Workforce Skills Forecast 2025 The state of CX in retail To understand how AI is reshaping CX, ServiceNow conducted an extensive global study of 34,000 customers, customer service representatives, and executives—including 460 retail leaders. of executives agree AI in CX will provide a critical advantage over competitors69% 47% of executives say poor customer experiences have led to high customer churn Speed and empathy Tech and humans Organizations need to find the right balance between digital and human communication channels. 58% cite lack of empathy as their top frustration, yet only 20% of execs recognize it as a challenge expect improved future speed & efficiency from AI53% prefer self-service before speaking to a service rep75% still want phone calls, but only 4% of executives will prioritize this channel in the next 3 years88% What customers want Time for customer engagement Service reps spend much of their time on AI-solvable tasks such as admin (16%), reporting (12%), summarizing call notes (10%), and chasing teams (7%). Connected systems 80% of service reps must log in to three to five systems to address one customer issue What service reps need say inconsistent customer data views are a top challenge43% of service reps time is spent taking care of customer issues 45% only 9,118 3,515 18customers* service reps retail executives countries 460 * All customers included the analysis have interacted with a retail company in the last 12 months. Service rep data is not industry specific. RETAIL Execs must do more to align AI strategy with customer priorities RETAIL FINDINGS AI delivers maximum value when it works for people. Those who reimagine CX around a connected enterprise, empowered service reps, and human-centered experiences will drive customer retention and growth. Here are six best practices organizations can embrace: Six strategies for the human + AI era 1 Rethink how you measure CX success 2 Go beyond AI co-pilots 3 Tap into autonomous AI for self-service 4 Prepare CX teams for the agentic AI era 5 Deploy strategic CRM as an experience platform 6 Unite data to fuel AI-driven experiences Dive deeper into each strategy and discover more expert insights at servicenow.com/cx-ai-era Top four customer values in CX Retailers' progress improving each area through AI* 01 Responsiveness 02 Trustworthiness 03 Security & privacy 04 Frictionless interactions 42% 49% 42% 39% What retail executives are missing of executives have made significant progress connecting people, data, and departments via AI-enabled workflows35% only 40% have optimized CRM to unify issue resolution across the customer lifecycle only The disconnected enterprise * Midway or advanced in AI implementation The CX Shift