How Will GenAI Redefine the Hybrid Shopper Experience? Read Blog Holiday shopping
How Will GenAI Redefine the
Hybrid Shopper Experience?
Read Blog
Holiday shopping has changed. Customers no longer choose between online and in-store options. They browse on their phones during Thanksgiving gatherings, compare prices during Black Friday sales, and may visit a store closer to New Year to complete their purchase. This shift between digital and physical shopping is now natural and expected.
For retailers, this brings both opportunity and pressure. The experience must feel connected. Customers should see the same prices and product details, and receive the same level of support, regardless of where they shop.
This is where GenAI, combined with strong data management and PIM (Product Information Management), can make a real difference.
Hybrid Shopping Is the New Normal
Customers don’t stick to one channel. They look at different options on apps, websites, and in stores before making a decision.
- 78% of holiday shoppers begin online and complete their purchases in-store or the other way around (Salesforce 2025).
- 65% of retailers are putting more money into AI to help with cross-channel journeys (Gartner 2025).
Where Retailers Struggle Today?
Despite technological advancement, many retailers still face ongoing issues:
- Differences in product content across marketplaces, websites, and stores.
- Stock levels displayed online that do not match actual store availability.
- Promotions and pricing that are inconsistent across channels.
- Customer service interactions (like Chatbot or customer support) that feel generic and repetitive.
These problems stem from one thing: disconnected data system. When product data, customer history, and inventory levels do not talk to each other, customers notice, especially during busy periods like Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
How GenAI Enhance the Shopping Experience?
GenAI can improve the shopping journey by responding to customer needs in real time. However, this only works well when the retailer has:
- Clean product data through product information management (PIM) system.
- Connected systems through data management.
- A way to deliver the experience across the web, app, and store with omnichannel CX.
In practical terms: Data ensures accuracy. PIM ensures consistency. GenAI delivers relevance.
Holiday Scenarios Where GenAI Delivers Value
- Thanksgiving Gift Exploration: Customers often look for ideas. GenAI can analyse browsing patterns and suggest suitable gift categories or curated bundles. This helps customers move from exploring to making decisions.
- Black Friday High-Demand Moments: When popular items sell out, GenAI can automatically guide customers to similar products that are in stock or available for pickup at nearby locations. This helps prevent lost sales.
- New Year Customer Retention: After the holiday season, GenAI can recommend related products or service upgrades based on recent purchases. This improves customer engagement and encourages repeat sales.
Enhancing Business Decision-Making
GenAI does not just support customer-facing interactions. It also helps with better business planning:
- More accurate inventory forecasting.
- Smarter promotional strategies.
- Reduced overstock and markdown losses.
Steps Retail Leaders Should Consider Now
- Unify product, customer, and inventory data across systems.
- Strengthen PIM to keep product information accurate in every channel.
- Train GenAI models using real business context to improve relevance.
- Evaluate the entire customer journey to spot bottlenecks and reduce friction.
- This approach does not require replacing existing systems; it only needs better connections between them.
Key Takeaways
- Hybrid shopping will keep influencing customer expectations during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and New Year.
- GenAI adds value when backed by solid data and steady product information.
- Unified data, PIM, and omnichannel CX provide reliable and relevant shopping experiences.
- Retailers that focus on connected experiences are in a better place to earn customer trust and long-term loyalty.
If improving customer experience and operational efficiency is important this holiday season, we can help. Connect with Innowinds to see how GenAI, PIM, and enterprise data platforms can create connected, customer-focused retail experiences.
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