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The Current State of AI in Retail
OWNED CHANNELS AS THE ENGINE OF PERFORMANCE
Behind this door are insights from 225 senior retail marketing decision makers, representing retail brands with $50M–$50B in annual revenue and spanning small, mid-sized, and enterprise organizations navigating AI adoption at different speeds.
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Personalization delivers.
A 28% average lift in online conversions proves it.
AI is already in use.
Every marketer we surveyed is using it or planning to.
And it’s showing returns.
45% of organizations say the value they get from AI is actively growing.
And there’s near-universal agreement on what comes next.
98% of marketers say AI will make owned channels more important than earned channels in driving marketing performance, and 54% are increasing investment in owned channels over the next 12 months as a result.
Retail has high standards.
AI is helping raise them.
While AI adoption is cautious today, maturing technology and stronger data foundations will soon enable proven, highly personalized marketing at scale.
Expert insights, this way →
Where Retail Value Comes From Today
Before AI even enters the picture, it’s clear where retail value is already coming from. The pattern is simple: channels that can directly prove revenue impact get the budget—especially for larger organizations focused on attribution and performance.
Today, digital ads (45%) and AI-powered search (39%) drive the strongest attributed revenue, thanks to their ability to capture high-intent actions and deliver measurable conversion. Email and mobile, however, are being prioritized differently. Instead of pure efficiency, brands are investing in better creative and stronger customer experiences—especially in owned channels, where long-term value compounds over time.
Rather than pure efficiency, the focus has shifted toward stronger creative and better customer experiences, particularly in owned channels where long-term value compounds.
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That distinction matters. Paid channels are optimized to capture immediate demand, while owned channels like email and mobile play a longer game: building relationships, loyalty, and lifetime value. Even as paid media continues to show short-term returns, around half of organizations plan to increase investment across email and mobile channels, signaling a clear shift toward sustainable growth through ongoing customer touch points.
Priorities also vary by market and size. UK marketers lean more heavily on segmentation and targeting, while the US emphasizes experience. Smaller organizations tend to focus on website conversion and average order value, while mid-sized teams see stronger gains in acquisition efficiency.
Digital ads and AI-powered search drive the strongest attributed revenue.
Email and mobile emphasize experience, creative quality, and long-term value.
Company size and market shape whether teams focus on attribution, experience, or targeting.
How AI is being used/plans to be used to personalize marketing campaigns:
While both markets prioritize digital ads, differing strategic goals are shaping where further investment flows
Different paths to performance
US marketers chase growth, UK marketers maximize value
US respondents' priorities lie in user experience-led growth to strengthen owned channels, measuring success through attributable revenue outcomes.
Top 3 Email Marketing Priorities
Surprisingly, UK marketers don’t even rank creative or CX improvement in their top three email priorities.
55%
Improving creative and customer experience
49%
Improving channel efficiency
44%
Increasing channel attributed revenue
US marketers appear to be looking at channels more agnostically than UK marketers. This suggests a more integrated cross-channel strategy in the US market.
Top 3 mobile Marketing PrioritieS
51%
Improving channel efficiency
50%
Improving creative and customer experience
Marketers continue to prioritize revenue attribution, regardless of channel.
42%
Increasing channel attributed revenue
UK respondents focus on maximizing the value of their current customer base by strengthening loyalty through optimizing experiences across digital touchpoints.
Top 3 Email Marketing Priorities
55%
Increasing channel attributed revenue
Deliverability remains a top concern due to iOS and Gmail changes. Read more.
49%
Improving deliverability (e.g. inbox/app push reliability, etc.)
47%
Improving segmentation and audience targeting
Top 3 mobile Marketing Priorities
UK marketers continue to rely on segmentation and targeting, despite known limitations. UK marketers need to explore AI to break out of traditional segmentation gaps.
52%
Improving segmentation and audience targeting
UK marketers lean into new personalization tactics for emerging channels.
49%
Enhancing personalization
44%
Improving deliverability (e.g. inbox/app push reliability, etc.)
AI Adoption is Broad, But Uneven
AI is everywhere... Just not equally effective.
Many marketers are applying AI across every major digital channel, with the highest focus on third-party messaging apps (59%) and AI-powered search experiences (58%). That emphasis is not accidental. As discovery shifts and search behavior changes, teams are using AI to defend visibility and performance where pressure is highest.
While AI use is widespread, most organizations have yet to apply it consistently across all marketing channels.
The next wave of adoption follows the same logic.
Paid digital advertising (46%) and organic search (45%) are becoming priority areas as marketers work to protect revenue.
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Meanwhile, email and mobile remain slower to adopt AI. Not because they matter less, but because they demand precision. These owned channels are already central to customer relationships, and many teams are still experimenting elsewhere before scaling AI where mistakes are most visible.
Adoption is broad. Confidence in where AI delivers the most value is still forming.
The value organizations gain from AI depends on which AI capabilities they deploy, not whether they use AI at all
57% of marketers are using AI in email today.
But 30% have plans to.
That gap signals where the next opportunity sits.
Email and Mobile Present the Biggest AI Opportunity
On paper, email and mobile appear slower to adopt AI. In practice, they’re held to a higher standard. They’re mission-critical, deeply operational, and far less forgiving when things go wrong. Messages land directly in customers’ hands, which makes accuracy, trust, and timing non-negotiable.
That’s why this gap signals opportunity, not hesitation. Brands already applying AI in owned channels are seeing clearer performance gains and better experiences at scale.
As AI confidence grows, owned channels are becoming the engine for marketing performance.
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The difference isn’t speed, it’s intention. In these channels, AI has to work right before it works fast.
Email and mobile don’t reward shortcuts. When messages miss the mark, customers notice.
Email and mobile rank lowest in future AI adoption.
When AI works in email and mobile, it tends to work everywhere else too.
What Determines Whether AI Delivers
As AI moves from experimentation to everyday use, the barriers become more operational than philosophical.
The same theme shows up on the upside. High-quality customer data stands out as the biggest factor in unlocking AI’s value, supported by trusted, accessible data infrastructure. The takeaway is simple. Data slows teams down when it’s fragmented or fragile, and it accelerates progress when it’s reliable. In practice, data is both the bottleneck and the way through.
Privacy and compliance concerns top the list, followed closely by cost, integration challenges, and a lack of clear understanding of how AI fits into existing marketing workflows.
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These aren’t signs of resistance. They’re signs of teams taking AI seriously.
The upside tells the same story. High-quality customer data is the single biggest enabler of AI success. When data is fragmented, progress slows. When it is trusted and accessible, AI accelerates quickly, especially in owned channels where data depth matters most. Data is both the bottleneck and the way through.
43%
cite data privacy and compliance as the top barrier to AI adoption
33%
point to the high cost of AI tools as a challenge
32%
struggle with integrating AI into existing systems
100%
High-quality customer data is the top enabler of AI success
How AI is Changing Your Workday
AI is changing the day-to-day of marketing teams, but not in the way people feared. The biggest gains aren’t about replacing talent. They’re about freeing marketers up to focus on better ideas, clearer decisions, and stronger collaboration. AI takes on the repetitive work so teams can clear more space for stronger ideas, clearer thinking, and more productive collaboration.
Efficiency shows up in everyday work
56% of marketers say AI is increasing content optimization efficiency.
Collaboration feels easier across teams
55% report enhanced collaboration with technical teams when AI is in use.
Decisions come with more confidence
49% say AI supports more data-driven decision-making.
Human judgment remains essential
Strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and AI tool proficiency rank as the most important skills for marketers.
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Confidence in AI-driven personalization is projected to more than double over the next 2–3 years.
Opinions vary on whether AI’s biggest impact will be revenue, experience, or innovation.
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50% of marketers believe AI will benefit larger retailers most.
High Expectations, Mixed Convictions
Confidence in AI’s future is strong. Most marketers believe its value will grow substantially over the next two to three years, particularly when it comes to relevance. 64% are very confident AI will drive more relevant experiences in that timeframe, compared to just 30% today.
Where things get less clear is how that value shows up. Marketers are split on whether AI will have its biggest impact on revenue, customer experience, or product and service innovation. That uncertainty extends to scale, with half of respondents believing the greatest gains will accrue to larger retailers.
WE’LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS
AI rewards focus, not enthusiasm.
The teams who will see real gains are applying it carefully in owned channels, where AI has the most room to create value.
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These are the places brands already have trust, data, and direct relationships. When AI is applied with intention here, performance will follow.
Take that with you as you head out. Same door. Different decisions on the other side.
