Source: Retaildive
Retail operators are discovering that automating customer interactions without reducing friction creates backlash. The actual ROI from enterprise AI comes from freeing up staff to handle complex issues, not from shifting labor to customers through chatbots. As routine queries get handled by AI, the strategic question isn't whether to deploy more bots, but how to redeploy human associates into higher-value roles. This reverses the cost-cutting logic that drove chatbot proliferation in 2024-2025. Retailers betting their omnichannel strategy on self-service are learning that customer experience still requires human judgment, particularly when things go wrong.