Best Buy to Use Generative AI for Virtual Assistant, Customer Support Experiences

Editorial credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
By Tatiana Walk-Morris
Source: www.retaildive.com, April 2024

The tech will help with customer service, including troubleshooting product issues, managing software and rescheduling or combining order deliveries.

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Dive Brief:

• Joining the generative AI wave, Best Buy has partnered with Google Cloud to introduce a generative artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant late this summer, the retailer announced Tuesday. With the assistant tool, customers can troubleshoot product issues; reschedule or combine order deliveries; and manage their software, Geek Squad subscriptions and Best Buy memberships.
• The company is also deploying generative AI to assist its customer care agents. The retailer plans to use AI to summarize customer service calls, assess the tone of the conversation and give customer service representatives real-time recommendations based on its findings.
• Best Buy is also working with Google Cloud and Accenture to create an AI assistant that will help in-store employees find internal resources and locate product guides to assist shoppers, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Best Buy and Google have previously partnered on different products and services, including advertising, hardware and Google Chrome, the retailer said. Best Buy’s internal staffers will work with Accenture and Google to create, pilot and scale the new generative AI tools.

“These new gen AI-powered capabilities further enhance our commitment to deliver better, more personalized experiences to our customers by unlocking the power of people,” Brian Tilzer, chief digital analytics and technology officer at Best Buy, said in a statement. “We are excited to leverage and tailor these innovations with great partners like Google and Accenture so we can continue to serve our customers in unique and differentiated ways and make our employees’ jobs easier.”

The generative AI announcement follows layoffs. In Best Buy’s most recent earnings report, the company said it incurred $169 million in Q4 restructuring charges stemming from a workforce reduction, a move it made to better align with its revenue outlook for fiscal year 2025. Best Buy said it expects between $10 million and $30 million of additional restructuring-related charges in fiscal 2025 and that it will pay up to $135 million of the employee termination benefits this fiscal year, with the remainder being paid in the next budget year.

Meanwhile, other major retailers are experimenting with generative AI capabilities to improve operations. Last August, Walmart introduced My Assistant, a generative AI-powered tool, to all nonstore U.S. employees. The tool can accelerate draft writing, act as a creative partner, summarize large documents and help new hires better understand benefits.

That same month, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the retail giant will use generative AI to improve the shopping experience for customers and enable its store associates to “enjoy more satisfying and productive work.”

Research suggests that more consumers are embracing AI. A recent Adobe survey found that 58% of its 3,000 U.S. respondents said that generative artificial intelligence has already improved their online shopping experience.