Mastercard’s Commerce in the age of generative AI, which is its latest Signals report explores how the democratization of generative AI will advance the Next Economy.
In the retail sector over the next two to three years, Mastercard predicts a rise in AI-powered personal shoppers to redefine consumer convenience.
The opportunities include:
- Virtual shopping experts can scan multiple channels to weed out products with bad reviews and pinpoint the most cost-effective options;
- It can also harness customer data to provide personalized product recommendations; and
- As consumers increasingly share biometric data like body measurements, AI assistants can curate apparel with flawless fits, reducing the volume of returns processed by retailers.

But of course there will be challenges. Virtual assistants will be increasingly privy to a wealth of sensitive data, which poses significant privacy and security risks as it invites misuse and exploitation, prompting regulatory scrutiny.
Mastercard says Klarna and Instacart are already harnessing synergies with AI-plugins and chatbots.

Some of these seismic shifts will define generative AI’s development in commerce over the next five to seven years with the convergence of five key trends: widespread integration, bespoke AI, data differentiators, AI-to-AI interactions, and its staying power.
In this video interview, Darrell MacMullin, SVP, Product & Platform, at Mastercard in Canada, talks about the trend and its implications for the future.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
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