Nine months ago, our research with Retail Economics found a gap: 95% of retailers were experimenting with AI, but only 5% saw clear, scalable return on investment. We asked Richard Lim, Founder and CEO of Retail Economics, whether that gap has closed.
Short answer: not yet. Richard expects a fresh survey would land at roughly the same 5%. The conversation has shifted, though. Retailers are no longer asking whether to use AI. They’re asking where it pays back, and which models and costs make sense.
What you’ll learn in this video
- Why the ROI gap hasn’t closed. Richard sees more focus on measuring returns, and more caution about the cost of tokens and running models. Retailers are being more selective about where they deploy AI.
- Why margin is the main driver. UK retail pre-tax profit margins have fallen from about 9.5% to about 4.5% in ten years. Labor cost increases added an estimated £5.6 billion to industry operating costs in a single year. AI is increasingly seen as a way to protect margin.
- Where AI is landing first. Marketing is an early area, covering content creation, visualization, personalization, and automation. Richard hears of roles going unfilled when people leave, with AI covering the gap.
- The people side. New AI-focused roles are appearing, but the bigger shift is existing teams changing how they work. Change management keeps coming up in his conversations.
- How shoppers are changing the picture. According to Retail Economics data, 70% of consumers regularly use AI platforms and 40% use them for retail purchases. Discovery and research are moving to tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Quickfire round – Richard’s take on four statements:
- Retailers winning with AI are winning because of AI. Not quite. Business model changes like internationalization, diversification, and marketplaces are doing the heavy lifting, with AI underpinning them.
- The cost-of-living squeeze is reshaping retail more than any technology. It depends on where you sit in the market and who your core customers are.
- GenAI has changed shopping behavior more than retail operations. Increasingly yes, especially in discovery and research.
- In five years, the winners won’t have the best AI. They’ll have the most resilient business models: financially, operationally, and strategically.
Want the full data? Read the report from Voyado and Retail Economics on how retailers are using AI across marketing and e-commerce.
