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'Nobody Wakes Up Wanting To Chat With A Retailer'

'Nobody Wakes Up Wanting To Chat With A Retailer'

Published 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Description

We've spent the last year watching retailers race to launch AI shopping assistants, but I think we're asking the wrong question. Instead of obsessing over who has the smartest chatbot, we should be asking: What job are shoppers actually hiring these AI assistants to do?

In this episode, I unpack insights from a fascinating recent conversation on Jason Del Rey's newsletter The Aisle with former Amazon and Walmart product leader Mukesh Jain, explore why "nobody wakes up wanting to chat with a retailer," and explain why the future of AI shopping may have far less to do with conversation than we think. Along the way, I revisit one of my own predictions about retailer AI, and explain why recent research has changed my perspective.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

00:00 – Why Clayton Christensen's "Jobs to Be Done" framework is still the best way to think about AI shopping assistants.

02:15 – The three distinct shopping jobs AI needs to solve, and why chatbots aren't the answer for every one of them.

03:32 – The quote that changed how I think about retailer AI: "Nobody wakes up wanting to chat with a retailer."

06:00 – Will ChatGPT and Gemini win shopping discovery, or can retailers build assistants shoppers actually return to?

08:28 – Why I changed my mind about Amazon Rufus, and what Kantar's latest research revealed about what consumers really value.

10:00 – My biggest takeaway: today's retail AI chatbots are just the beginning, not the finished product.


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