A new global study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, reveals a widening gap between shopper demands and the current retail offering.

The third biennial consumer study, “Revolutionize retail with AI everywhere: Customers won’t wait,” surveyed nearly 20,000 global consumers and reveals a dissatisfaction with retail experiences, with only 9% of consumers surveyed saying they are content with in-store and 14% content with online shopping.  

Yet technology could play an important role in enhancing the overall shopping experience, with over half of the respondents indicating they are eager for AI enhancements like virtual assistants (55%) and AI applications (59%) as they shop. Influenced by inflation, six in ten consumers surveyed also say inflation has impacted how they shop, with 62% saying that price is a top reason they switch stores or brands.

“In the face of rapidly shifting consumer expectations and the stark realities of today’s economic picture for households, the retail sector is presented with an ongoing challenge—and an unprecedented opportunity,” said Luq Niazi, Global Managing Director at IBM. 

“We are seeing that today’s consumers, faced with more choices and channels than ever, are increasingly making their purchasing decisions based on the cost and the quality of experiences that retailers provide. The IBM IBV Consumer 2024 Study underscores an opportunity for retailers to integrate AI and other technologies into both digital and physical shopping experiences to meet these changing consumer demands and their economic challenges. Leveraging advances in AI technologies, retailers can forge ahead into a new era of commerce and fulfilment, leading with innovation to create shopping experiences that are intuitive, unified, personalized and efficient.”

Noteworthy findings from the study include:

• In-Store Experience Lacks Luster: Despite a preference for physical stores by 73% of those surveyed, only 9% are satisfied with the in-store experience. Consumers surveyed want greater variety of products available (37%), more information about products (26%), and faster checkout (26%) in stores. Most consumers surveyed (65%) are supplementing their in-store experience by using mobile apps while shopping — demonstrating a trend toward a digitally integrated in-store experience. 
• Online Shopping Shortcomings: Online retail isn’t immune to criticism; two-thirds of consumers surveyed discover new products via the web, yet many have expressed dissatisfaction with their online shopping journey, citing challenges finding the products they want (36%), not enough information about products (33%), and a cumbersome return process (33%).
• Consumers Desire Digital Integration: Consumers surveyed showed a strong interest in using AI technology to enhance various aspects of their shopping. Most consumers (59%) said they would like to use AI applications as they shop and 4 in 5 consumers who haven’t used the technology for shopping reported an interest in trying it. Personalization and targeted offerings are in demand, with 52% of consumers surveyed interested in receiving information, advertisements, and offerings from stores that are relevant to their specific interests. Yet there remains a stark satisfaction gap for current AI assistant users surveyed. Only about one-third of responding consumers who have used virtual assistants are satisfied with the experience and nearly 20% were so disappointed that they don’t want to use virtual assistants again, signaling a mismatch between current tech offerings and shopper expectations.
• Economic Forces at Play: Economic challenges, particularly inflation, are influencing shopping behaviors. Consumers surveyed are seeking flexible payment options, with 55% desiring more varied payment options and 46% reporting they would like to pay for their purchase in installments. As inflation and economic uncertainty pinch pocketbooks, 62% of consumers surveyed also say price is a top reason they would switch stores or brands.

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As consumers, we have highly personalized experiences across retail, financial services, entertainment, and other aspects of our lives, and yet the healthcare experience has remained decidedly impersonal. This is despite the fact that trillions of dollars have been spent working to shift healthcare from what was a very analog industry to one that is far more digital. 

It is estimated that healthcare today accounts for a whopping 30% of the world’s data volume. Yet, capitalizing on that data to personalize the patient experience and improve care has remained elusive for most health systems. The labor-intensive nature of mining, reading, and drawing conclusions from these data sets, combined with staffing shortages, has made it infeasible to personalize care for all patients. The result is fragmented, delayed, or deferred care, leading to poor outcomes for patients and inhibited revenue growth for health systems. 

Notable, a US-based intelligent automation company for healthcare co-founded by Pranay Kapadia, is trying to change this with the help of generative AI. 

The company launched Patient AI, reportedly the world’s first use of large language models (LLMs) and GPT (the technology powering ChatGPT) to bring personalization at scale to healthcare. 

According to the company, Patient AI continuously reviews millions of data points across medical records and third-party data sets to develop a comprehensive clinical and social understanding of each patient. These insights are automatically translated into personalized recommendations that are surfaced to the patient before, after, and in between encounters through adaptive design without any staff involvement. The result is that patients are engaged at precisely the right moment to take action in achieving their health goals.

“The entire industry is talking about generative AI and ChatGPT,” said Pranay Kapadia, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Notable. “While others talk, we’ve been busy incorporating LLMs into our intelligent automation platform and the early results are incredibly encouraging. From the very beginning, we’ve embraced an iterative deployment methodology that allows us to capitalize on the rapid pace at which technology continues to evolve. Going forward, we are committed to safely deploying Patient AI into all of our digital assistant solutions to allow caregivers to practice at the top of their license.”

For example, a patient with lung cancer who frequently misses appointments due to a lack of transportation can be matched by Notable to:

• A one-click ride booking with a rideshare service
• A recommendation to learn more about a clinical trial to treat symptoms of her cancer
• An opportunity to request a refill of an expiring medication
• The option to reschedule multiple upcoming appointments into a single day

Alternatively, a patient being discharged after knee surgery can be matched with:

• A home health nurse
• A medical equipment provider for crutches
• A series of periodic questionnaires to assess patient-reported outcomes (PROs)

Notable presents all of these services to patients in an intuitively designed digital experience.

Previously, this level of personalization required teams of professionals – including care coordinators, medical assistants, and nurses – and multiple hours of work to deeply examine a patient’s clinical history, assess social determinants of health (SDOH), and manually contact the patient. Patient AI powers this level of proactive, personalized care without any increase in staff.

Using GPT to scan existing clinical documentation, Patient AI can detect missed diagnoses and comorbidities (such as aortic atherosclerosis) to further improve a patient’s care and risk accuracy. It is also able to identify lapsed insurance cards, incorrect addresses, eligible clinical trials, or costly care gaps in real-time across an entire patient population.

“We are transforming how we engage patients through highly personalized care experiences,” said Dave Henriksen, VP, Clinical Operations, Castell. “We have extended the capacity of our current workforce and equipped them with actionable insights to keep patients healthy. With Notable, we activate our patients at the right moment – without placing undue burden on our caregivers or adding more staff.”

“As an industry, it is imperative that we change the way we deliver care and that means embracing cutting-edge technology, like large language models,” said Dr. Mark Cockley, Chief Clinical Officer, ThedaCare. “Intelligent automation is at the core of our digital transformation strategy. Notable is empowering us to deliver on our Triple Aim and our mission at ThedaCare: to improve the health and well-being of our communities by empowering each person to live their unique best life.”

Source: Notable

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