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Accenture STUDY - 72% of consumers feel overwhelmed by choice. Generative artificial intelligence could transform retail, tourism, and consumer goods
* Retail, consumer goods and travel companies could gain customers and revenue using Generative AI to improve the entire purchasing journey
The majority of consumers (72%) report feeling overwhelmed by too much choice available when making a purchase decision. This has led to 74% of them abandoning their shopping journeys in the last three months of 2023, according to an Accenture study. The study, based on a survey of 19,000 consumers in 12 countries, highlights the issue of "information overload".
Titled “The Empowered Consumer,” the research report offers fresh insights into consumers’ decision-making experiences across the retail, travel, and consumer goods industries. Amid competing claims, messages, advertising, choices, recommendations, algorithms, and apps, it emphasizes an urgent need for brands to tap into the transformative power of generative AI (gen AI) to reduce the “noise” around decision-making and increase engagement, loyalty, and sales.
The research also found that most people (71%) see no improvement or even see an increase in the time and effort required to make a purchase decision. This is comprised of the 41% who think it has got harder, and 30% who see no change. 29% think it takes less time and effort.
Looking across categories, the research also points to the challenges that consumers experience when trying to make purchase decisions. These are not confined to big ticket items. For example, consumers feel less confident about bookinga hotel than buying a car; booking a flight is nearly as nerve-wracking as getting a mortgage and choosing a moisturizer is on par with buying a washing machine.
Reinvention in the age of Gen AI
The report states that the empowerment of consumers through generative AI, other technologies and new ways of working will shift how people think about brands. Companies can make fundamental shifts across discovery, conversion, and loyalty to reinvent decision making process and the relationships they have with consumers and the role they play in their lives. Early mover advantage will be especially important for consumer-facing companies intent on capturing value from gen AI across all parts of the business quickly, and at scale.
“We expect that in the next three years, the adoption of these gen AI technologies by consumers will bring the most significant reconsideration of what and how they decide to purchase that we have seen in decades. Why? Because consumers are telling us they will use conversational gen AI solutions to help them research and buy products and experiences, and these tools will cut through the traditional sales and marketing messaging that, to date, has been the dominant shaper of consumption. This will likely be the biggest opportunity to gain or lose market share that consumer companies have seen in recent memory”, said Oliver Wright, Senior Managing Director and Global Lead for Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services Industry Practice
According to the report, consumers themselves are increasingly seeking ways to lighten the workload and are starting to see how gen AI might take on some of the leg work. Accenture’s observation, based on conversations with executives across industries, is that consumers are on track to adopt generative AI-powered advisors rapidly and at scale over the next two years. Indeed, half (51%) of survey respondents said they’re open to using conversational AI solutions.
Accenture’s Consumer Pulse Research 2024 explores how consumer sentiment, behaviours and expectations are driving change for consumer-facing industries. This year’s research offers insights into consumer decision making, with a particular focus on the implications this will have for the consumer goods and services, retail, and travel industries. Online focus groups were held during the week of October 30, 2023, in the USA, UK and India to investigate our initial hypotheses. These were then tested by surveying a representative sample of 19,050 consumers from 12 countries: UK, USA, Greater China, Australia, Canada, India, Germany, France, Spain, UAE, Brazil, and Japan. The survey was conducted online and was conducted between December 6 and December 12, 2023. Analysis allowed for comparisons across various demographic factors such as age, or income, as well as behavioural attributes like an individual’s typical decision-making style. It also included focused deep dives on the challenges faced by consumers along the consumer journey for eight categories: beauty products, OTC remedies, groceries, snacks, clothing, consumer electronics, flights, and hotels/resorts.
About Accenture
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