digitasbotfidelity.com Open in urlscan Pro
54.194.41.141  Public Scan

URL: https://digitasbotfidelity.com/
Submission: On April 02 via automatic, source certstream-suspicious — Scanned from DE

Form analysis 0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Bot F delity

A Digitas Future of Retail Report



Foreword

Digitas commissioned this research to bring bot shopping to life. Today, only a
small percentage of shopping is conducted via a virtual agent; but in 3-5 years
from now people will regularly turn to an AI-assisted bot to perform any number
of tasks, especially shopping. In fact, ComScore is predicting that 50% of all
searches will be voice searches by 2020. 

 

This project helps us all to imagine what that future looks like by giving real
people an experience of shopping with a virtual assistant who really knows them,
can guide them and make decisions on their behalf. What we’ve gained is a rich
understanding of the kind of interactions people want and need from their retail
bots. 

“The numbers are pretty startling. It’s quite likely that in just a few years
time as much as 20% of purchases will be done on people’s behalf via a virtual
agent - this could be invisible and automated, via a bot, or like the Amazon
dash. it's a future which is fast approaching”

–Lorenzo Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, Digitas.


Richa

Rohira

 

Matthew

Barlow

 

 

Clemence

Lafeuille

 

 

 

Katherine

Giovanni

Tom

Chatfield

 

Lorenzo

Wood

 

 

WhatsApp

shopping

diaries



Bot research

and

script writing



Deep dive

interviews

 



Final in-depth interview with respondent

 

Personal

scrapbooks

 



Shopping

tasksx 2

over Skype



Digitas Survey

via OnePulse

 

 

Bot handover

of respondent

info

 












Bot interaction

filmed

 

Respondent

debrief video

after each task

 

Margaret

Andrew

Alex

Katie

Nicola

Gloria

Maria

Stevi

Peter



Methodology

We paired nine respondents across three life stages (young family, kid- -free,
empty nest) and three UK locations (London, Bristol and Manchester) with a
personal retail bot. Together they performed a series of shopping tasks with
voice as the primary medium and email for support.

 

The twist is that our retail bots weren’t actually bots at all, we chose to
simulate the personalised, emotionally intelligent shopping service of the
future by using three very intelligent (and well-briefed) humans. This ‘human
first’ approach meant that the respondents overcame the usual barriers to new
technology and were able to focus on the deeper emotional story instead. 



9

 

Empty Nest Pod

respondents

Gen Y Pod

Family Pod



3

 

bots



3



experts






The approach

















“I’m open to the idea of a bot - I tend to look out for recommendations on
Facebook and social media and it’s just like that really.”

–Kate, Bristol, Respondent: Parent Pod

“Back in the day people just wanted access to an Elton John concert, that
hard-to-get-into restaurant, or run the odd errand. Now the internet has made it
like a small town and expectations are higher than ever.”

–Katherine Giovanni

“The thing about automation is that people always think they don’t need it, but
then they try it, get used to it and then decide it’s the best thing ever. We
see it in the automotive industry with optional features such as auto dipped
headlights or wipers. Very quickly people can’t imagine life without them.”     
                                                      

–Lorenzo Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, Digitas

They love the idea!

Introduction to the Findings

Let’s fast forward to 2023. By now almost every home has its own virtual
assistant- whether on a dedicated device like Amazon Echo or via an app - and
people feel as comfortable interacting with a personal bot as they do
interacting with a smartphone today. Voice control interfaces will be everywhere
and a big chunk of shopping will be done by an AI-assisted agent on the
consumer’s behalf.

 

Sound scary? Not to our respondents. They can’t wait for this future to
materialise. Desperate for an acolyte to help them keep up, they see the bot as
a route to overcome daily frustrations, make better choices, take tasks off
their phone screens and, overall, get closer towards life fulfilment. It’s why
Katherine Giovanni, author and expert in the concierge industry knows there’ll
always be a need for her sector: “Everyone is trying to squeeze 36 hours into a
12 hour day.” Some turn to a concierge and others will turn to their virtual
agent. If that agent can tackle just some of these chores, then the research
confirms they will accept the bot with open (slightly desperate) arms.

 

















 

 

Methodology

Introduction

The opportunity

Bot as coach

Bot as innovator

Bot as curator

Bot as ally

Conclusion

Behind the scenes 

 

 










“The numbers are pretty startling. It’s quite likely that in just a few years
time as much as 20% of purchases will be done on people’s behalf via a virtual
agent - this could be invisible and automated, via a bot, or like the Amazon
dash. it's a future which is fast approaching”

–Lorenzo Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, Digitas.