operational processes holistically and utilizing generative AI to unlock worth at scale. For instance, progressive journey corporations are inspecting how reinventing the reserving course of can act as a catalyst for unlocking worth throughout all the journey expertise.
Planning a visit can typically really feel siloed, disjointed and overwhelming as customers grapple with the massive incoming quantity of content material and promoting from competing journey manufacturers and influencers. Generative AI has the potential to simplify, speed up and enrich the journey reserving expertise, offering the sights, sounds and data and act as a ‘travel influencer’ elevating customized suggestions in actual time to assist customers really feel extra assured, knowledgeable and engaged. It can act as a artistic companion for journey entrepreneurs throughout design, analysis, and content material creation, offering extra focused and intuitive advertising so that buyers can spend extra time having fun with the expertise. However, as adoption of gen AI expertise grows, it is necessary for corporations to think about their aggressive differentiators, as experiences might begin to mix throughout manufacturers. Emily Weiss, senior managing director and world lead of Accenture’s Travel trade observe
Deepening relationships with customers
Getting the sensible fundamentals proper stays desk stakes in relation to delivering buying experiences that preserve customers coming again. The survey discovered that whereas six in 10 (62%) of customers discover some a part of the buying expertise enjoyable or thrilling, an analogous quantity (63%) felt pissed off and upset the product they wish to purchase is out of inventory.
When it involves inspiration and product discovery, customers are hard-wired for extra pure, conversational, human-to-human interactions. Gen AI affords an opportunity to seize all the buying journey, from inspiration to ideation to transaction, as a part of a single, seamless, pure dialog. For retailers, gen AI offers the chance to maintain the buyer inside their branded expertise by linking product suggestions to stock that’s in-stock and able to be added to the buying cart, to not point out the chance to get extra perception into their current buyer base for loyalty packages and upselling alternatives. Jill Standish, senior managing director and world lead for Accenture’s Retail observe
About the analysis
Accenture’s Consumer Pulse Research 2024 explores how shopper sentiment, behaviours and expectations are driving change for consumer-facing industries. This 12 months’s analysis affords insights into shopper resolution making, with a specific deal with the implications this can have for the buyer items and companies, retail and journey industries. Online focus teams have been held throughout the week of October 30, 2023 within the USA, UK and India to research our preliminary hypotheses. These have been then examined by surveying a consultant pattern of 19,050 customers from 12 international locations: UK, USA, Greater China, Australia, Canada, India, Germany, France, Spain, UAE, Brazil and Japan. The survey was performed on-line and was performed between December 6 and December 12, 2023. Analysis allowed for comparisons throughout varied demographic components equivalent to age, or earnings, in addition to behavioural attributes like a person’s typical decision-making model. It additionally included centered deep dives on the challenges confronted by customers alongside the buyer journey for eight classes: magnificence merchandise, OTC cures, groceries, snacks, clothes, shopper electronics, flights, and resorts/resorts.
About Accenture
Accenture is a number one world skilled companies firm that helps the world’s main companies, governments and different organizations construct their digital core, optimize their operations, speed up income development and improve citizen companies—creating tangible worth at velocity and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led firm with roughly 733,000 folks serving shoppers in additional than 120 international locations. Technology is on the core of change at present, and we’re one of many world’s leaders in serving to drive that change, with robust ecosystem relationships. We mix our energy in expertise and management in cloud, information and AI with unmatched trade expertise, useful experience and world supply functionality. We are uniquely in a position to ship tangible outcomes due to our broad vary of companies, options and belongings throughout Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, along with our tradition of shared success and dedication to creating 360° worth, allow us to assist our shoppers reinvent and construct trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° worth we create for our shoppers, one another, our shareholders, companions and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.