In this episode, I'm going to explain to you how not to
use AI in retail businesses.
Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan.
I'm Catherine Erdly, and this podcast is here to share retail industry
trends, insights, and best practices for you, the retailer who's serious
about building something that lasts.
This episode is all about how you use generative AI in your business.
Why do I make that distinction?
Well, because there's a lot of chat about AI in retail at the moment, and
a lot of that revolves around agentic AI, which I'm going to be covering
in an episode coming up shortly.
In today's episode, what I really wanted to talk about was you as a business owner
using generative AI in your business.
This is about ChatGPT style tools or Claude, and it's also about AI
built into many of the tools that you've been using, like Shopify,
email platforms, or accounting tools.
And what I'm seeing is that almost everyone is experimenting and
lots of people are wondering what else there is that they could
be doing, and perhaps what...
starting to wonder what the pitfalls might be.
So I'm gonna be talking in this episode about how people are using AI
right now, some of the different use cases, and also some of the reasons
to be cautious and some of the things that I've started to see have become
a bit of an issue in some of the businesses that I work with day to day.
So let's start off with the numbers.
And as usual, these vary wildly depending on how you define using AI.
And what that looks like in practice is that 16% of UK businesses are formally
using AI according to government data.
But if you think about it informally, around 50 to 70% of SMEs are using it
according to surveys like the British Chambers of Commerce and Intuit, who've
done a fair amount of research themselves.
And up to 80% of SME decision-makers are saying they've used it in
some way according to research done by Enterprise Nation.
So what this really means is that people saying that they're using AI
is often about writing emails faster.
It's not as deeply embedded yet, but it is becoming the norm. So what
are people actually using it for?
Well, the first main use case that we're seeing for generative AI in
retail business is as an assistant as opposed to a replacement.
So people are actually using it for writing support.
They are using the Shopify tools to help them with product descriptions.
They are getting it to draft them emails, to come up with subject lines for their
newsletters, to help them create social media captions, and to write blogs.
They also might be using it for things like customer communications, so FAQs.
And a lot of people that I've spoken to actually use AI, the number one
thing that they use it for, is to take awkward customer messages and to help
them rewrite it or to come up with a way of diplomatically responding to them.
People are also using AI for a lot of admin, so meeting summaries,
note-taking, and some basic organization.
Another really important role which I think AI can be very good for is
idea generation, so content ideas, campaign angles, or planning prompts.
So what we're seeing with a lot of independent retailers, and I'm sure this
will be a no surprise to anybody, is that they're using AI to help them save time.
Because if it's one thing that I know about independent retailers and
brands is that you are time poor.
I'm sure that you have felt that a lot in your own business So product
pages, let's just talk about those for a minute because that is a major use case
that we're seeing in terms of what people are actually using generative AI for.
And this is important because of the other side of AI, that agentic AI
that we're gonna talk more about.
But AI tools are increasingly reading your product pages, interpreting your
business from the information it finds there, and then using that information
to help with product recommendations, which means that your product descriptions
now need to explain clearly what the product is, who it's for, why it's
useful, and what makes it different.
So weak product pages or product pages without a lot of information
on it can almost become invisible under agentic AI.
So this is where you can really use AI tools to your advantage because
previously I know before the advent of ChatGPT or other generative AI tools,
that writing product descriptions was one of the most tedious, long-winded tasks
that a lot of retailers went through.
And now with, with these tools, we can have an advantage.
You know your products better than anyone, so you can work on it to come
up with product pages that reflect them.
AI rewards clarity, not fluff.
But the one thing that I would say is even though it is easier than ever to
come up with AI descriptions for your product pages, I still think that you
need to really put into it all of your knowledge and all of your thoughts about
the product, why you picked it, and it's gonna come onto something I'm gonna
touch on later, which is the best use for AI is when you give it really detailed
prompts and it can help a lot from that as opposed to just asking it to come
up with generic product descriptions.
But it is useful because you can give them long prompts, and then you can ask it to
format all of this information in a way that means that the product description
will be read more easily by other AI agents. So another place that we're
starting to see people really leaning into when it comes to AI is summarizing
sales data, spotting patterns, identifying best sellers, flagging slow-selling
stock, sense-checking decisions.
And tools are increasingly built into platforms like Shopify, where the
sidekick has now become, frankly, a lot more helpful when it comes to finding
the information that you actually want.
However, this is an area that I've seen both the most advanced but also some
of the biggest issues that I've seen crop up, and that is because a lot of
people have what I call messy data.
So messy data is where there aren't really clear product hierarchies, the
information is not really categorized very well in a way that means that
the analysis is actually that helpful.
So if your categories are inconsistent, and especially if your stock
information is wrong, then all of these capabilities with the AI, they're
just not actually going to help you.
And a lot of the time we need better inputs to have better outputs, and a
lot of the work that we do with Stock Doctor actually ends up being around
cleaning data, making the setup more strategic, making sure that the stock
information's more accurate so you can actually start to leverage it properly.
I would also say that a lot of people have started using it for
that top-level strategy, and there is definitely a confirmation bias in AI.
So we're seeing lots of people asking it, you know, "Should I do
this?" And it, generally speaking, will tell you that it's a good idea.
I definitely see that AI is still very much more tactical as opposed to
strategic, so it is giving you specific answers to specific questions, but
it's not always seeing the full picture
So customer service is another area that people are really leaning into with AI,
and it's being used for handling repeat questions, delivery updates, returns
information, basic recommendations.
So again, with this particular use of AI, I think it's important to look
at what it can do and what it can't do and where it can really help.
And I think, again, as I've seen in lots of other areas of people's businesses, it
works really well when there's a blend.
So you don't want to risk losing the personal touch, you don't
want to sound generic, and you don't want to damage trust.
Your advantage as an independent retailer or brand is personal connection, so
you don't want to automate that away.
That said, you can look at it as what I would call a triage approach.
So even pre-AI, around 80% of queries, the research shows that around 80%
of customer queries could be handled by some kind of automated response.
You know those, the kind, the where is my parcel, how long is the delivery date,
if I order it today, when will I get it?
All of that kind of thing.
So probably 80% of all of those have always been able to be automated,
but now with a lot of plug-ins, AI-powered chatbots, things like
that, it's probably easier than ever to automate the more basic requests.
But what people are really leaning into is where you're using AI to triage the
most basic questions, but then very quickly being able to put a human on
to deal with that 20% of queries that just can't be solved that quickly.
So earlier this year, I spoke to Sarah from Artichoke, and she won
the Boutique Star Award for Online Retailer of the Year, and she, for
example, and her team, after somebody places an online order, they call them.
They call every single customer who places an order because they're
able to take the efficiencies from technological advancements, but then
they're keeping that human element.
And I think that that's where AI works really, really well in retailers is
where you can use those advancements, as I said, to really triage the majority
of those queries, but then make sure that you have got that human touch
ready to go and maybe even more ready to jump in because they have got the
time to focus on a fewer number of maybe trickier problems to solve.
One area that is really controversial, and I think the jury is still out
on in retail, is AI for imagery.
It has its use cases for sure, things like mock-ups, things like backgrounds,
campaign visuals potentially, and maybe using it for concepts.
I've seen a lot of people use AI to almost create very bespoke vision boards
for a remodel or a new store or an idea of what a new product range might look
like, and I think that's really useful.
I think obviously AI imagery is appealing in terms of saving time and saving money,
but I think that there's still a real concern here with things like is it
accurately representing your product?
So it would be brilliant if we could get to the point where you could take
a photo of one product once and then be able to use AI to replicate that
across all of the different colors.
But at the moment, I think that still you would have to be so certain that
something that you did that with would then be correctly represented
so that when the customer receives that item, they weren't disappointed.
That could lead to higher returns, that could lead to loss of trust.
And also, there's this feeling of these off visuals that
customers can't quite explain.
And I've been seeing this rise of certain websites where people have
used AI for all of the photography, including putting up fake photos of the
shop owners to make it look like it's an independent retailer when actually
it's ... Well, it may be an independent retailer, but it's not UK-based even
though it says that in the name.
And I think that there is a slight fear that if you find a, a website
and it feels like the images are AI produced, then it really does give a
level of trust or it drops a level of trust from the consumer right away.
So I think that AI imagery is just something that we have to be really
careful with and to really, really understand what it can be used for,
what's working, and what's not.
And it may well be that it's something that is great for doing touch-ups,
but not yet a replacement for real product imagery, and certainly not real
photographs of you as the shop owner.
And there's also this uncanny valley effect, which is that sort
of visuals being slightly off, which can really affect people's trust.
Because people are really looking for signals that you're a real brand, that
you're a real person behind the brand, that it's a real company, that it's
not a spoof website, that their money's gonna be safe if they spend it with you.
So imagery is a, a really strong, powerful way to prove that.
So I would say that of all of the uses of AI in independent retailers, imagery
is one that is probably potentially the one that we have to really look at the
most and think carefully about what you want to do So most retailers are not
necessarily using AI to build systems, even though now what we're seeing,
it's crazy the speed of things change.
People are able to build apps by themselves, for example, things like that.
They're not necessarily looking to automate everything, but they do
want less admin, faster output, and definitely help getting started.
So if I had to describe the mood of a lot of independent retailers when
it comes to AI, I would say that people, a lot of people are curious,
slightly skeptical, and some people are feeling kind of over the hype, and
maybe that's how you're feeling too.
It's an interesting topic, and we haven't even really touched on the environmental
concerns or people's ethical concerns about using AI, which a lot of people
have very strong feelings about.
So I would say that at the moment, AI in independent retail, it feels like a
lot of people, as I said, are exploring, trying things, seeing what works.
So what would I suggest that you don't use AI for?
Well, I do think that you need to be careful with fully AI written
content, because people are much better at spotting AI now.
Even subconsciously, people notice if the tone feels off, if the
structure feels repetitive, or if the language feels generic.
So for example, I'll use this example from my own business as well.
A couple of years ago, I used one of the early AI tools to help me
revise my onboarding email sequence, and I was able to make it sound more
enthusiastic, which is something that I sometimes find a little bit hard
in the written word to really convey excitement, passion, et cetera, et cetera.
So I'd used this tone adjuster, as it were, from AI, and recently
I was re-editing it to make sure it was all still accurate, and
honestly, I was completely mortified.
And, and in fact, if you've ever received these emails from me, then
I apologize, because it... The shift already from what feels acceptable, it
is now... It was so clearly AI written.
It had, it had rocket emojis and confetti cannon emojis all over it,
and I feel like what passed even a year ago doesn't necessarily pass now.
So at the time, everyone, when it first came out, we were all just so excited.
It was like magic.
I mean, it still is like magic, a lot of it.
But a lot of people used it for a lot of things, and now because it's so
ubiquitous, everyone just knows that there's so much AI out there, that I
think that w- I'm actually seeing a lot of people reverse AI text in their business.
In other words, take it out and write it instead.
So I would say watch your numbers closely.
If you're using AI heavily, check your email open rates, check your
click rates, check your conversion.
I'm already seeing people, as I said, removing AI written text and actually
seeing their performance improve.
So if something drops, I would just ask yourself, "Does this actually
sound like me, or does it sound like everyone or everything else?"
So what I think AI has absolutely meant is that a lot of retailers should no
longer or should ever have a situation of been sitting there and thinking, "I
don't know what to do. I don't know what ideas I should do. I, I can't think of
any ideas for my next email, my next campaign." You absolutely 100% can use
AI to help you generate those ideas.
It's really, really good for ideas.
It's really good for structure, and it's really great for getting started.
But your voice is your differentiation and is your brand.
My favorite approach or what I've seen people using and that works
really well is to talk it out.
So voice note it, brain dump it, and then get AI to tidy it up.
Because there's a huge world of difference between spending 10 or 15 minutes brain
dumping your thoughts around a topic, thinking what you feel about something,
what you'd like to say, all of the kind of things that you'd like to get across to
your customer, and then asking AI to put it into some post ideas or to clean it up.
That will get you a lot closer to where you want to be than if you just say to
a generic tool, marketing tool, "Create me a marketing campaign." The more you
can put into it, the more likely you are to get something out that sounds close.
I would say as well that I would be very careful with using
AI to- for decision-making.
It definitely has a confirmation bias problem.
If you say, "I think I should do X," it will say, "Yes, that's a great
idea." It struggles with nuance, it struggles with context, and it
struggles with seeing the whole picture.
And it can miss really obvious practical issues.
You can ask it to challenge you, to ask questions, and you can ask
it to summarize your thinking.
It can be a really powerful tool to get it ... To, to say to it, "I want you
to challenge me. I want you to ask me a whole load of questions," and for you to
verbally process whatever decision it is that you want to make, rather than just
asking it to give you the right answer.
So using it for thinking and rather than deciding is a better
case, in my opinion, for using AI.
So it's very different to talk for 20 minutes and process out loud and
then get it to summarize it for you than it is to tell me what to do.
So this is how I put it in 2026.
There is no reason at all to sit in front of a blank page.
But there is every reason to sound like yourself.
The retailers who get the most from AI won't be the
ones who hand everything over.
They'll be the ones who use it to think better, move faster, and stay distinct.
Thank you so much for listening.
Don't forget to like, follow, or subscribe, depending on where you
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Why not come over to Instagram at Resilient Retail Club and tell me
what you thought of today's episode.
And then in a couple of weeks' time, we're going to be talking
about agentic AI, which is when it's actually the robots doing the shopping