Category: Customer Experience

From Champagne to Sweatpants: What Consumers Are Cutting to Afford Groceries

According to Blue Yonder’s latest survey, as many as 85% of consumers worldwide are worried about the continued rise in grocery prices. Conducted across key markets including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), and the Middle East, the...

Gift Cards Are the New Currency, And Everyone’s Cashing In

Despite persistent economic uncertainty, American consumers are planning to buy more gift cards in 2025—10% more than they did in 2024, according to new research from Blackhawk Network (BHN). With inflation and cost-of-living pressures still top-of-mind, gift cards are becoming...

Starbucks Equips Baristas with AI Assistant to Speed Up Orders and Cut Downtime

Starbucks is introducing a generative AI assistant, Green Dot Assist, built on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI platform, to help baristas answer questions, solve equipment issues, and streamline service in real time. The assistant is already in pilot at 35 locations, with...

HSBC UAE Brings Customers into the Decision-Making Process with Online Community

HSBC has spent the last two years getting closer to its customers. Starting in January 2023, the global bank embarked on a massive culture change programme called CARE. The scheme sought to instil customer-centric behaviour in its 45,000 employees, across...

AI or Goodbye: The New Rules of Customer Experience in 2025

According to Verint’s new State of Customer Experience 2025 report, 86% of U.S. consumers now recognise the value of artificial intelligence in customer service interactions. Among 18-to-34-year-olds, that number soars to 98%, signalling a major generational shift in expectations.AI isn’t...

Dear Customer, This Message Was (Probably) Written by AI

In 2025, nearly every business customers interact with will be using AI to communicate with them, whether they notice it or not. New research by customer engagement platform Sinch, which surveyed 1,600 business leaders and 2,800 consumers across sectors, including...

Instacart Turns Pinterest Pins into Purchases with New Retail Media Integration

Instacart and Pinterest are joining forces in a new retail media partnership that will bring shoppers even closer to their favourite items in the moment of inspiration. The collaboration will make Pinterest ads directly shoppable through Instacart, turning discovery into...

AI Knows What You Want to Buy, And Shoppers Are Here for It

A new report by Bloomreach reveals how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way consumers shop online — and it’s making the experience feel more human than ever. Titled How AI Is Teaching Us to Shop Like Humans Again, the report...

Zoom Reimagines Customer Service with Self-Solving Virtual Agent 

Zoom has announced the launch of Zoom Virtual Agent 2.0, a new upgrade to its AI-powered customer service solution. This next-generation release brings intelligent, autonomous support capabilities across chat and voice, ushering in a new era of self-service with advanced...

Why Agentic AI Systems Are the Next Big Shift in CX

In the current race to embed AI into every facet of business, one term is rapidly gaining traction in the customer experience (CX) space: agentic AI. While it may sound like yet another buzzword in the AI alphabet soup, there’s...