Is “decision fatigue” real? Amazon seems to think so—and it just launched a new AI tool aimed at helping weary shoppers choose the right product faster. This week, TWIRM is asking if customers will embrace the e-commerce giant’s AI helping hand or shake it off.
TWIRM, as retail media cognoscenti everywhere know, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, hosted by Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, STRATACACHE’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy. Each week, Kate and Jonathan chat across the Atlantic about three retail media stories that excite them, intrigue them and even, sometimes, make them nostalgic for Microsoft’s clunky Clippy tool.
The top story this week, courtesy of The Business of Fashion, is about Amazon’s launch of a new Help Me Decide feature, which aims to make comparison-shopping easier—and reduce decision fatigue—by recommending a specific product based on AI analysis of the customer’s browsing activity, purchase history, and personal preferences.
But is Help Me Decide bound for the tech scrapyard like Microsoft’s defunct Clippy? Jonathan thinks, as a recommendation engine, it is “open to all sorts of manipulation,” but will most likely catch on because consumers are exhausted by constant comparison shopping. Kate homes in on “the singular problem with Amazon, which is, is it a space of trust and transparency? I don’t think that this solves that problem.”
From Amazon’s AI cure for indecision, Kate and Jonathan unwrap Walmart’s new Sparky AI assistant, which it is rolling out to make in-store holiday shopping easier. Lastly, they survey IAB Europe’s new “landscape map,” which shows new players joining Europe’s in-store retail media game.
Click here to listen to Kate and Jonathan dive deep into Amazon and Walmart’s latest AI launches.
