Do consumers want AI and AR in their mobile apps?

There might yet be a way to drive consumer adoption of retailer apps, at least according to a recent study by app developer Apadmi, which indicated that consumers are looking for artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) as additions to apps. The study surveyed 2,000 users and found that 30 percent indicated they would like to see more innovation in mobile apps, as reported in Bdaily. Additionally, 26 percent said they wanted to see AI in shopping apps and 29 percent thought retailers should invest in AR and VR platforms. While those numbers aren't overwhelming, they do perhaps indicate that boosting the level of technology could increase the appeal of retailer apps with a meaningful segment of consumers. Retailers have had difficulty getting customers to download and use their apps. A comScore study last year revealed that almost half of customers didn’t download a single app in an average month, as reported on RetailWire. The study indicated that mobile users tend to stick to a few apps, with nine out of 10 minutes spent on their top five favorites. Apps such as YouTube, Facebook Messenger and Instagram, as well as the then-popular Pokémon Go, ranked as some of the most popular. While retailers have rolled out some AI-based tools — such as customer service mobile sites that leverage IBM’s Watson — they have still not figured out how to successfully fold AR into the shopping experience. Implement AR in a way that actually improves shopping rather than disrupting it has been a big challenge for retailers. But if the Apadmi survey is correct, it’s incumbent upon retailers to crack this nut if they want to get customers’ eyes away from the more popular apps and over to their own. Some retailers have begun experimenting with AR in order to increase their appeal to a tech-savvy shopper base. Gap, for instance, which has struggled to regain relevance in recent years, recently announced it was testing a virtual dressing room app which allows customers to see clothing superimposed over virtual mannequins with different body types.

• Consumers want more retail apps to incorporate AI and AR – Bdaily
• Why aren’t more retail apps being downloaded? – RetailWire
• Can augmented reality solve the virtual dressing room problem? – RetailWire
• Will IBM Watson help customers make better choices? – RetailWire
• When will AR and VR become “realities” at retail? – RetailWire