In the Intelligent Shopping Era, Retailers Must Use AI to Deepen Mobile Customer Engagements
The innumerable artificial intelligence shopping agents launched before Black Friday last year came at the most opportune time, as tighter spending budgets drove consumers to embrace the technology and lean on its ability to instantly discover the best gifts at the best possible prices.
Despite consumers largely being skeptical of AI, this past holiday shopping season was the catalyst for the era of intelligent shopping. Now, retailers are doubling down on AI road maps and progressing from initial adoption to maturity to keep pace with market demand and consumer interest in AI at an all-time high. This year, we can expect AI-powered engagement that delivers more than streamlined customer service. The human touch consumers still want when interacting with brands will be maintained amid conversational AI advancements.
AI is no longer a “nice-to-have” — it’s business-critical. Retailers slow to adopt risk falling behind, while those that delay expanding AI across engagement channels risk blending in with competitors. Differentiation and loyalty now depend on delivering meaningful, personalized interactions across the right channels, making it essential for retailers to align AI initiatives with their omnichannel strategies.
Intelligent Shopping: Pairing AI Maturity With Strategic Digital Communications
From orchestrating intelligent customer journeys to deploying autonomous agents that personalize every touchpoint, AI is transforming how retailers engage shoppers. These autonomous agents — powered by predictive analytics, behavioral targeting, and real-time personalization engines — are expected to manage up to 95 percent of customer interactions this year.
AI agents make decisions and take action without human intervention, dynamically curating product recommendations, optimizing shopping journeys, and adjusting merchandising in real time. Unlike traditional systems relying on predefined rules, AI agents harness purchase history, browsing behavior, inventory data, and pricing APIs, giving them intelligence to personalize product discovery and guide shoppers toward conversion.
AI agents evolved to proactively share updates with customers (e.g., delivery notifications, promotions), execute personalized retention campaigns, enable order modifications, and enhance conversational commerce. This shift has expanded their value beyond basic automation, with AI-powered messaging now appearing outside traditional customer support pages.
Implementing AI-driven messaging turns omnichannel and digital communications into powerful engagement tools, building loyalty and supporting customers throughout the entire shopping journey, even post-checkout.
Mobile messaging channels like RCS (Rich Communications Services) and WhatsApp are becoming central engagement hubs. Their rich features enable AI-powered, in-app shopping experiences that combine marketing, customer communications, and payments. High-quality visuals support product discovery; interactive tools allow shoppers to make purchases, track orders or book appointments; and branded messaging helps ensure secure communication with verified businesses.
However, a one-size-fits-all approach to AI doesn’t work. Retailers must understand their customers and meet them on the channels they prefer. For example, TikTok and other mobile-first platforms are key to reaching tech-savvy Gen Z consumers who expect seamless, mobile-native experiences. Brands targeting younger audiences should deploy AI agents on these platforms to deliver personalized campaigns and automated support where engagement is highest.
Winning in the Intelligent Shopping Era
In short, a powerful customer experience that will attract new audiences and deepen relationships with existing ones can be boiled down to an equation: the value proposition of each communication channel, conversational AI maturity, and knowledge of consumer preferences amid a changing digital landscape.
Eventually, AI will become a normal occurrence in our typical shopping experiences, spreading across digital channels to provide customized, empathetic, one-on-one interactions that result in greater customer retention, engagement and loyalty. As retailers fine-tune their AI usage, from shopping agents to customer support chatbots, it’s imperative for them to consider how their AI road maps can impact their omnichannel strategies to make the most of all digital tools they have and deliver an experience on par with customer expectations.
Krešo Žmak is the chief innovation officer at Infobip, an omnichannel marketing platform.
As chief innovation officer (CINO), Krešo is responsible for shaping Infobip’s innovation strategy and driving growth. He oversees Customer Services, Marketing and Developer Experience teams, leading company-wide change initiatives ensuring that innovation efforts are closely aligned with business goals. A key focus of his role is enabling and accelerating AI adoption across Infobip’s product portfolio and steering the organization’s broader transformation into an AI-first company. Krešo previously served as Vice President of Products and brings broad experience in product management, market analysis, customer engagement, and cross-functional leadership. He holds a B.Sc. in electrical engineering and computing from Croatia's prestigious Zagreb-based Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing.
