Retailers turn to AI for productivity, personalized shopping

2026-06-01 · Source: Information and Enterprise Technology News | CIO Dive - Www.ciodive.com · Field: Retail & Consumer Goods — Retail Technology & Operations, Customer Experience & Engagement, Retail Analytics & Intelligence · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, short

Summary

Best Buy, Gap, and Dick's Sporting Goods are actively integrating AI into their operations and customer interactions, reporting positive results in their Q1 earnings calls. Best Buy, which reported \$8.9 billion in revenue and 2% comparable sales growth, leverages AI insights and partnerships with OpenAI and Google to enhance customer experience and expand into new categories like retail media. Gap has launched AI-powered shopping tools with Google's Gemini for product discovery and fit, and uses Inspectorio's Paramo AI for supply chain traceability, contributing to a 2% increase in comparable sales for the ninth consecutive quarter. Dick's Sporting Goods is rolling out "Coach by Dick's" in June, an agentic AI advisor developed with Adobe Brand Concierge, offering product recommendations and training advice. Retailers' AI investments are growing, with 39% expecting AI to comprise over 10% of tech spend by 2028, and agentic commerce projected to reach \$1 trillion by 2030.

Key takeaway

For AI Product Managers evaluating retail technology investments, this trend confirms AI's immediate impact on operational efficiency and customer engagement. You should prioritize developing agentic AI tools for personalized shopping experiences. Also, explore AI for supply chain optimization. Your strategy should consider partnerships with AI providers like Google and OpenAI to accelerate development and market penetration. This aligns with evolving consumer expectations and competitive pressures.

Key insights

Retailers are rapidly adopting AI for both internal productivity and customer-facing personalization, yielding measurable business benefits.

Principles

• AI adoption drives productivity and personalized customer experiences.
• Agentic commerce is a significant growth area in retail.
• Strategic AI partnerships accelerate retail innovation.

In practice

• Implement AI for personalized product recommendations.
• Integrate AI for supply chain traceability and data collection.
• Develop agentic AI advisors for customer support.

Topics

• Retail AI Adoption
• Agentic AI
• Personalized Customer Experience
• Supply Chain AI
• AI Partnerships
• Retail Productivity

Best for: Investor, CTO, VP of Engineering/Data, Director of AI/ML, AI Product Manager, Executive

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Information and Enterprise Technology News | CIO Dive - Www.ciodive.com.