The world of retail is constantly evolving, and with the advent of increasingly sophisticated technology, retailers are continually looking for ways to keep customer engagement high and sales higher.

AI is one of those advanced technologies revolutionizing the way businesses operate, wielded as an influential tool to enhance customer experience and drive sales. It really transforms your bottom line and catalyzes sales growth, when you use the right kind.

How AI is Transforming Industries

Increasingly, companies are turning to AI to gain a competitive edge. AI has surged across multiple industries, ranging from healthcare to finance, streamlining operations, refining data analysis, and enhancing customer service. Among these industries, retail stands out as a particular beneficiary of AI implementation, particularly its subset: Agentic AI.

Agentic AI builds on the natural language capabilities of traditional chatbots and voice assistants, but adds a critical layer: the ability to take action. Rather than simply understanding a customer's question and retrieving an answer, agentic AI connects to backend systems and executes tasks on the customer's behalf. It can process a return, update an order, or apply a promotion without handing the customer off to a human agent. This shift from informing to resolving is what makes agentic AI particularly valuable for retail, where speed and seamlessness directly influence whether a customer buys or bounces.

How You Can Use Agentic AI to Improve Your Retail Business

The difference between AI that helps your retail business and AI that frustrates your customers comes down to one question: does it resolve issues, or does it just respond to them? Across every application that follows, the pattern holds. AI that takes action outperforms AI that only provides information.

Personalized Marketing

In today's consumer market, personalization is imperative. Customers no longer appreciate generalized communication; they want tailored interactions that make them feel unique and valued. In an age saturated with advertising, AI helps businesses cut through the noise by making every offer relevant.

All forms of AI draw on customer data, from buying histories to preferences, to deliver personalized promotions. Agentic AI can use that data to recommend products based on a customer's previous purchases or browsing behavior, then go a step further by applying a relevant discount or adding a suggested item to the cart. At scale, this same data helps marketers design campaigns that speak directly to individual interests, encouraging greater engagement and increasing conversion rates. This curated approach not only enhances the customer's shopping experience but also nurtures loyalty and ultimately promotes higher spending.

Shopping Experience

As digital shopping trends continue to grow, retailers are grappling with creating an online shopping experience that mirrors the physical store visit. Agentic AI can deliver that same personalized guidance across both environments.

Imagine your customer visiting your online store. As they browse through, an AI assistant pops up, greets them by name, instantly mimicking a friendly sales assistant's welcome at a physical store. If they have questions about a product, it provides immediate answers. It can ask tailored questions based on customer responses, just like a knowledgeable salesperson, and provide personalized recommendations or upsell complementary items.

The difference with agentic AI is that it can act on those discoveries by adding items to the cart, applying relevant promotions, or confirming availability at a nearby store. In-store, the same AI can power associate devices or kiosks, giving customers that same level of personalized service.

Customer Feedback Analysis

Customer feedback is invaluable in the retail sector. It offers insights into what's working and what needs improvement. However, sifting through volumes of feedback can be daunting.

AI technologies can analyze multiple feedback channels, online reviews, comments, surveys, and identify important keywords denoting customer sentiments, both positive and negative. Agentic AI goes further by collecting data on actions, not just conversations. It captures what resolutions were attempted, which ones worked, and where customers still needed human help.

By analyzing this richer data set, businesses can quickly identify gaps in their service or product offerings and implement necessary improvements. According to the Forethought 2025 AI in CX Benchmark Report, retail companies using agentic AI achieved a CSAT of 87, and 85% said AI improved their customer satisfaction overall. This fast response enhances brand reputation and encourages customers to keep coming back, driving continuous revenue streams.

Customer Support

In today's fast-paced world, customers demand real-time support around the clock, which can be challenging and costly for businesses. Yet, with agentic AI, retailers can meet this need without exhausting their resources.

The key is whether your AI actually resolves issues or just tells customers what to do next. AI that processes a refund, updates an address, or cancels an order removes friction entirely. AI that only provides information puts the burden back on the customer. Chatbots and virtual assistants can provide instant responses to common customer inquiries, from tracking orders to guiding returns. They have the capacity to handle an infinite number of simultaneous interactions, a feat unimaginable for humans.

Our benchmark report also shows the difference agentic AI can make across every major support metric:

• Those using agentic AI achieved a 44% deflection rate, compared to 28% for companies without AI
• B2C companies using agentic AI reported a cost per resolution of $9, 44% lower than those using non-agentic solutions
• 85% of retail and ecommerce companies said AI improved their customer satisfaction scores
• 63% of companies using agentic AI saw resolution costs improve, while 62% of companies using non-agentic AI said costs were flat or rising

Additionally, many agentic AI tools can learn from each interaction, continually improving their responses and becoming more efficient over time. Companies that train AI on their own historic data report a 76% customer retention rate, compared to 72% for those using generic data. This ensures that your customers receive timely, reliable support, leading to improved customer satisfaction and a solid reputation for responsive service.

The Right AI Turns Every Interaction Into Revenue

From streamlining your shopping experience to better understanding your customers' preferences and shopping patterns, agentic AI tools can be a tremendous aid for any retail business owner. AI that takes action on behalf of your customers delivers better satisfaction, lower costs, and higher retention than AI that only provides information.

At Forethought, we take great pride in making AI technology accessible to businesses ready to take the plunge and introduce innovative solutions to their companies. Our agentic AI platform makes it easy to radically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your processes, even as a complete newcomer to the world of artificial intelligence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can agentic AI generate leads on its own?

Yes. Agentic AI removes the friction that causes customers to abandon purchases. When a shopper has a question about sizing, availability, or shipping, agentic AI answers it instantly. When they're ready to buy, it can add items to the cart, apply relevant promotions, or confirm that an item is in stock at a nearby store. That immediacy keeps momentum going toward checkout instead of giving customers a reason to leave.

The difference between agentic AI and traditional chatbots is action. A chatbot might tell a customer how to apply a discount code, but agentic AI applies it for them.

What are the main challenges in implementing agentic AI?

Because agentic AI takes action on behalf of customers, it needs to connect to your backend systems like order management, CRM, and inventory. That integration requires planning and technical expertise. Training matters too. According to our latest benchmark report, companies that train AI on their own historic data report a 76% customer retention rate, compared to 72% for those using generic data.

Working with a dedicated platform like Forethought helps address these challenges. Forethought integrates with your existing systems, meets enterprise security standards, and lets you configure exactly how and when the AI takes action.

Can agentic AI adapt to changing retail trends?

Absolutely! One of the biggest strengths of agentic AI is its ability to adapt and evolve as consumer behaviors change. Because it takes action, it learns from outcomes, not just conversations. It captures which resolutions worked, which ones didn't, and where customers still needed human help. It can identify emerging trends from data it collects and analyze customer sentiment in real time, allowing you to react instantly to changes in customer behavior or market conditions. Continuous training on your own historic data enhances its performance over time, helping it stay relevant in an ever-changing retail market.