August 22, 2025
High Costs and Data Gaps Stall Retail’s AI Drive for Better CX, Report Reveals
Retailers are investing significant resources in artificial intelligence, but many are discovering that the path to enhanced customer experiences is slower and more complex than anticipated.
The 2025 State of AI in Retail report from Amperity shows that adoption is already widespread. Forty-five percent use AI daily or several times a week, while only 16% haven’t deployed it at all. Sales, marketing, and customer support are the business areas leading the charge. Yet 43% have extended AI into customer-facing applications, where it could directly improve loyalty and lifetime value.
High Costs and Limited Skills
The biggest barriers to AI adoption are financial and technical. Almost 50% cite the high price of AI tools as a major hurdle, while 35% point to a lack of in-house expertise. Even among companies confident in their readiness, 58% say they are prepared to scale AI; many hesitate to apply it where customers will notice.
Industry experts caution that this hesitation often stems from focusing on the technology itself rather than the customer. As Brian Johnson, Chief Business Officer at UJET, notes, too many retailers see AI adoption as the goal instead of redesigning the service experience around customer needs.
“Customer service shouldn’t be a department, and the first priority shouldn’t be the AI. It should be the customer experience with AI supporting it,” he says.
Customer data is another common sticking point for companies. Although 64% of respondents believe their data is structured enough for AI use, a majority (58%) admit it is still fragmented or incomplete. Only 21% feel very confident they can interpret customer behaviour accurately. Fragmented data is raising IT costs (32%), delaying decision-making (27%), and increasing risks from human error to compliance issues.
CDPs Make the Difference
According to the report, retailers with customer data platforms (CDPs) are far ahead in adoption. Sixty percent of these organisations use AI daily or several times a week, compared to only 29% of those without. They are also more than twice as likely (22% vs. 10%) to have rolled out AI across multiple business units.
With margins under pressure and tariffs adding uncertainty, the ability to use AI effectively could define who gains ground in the months ahead.
