While UK ecommerce companies are making significant investments in AI to improve customer experience, many retailers are yet to realise meaningful gains from the technology, according to the latest research from headless Content Management System (CMS) provider, Storyblok.

Its survey of senior executives at 300 large and mid-market ecommerce firms revealed that, on average, UK businesses had spent £321,000 in the last 12months on developing or implementing AI to enhance digital customer experiences. This includes over two fifths (21%) of UK ecommerce brands who have ploughed over £500,000 into AI technology.

However, despite significant investment in the technology, almost half (44%) believe their AI investments have only delivered slight improvements to customers’ digital experiences.

“The transformative potential of AI is enormous, but our research highlights a clear gap between expectation and reality,” Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Storyblok, said. “While UK businesses are seeing some improvements, these remain incremental rather than truly transformative.”

Yet, while the delivery of business benefits to date is regarded as marginal, retailers appear to be taking a longer-term view to ROI on AI deployments.

93% of business leaders said their AI investments have delivered a good return. This suggests retailers “do not expect big gains immediately, but are instead taking a longer-term view of AI to transform their digital offering,” Angerer added.