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Many New Zealand retailers are adopting artificial intelligence to remain competitive against global shopping websites, but retail leaders still want humans serving customers.

A survey of 250 New Zealand retail decision-makers, commissioned by software company Monday.com, has found most respondents used AI in at least some part of their business.

However, the vast majority of respondents didn’t trust AI to manage the entire customer service experience without any human involvement.

Electronic card data from Stats NZ shows spending at local retailers hasn’t been keeping pace with inflation and is being mostly driven by higher food and grocery prices.

New Zealanders are spending more on online shopping websites like Temu, Shein and Amazon, with spending far more on foreign shopping websites than they were before the Covid pandemic.

The survey showed leaders of larger local retailers saw AI as helping level remain more competitive against global giants.

Smaller operators had more reservations about the value of the AI for their business and their ability to keep up with changing technology.

Monday.com Senior Industry Lead Gavin Watson said retailers are trialling the use of AI for specific primarily administrative tasks.

“What they want to do is actually test and learn, and then actually figure out where it’s going to have the best impact in terms of bottom lines and efficiencies without impacting the customer experience,” he said.

“Retailers who may only have one employee at a store level bring information directly to the front when they’re answering customer questions. That may be around product ingredients.”

Fashion and e-commerce businesses reported using AI more for customer support and managing stock, furniture and homeware stores used it more for product recommendations, and food and beverage sellers were most likely to use it for sales assistance and inventory.

Nutrition Warehouse chief operating officer Duncan McHugh said it used AI tools for e-commerce, HR, marketing campaigns, internal communications, and other back-office functions.

He said the company was also trialling internal chatbots for store staff to compare products and answer customer questions quickly and accurately but was careful not to have AI directly interacting with customers.

“Complex formulas, allergens, and supplement claims need human oversight. So, while AI speeds up research and training, any advice we give is still checked by our qualified team before it reaches shoppers.”