As inflation becomes more burdensome and, in turn, distances consumers from the products they want to buy, everyone becomes more demanding.
The thing is that the pesos left in the wallet to treat yourself are already very few and so where you put your eye the bullet has to hit.
At this point you can't fail.
This is what a recent report reveals that
evaluated the behaviors of 20,000 consumers
from various regions of the world, including Latin America.
Seven out of 10 stated that inflation has impacted their ways of shopping and
64% indicate that price is one of the main reasons why they change stores or brands
.
Additionally, 94% of consumers expressed that they are not fully satisfied with the online shopping experience and propose some ways to improve it: implement an easier way to quickly find the product they want to buy and have access to more information about the products.
The data comes from the third Consumer Study, recently published by IBM.
Will artificial intelligence (AI) be able to provide some answers?
Although only three in 10 consumers in the region have used AI to make purchases, those who have not
expressed great interest in using the technology for various aspects of their shopping experience
, including product research (91% ), customer service (88%), purchasing products (87%) and searching for deals (87%), the survey says.
Shopping experience
Many purchases begin on a PC and are carried out in physical stores.
Shopping in the modern life that we live could be divided into at least two stages, the creation of a need or
knowing what we want to buy
and, then,
the shopping experience
itself.
In the first point, the already well-known
data analysis
that we leave with our online navigation stands out.
With this data, brands can intuit what we are interested in and from there they send us advertising.
If you browse sports pages, you will see ads for sports clothing, and if you are looking for plane tickets to a certain city, travel and accommodation agencies will send a flood of ads with those destinations.
Virtual gondolas with AI
“But
with AI those algorithms can be refined
.
We all receive these ads after browsing certain platforms, but many times they are inaccurate, and what they offer you is far from what you want.
With AI that can be adjusted much more,” explains Salvador Álvarez, IBM Consulting Manager for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Is the phone listening to me?
This is what we all ask ourselves when faced with the publicity that arrives after a relaxed dialogue about a travel plan.
Many feel invaded.
Most consumers are dissatisfied with their online shopping experience.
All in all, 65% of consumers surveyed in Latin America are interested in receiving information, advertisements and offers from stores that are relevant to their specific interests.
More than half are comfortable sharing their personal information
with a brand and 31% are neutral, showing general confidence in the use of personal data, this report revealed.
Already in the second point, in the purchasing experience, the matter becomes more interesting.
And it is key to divide
purchases into specialized and massive ones
.
The first are those that include a single product that the consumer is going to look for: a car, a television, car insurance.
“Here AI is already in a position to do the search work that one usually does, but in Argentina it is still little seen.
When you go to buy a TV, you are the one who looks for the inches, whether it is 4K or not, and the AI should give you that without you looking for it.
The same thing happens with car insurance.
With AI, an integrator (Web that is responsible for comparing services from different companies to offer the most convenient one) should know where you live, how old you are and more information, and
directly give you the best options
, without you having to include that information on a form,” Álvarez specifies.
Smart refrigerators are gaining ground.
Photo: Reuters
In any case, so-called mass purchases are where AI is least present and, paradoxically, where it could be most useful.
“If you make an online purchase in a supermarket, you have to enter item by item, food by food, to add them one by one to the shopping basket.
And yet, they already have your data, for example, the products you usually buy.
That list could be placed by
default
and you can see if you remove something and add another.
The latter
could also be offered to you according to your tastes.
If you are buying wines, they could show you something new from another brand within your usual price range,” says Álvarez.
“In the United States,” he adds, “AI refrigerators
are already entering homes
.”
Equipped with cameras and sensors, these refrigerators recognize the products in regular stock that are missing and notify you what you should order from the supermarket.”
It seems like science fiction, but it already happens in other latitudes with less urgency than in Argentina.
But sooner or later, this form of consumption will reach almost everywhere.
Buy from virtual glasses
Vision Pro, the standout product so far this year.
Photo: Bloomberg
And when it comes to the future, this survey gives a prominent role to
virtual reality and augmented reality
.
Four out of five consumers who did not use them reported interest in trying them for product research.
Other uses include purchasing products (91%), customizing or designing products (83%), testing products (80%), and decorating places (80%).
This means that almost everyone is willing to put on a virtual reality headset at home to know if the terracotta kitchen furniture is going to look good or is too much.
Or what a certain car is like on the inside.
The recently launched Apple Vision Pro mixed reality (virtual and augmented) glasses are leading the way in this direction.
If they achieve relative success, new, sharper models will follow.
And it won't be long before we look for a product right there, with our helmet on.
With AI, product suggestions will come, mixed reality will allow us to “try them,” and they can be purchased with a click on a virtual keyboard.
Science fiction?
We will see.