Retail’s AI revolution faces roadblocks as data quality issues hamper growth

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — The market for GenAI technology is skyrocketing, expected to hit $235 billion by 2028. But many companies are struggling to fully unlock the technology's benefits, according to a new report from Coresight Research and Digital Wave Technology. Despite its projected 31.1% annual growth rate, AI adoption in consumer-facing industries — including retail — is being hampered by significant challenges, according to the report, titled “AI and Unified Data: Empowering Next-Generation Product and Shopper Intelligence.”

Key findings show that only 41% of U.S. retailers have fully integrated pricing with key business functions like assortment and promotional planning, for example. Even more concerning, 52% of retailers report failing to execute at least 10% of their promotional campaigns properly during any given sales period. These shortcomings result from poor data quality and inadequate analytical capabilities, according to the report.

“Retailers are missing out on huge opportunities due to fragmented data and outdated systems,” says Lori Schafer, CEO of Digital Wave Technology.

The report highlights the importance of unified, high-quality data as essential for AI to drive operational efficiency, improve margins, and boost customer satisfaction. Gartner predicts that 30% of GenAI projects will be abandoned due to poor data quality and lack of business value.

Digital Wave Technology's ONE Platform, featured in the report, offers a solution by integrating product information management (PIM), digital asset management (DAM), and master data management (MDM). This allows businesses to overcome these challenges. By providing a unified source of truth, the platform enables companies to accelerate time-to-market, optimize pricing, and enhance customer experiences.

David Barach, senior vice president of solutions strategy at Digital Wave Technology, describes the difference that can make with regard to pricing.

"Traditional analytic platforms need to aggregate product and store data to surface a stable estimate of price effect and demand," Barach explains. "In contrast, next-gen AI platforms outperform in making accurate estimates at the same granularity as the pricing level, leading to more precise, relevant, and responsive pricing."

The report sees a major upside for retailers and other consumer-facing industries that figure out how to harness AI's potential.

"Consumer industries should adopt AI-driven technologies to streamline processes, reduce operational costs and enhance the customer experience," it argues. "By fully integrating AI into business functions, companies can unlock significant efficiencies and drive more personalized, data- driven decision-making at scale."

The free report is available for download here .