Why retail needs GenAI chatbots

Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming businesses and the ways people work, helping them accomplish tasks faster and more efficiently. GenAI chatbots offer great promise in the retail industry for both customers and employees. In fact, 75% of retail executives say GenAI is important to their business revenue growth, according to Accenture.

The problem with script-based chatbots

Many retail store associates use a script-based chatbot on a mobile device when assisting customers. Although helpful, these chatbots often function similarly to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. They have limited vocabulary and are unable to provide extensive conversations.

When using these chatbots, employees have to be very precise in their wording to get the answers they’re looking for. This makes script-based chatbots challenging to use when asking a difficult question or reporting a less common issue. Additionally, they require users to perform actions themselves, such as submitting a ticket.

How GenAI chatbots can help

GenAI chatbots, or virtual agents, go beyond FAQ pages by offering capabilities to check inventory and report issues, such as broken equipment, a water leak, or a problem with heating, ventilation, or air conditioning.

Additionally, these virtual agents can provide a more natural conversational experience. That’s because they use natural language understanding and machine learning to learn from each interaction and improve, generating more person-like responses.

GenAI-powered ServiceNow Virtual Agent, for example, uses a large language model (LLM) to decipher everyday language so that it can better understand and fulfill a store employee's needs without a person being involved.

Virtual Agent contextually and more accurately provides self-service knowledge from similar cases and knowledge base articles. If that doesn't resolve the problem, Virtual Agent can raise a ticket with minimal work.

Freeing employees to focus on customers

Conversational chatbots like this are also able to take direct action based on a user's intent. In retail, virtual agents can search AI-enabled knowledge bases for known issues or how-to articles and access automated ticketing systems, allowing employees to remain on the store floor assisting customers.

Whereas script-based chatbots require employees to fill out a form to submit a ticket, virtual agents can carry that out by employees simply typing a sentence into a mobile device. With access to the full knowledge base, a conversational AI chatbot could even provide information to resolve the issue, reducing the need to submit a ticket.

Virtual agents can provide valuable return on investment in time saved, giving retail associates a solution that helps make it easier and faster to resolve everyday challenges in the store and get back to helping customers. Retail areas that stand to benefit the most include quick-service restaurants, supermarkets, auto parts and home improvement stores, and gas stations.

Getting started with GenAI chatbots

For retail organizations looking to integrate GenAI chatbots into their operations, ServiceNow can help. In addition to Virtual Agent, we offer GenAI capabilities in Now Assist for Customer Service Management and Now Assist for HR Service Delivery.

Any AI solution is only as powerful as the platform it’s built on. ServiceNow provides the AI platform for business transformation, a single system of action for the entire enterprise. That means you don’t have to limit AI adoption to GenAI chatbots. You can extend it across your retail organization to consistently deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences.

Find out more about how ServiceNow helps connect retail headquarters, stores, and regional teams.