with the help of personalized advertisements

More concrete product information with the help of AI

The Voice of the Consumer (VotC) survey shows that nearly half of consumers trust AI to gather product information, such as when making product comparisons. 'It's already quite integrated into the digital way we shop,' says le Noble. 'We don't explicitly call it AI, but the fact that you can see that 'so many others also bought this product' and read people's opinions, there's already a lot of text optimization involved. Or booking a trip and seeing how many people are looking at the same hotel room. The analysis techniques are advanced, allowing you as a potential customer to receive increasingly specific information.'

The 2024 VotC research shows that more than a third of consumers say they trust AI when making product recommendations. According to le Noble, you can quickly notice this as a consumer. 'Look at the possibilities of an AI chatbot. If you ask it for tips for a city trip and provide your budget, you can ask it for concrete suggestions. In the travel industry, they are already conducting pilots with chatbots that can book a trip for you.' Le Noble believes that these types of AI developments help customers in better decision making. 'The salesperson in the store who thinks along with you based on your customer data, AI can now also support that. Or if you want to order food, the application knows exactly what you like based on your data, and therefore you get a precise offer tailored to your wishes.'

The strong influence of digital advertising on purchasing behavior

The Voice of Consumer survey further reveals that over sixty percent of consumers are influenced by digital advertising via a retailer's website, social media, and even email when purchasing a product or service. 'It continues to evolve. Digital advertising is, of course, not new, but it only works if the customer feels heard. Sending an email without considering who your target audience is makes little sense. As a retailer, you need to look at what your customers are interested in and what they find important. Based on that information, you can become much more personal.' 

Key influential channels:

To gauge what potential customers are concerned with, advertisers often collaborate with search engines. 'If you are interested in a product, the consumer receives targeted advertisements based on recent searches. It's an economy that is not visible to the consumer, but advertisers buy keywords and clicks from a target audience at a search engine.'

Streaming services are a relatively new platform for advertisers to invest in, according to Le Noble. 'More people are watching streaming services than linear television. AI algorithms are continuously evolving, and they know exactly what you like or dislike. Streaming services see exactly what you like to watch, what music or podcasts you listen to. Through music streaming, you get annual overviews of what you listened to the most. This provides advertisers with a lot of concrete information. This way, you as a consumer are better served, and advertisers can make more accurate advertisements for the products and services they offer.'

Trust in AI versus human contact

In the areas of legal, financial, and medical issues, AI is not yet well trusted. This is not only about pure data, says le Noble. 'As a consumer, not knowing whether sharing privacy-sensitive data is wise, is understandable. But it's also a matter of trust that plays a role in these kinds of issues. Human contact is important to build trust, but brand recognition also plays a role. For example, people are more likely to accept financial advice from a well-known bank.'

An example you see now is that banks, with the help of AI, classify your expenses and can see in which categories you spend your money. Banks can then compare whether other people with the same income spend as much. However, privacy legislation does not allow this. It may take some time before there is enough trust, and we as consumers can give the bank permission to use this data, but I think it has potential.'

'Treat AI as an opportunity, not a risk'

There are concerns about the rise of AI taking over people's jobs and the associated job losses. le Noble: 'I think AI can take over certain tasks in customer service very well. But at the same time, the human component is indispensable. I see it as an accelerator of productivity because you rarely see jobs completely disappear due to AI. So treat AI as an opportunity, not a risk. The quality of AI continues to develop, and it is an important addition for retailers. This way, staff can focus more quickly on other processes that also deserve attention.'