Australia – A new report from Amperity reveals a striking contrast between retailers’ enthusiasm for AI and their readiness to implement it at scale. According to the 2025 State of AI in Retail report, 45% of retailers are already using AI daily or multiple times per week, and 97% plan to maintain or increase their investment in the year ahead. However, only 11% say they are fully prepared to scale these tools across their business.
The survey, which gathered insights from 1,000 retail professionals across marketing, IT, data, and executive roles, highlights major barriers preventing the full realisation of AI’s potential. Chief among them is fragmented customer data: 58% of respondents report incomplete or siloed data, while 35% cite limited technical expertise and 46% point to high costs as additional roadblocks.
“Retailers believe in AI’s potential to drive loyalty and lifetime value — but belief alone won’t close the gap between ambition and execution,” said Tony Owens, CEO of Amperity. “What’s needed is unified, actionable customer data – regardless of where it resides. With Amperity’s patented identity resolution, retailers can unify data without moving it, transforming fragmented records into complete customer profiles that fuel AI and measurable business results.”
Despite broad optimism around AI’s impact, the report found that its application in customer-facing use cases remains limited. While 63% believe AI will improve customer loyalty and 65% expect it to increase lifetime value, only 43% are currently using AI in customer-facing experiences such as personalisation, chatbots, or tailored marketing. Just 23% report using AI in production to resolve customer identities or prepare data for marketing use.
The report draws a clear line between retailers who have implemented a Customer Data Platform (CDP) and those who have not. Among retailers with a CDP:
- 60% use AI daily or several times per week (compared to 29% of those without),
- 35% use AI in production to prepare data for marketing or analytics (vs. 9%),
- 22% report full AI adoption across multiple business units (vs. 10%).
Retailers with a CDP also express far more confidence in their ability to understand and act on customer behaviour, underscoring the role of unified data as a foundational enabler of AI strategies.
“This survey highlights a pivotal shift in retail: AI is moving decisively from experimentation to scaled execution,” said Tapan Patel, research director at IDC. “Retailers are leveraging AI to deliver more adaptive, personalised customer experiences powered by high-quality, unified customer data. Retailers who integrate AI into core workflows—across supply chain, merchandising, and engagement—are setting the new standards for customer experience in an increasingly dynamic market.”
Despite progress, gaps remain. Only 21% of respondents said they were “very confident” in their ability to understand and act on customer data. This signals an ongoing need for more robust data infrastructures that can support enterprise-wide AI initiatives.
Amperity positions itself as a solution to this problem by offering a Customer Data Cloud designed to unify fragmented records, resolve identities, and provide an AI-ready foundation. The company claims its platform enables personalised customer experiences, smarter business decisions, and measurable ROI—all while maintaining privacy and enterprise scalability.
