New survey of retail marketing leaders shows strong AI interest but patchy adoption, shallow fluency beyond GenAI, and a persistent blind spot in activating in-store signals.
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / October 1, 2025 / Brij, the agentic AI-powered platform helping consumer brands redefine omnichannel enablement by unlocking and monetizing offline customer relationships, today released a new report: The AI Fluency Gap: The Hidden Retail Opportunity in Offline-to-Online Engagement. This report reveals a widening disconnect between retailers' AI ambitions and their ability to unify and activate customer signals across channels; while 97% of marketers deem offline engagement visibility "critical" or "important," 42% admit they still "can't connect the dots" from in-store touchpoints to digital journeys and measurable ROI.
According to the survey of 100 marketing and brand leaders at consumer product companies ($25M-$100M+ revenue), AI enthusiasm is high. However, fluency, adoption, and integration remain fragmented:
AI fluency is surface deep. While 82% of marketers report being "very familiar" with generative AI, confidence drops to 38% for agentic AI and just 33% for Model Context Protocol (MCP), resulting in a clear "fluency cliff."
Adoption exists, but it's patchy. Roughly 62% use AI for personalization and workflow automation, but 25% are still piloting projects, and 11% are only experimenting with tools like ChatGPT, without strategy or measurable impact. Integration challenges (51%) are cited as the number one roadblock to adoption.
Offline remains a blind spot. Although 72% run loyalty sign-ups, 57% deploy QR codes, and 40% rely on retailer data-sharing, 23% still can't personalize follow-ups and 22% can't measure ROI from these efforts.
"Retailers aren't missing data, they're missing unification," said Kait Stephens, CEO of Brij. "The survey shows retailers are eager and investing, but too many are still stuck in fragmented adoption. Until brands can activate offline engagement with AI, they'll continue to leave revenue and loyalty on the table."
The Economic Cost of Inaction
Brij's analysis estimates that every unactivated offline profile represents $20-$100 in lost customer lifetime value (LTV). For a brand with 250,000 unactivated profiles, that translates into $5-$25 million in missed opportunity.
Case Study: Skullcandy
Skullcandy rolled out Brij experiences across packaging in 2025, accessible through a QR code, turning fragmented post-purchase touchpoints into a unified branded flow. Within six months, Skullcandy identified 60,000+ offline customers, drove 1.75M engagements, and achieved a 20% scan-to-registration rate, well above industry benchmarks.
"This is not data retailers were sharing with us, and for us it's a huge unlock," said Evin Catlett, Global VP at Skullcandy. "We can now see marketplace and offline purchase behavior and build lasting customer relationships well beyond the first sale."
From Fragmented Adoption to Connected Fluency
The report outlines a practical maturity curve: (1) isolated experiments, (2) fragmented adoption, (3) connected fluency with unified profiles and integrations, and (4) AI-first retail where intelligence powers every interaction. Most brands sit in stage two.
"Consumers already move seamlessly between store aisles and online carts," Stephens added. "It's time for retailers to catch up. The brands that unify offline and online with AI will win the next decade of loyalty."
The AI Fluency Gap: The Hidden Retail Opportunity in Offline-to-Online Engagement is available now or book a demo here https://brij.it/book-a-demo.
###
ABOUT BRIJ:
Brij is the leading agentic AI-first platform redefining omnichannel enablement by helping consumer brands collect and activate first-party data from offline interactions. By capturing valuable first-party data from offline customers, Brij helps brands understand consumer behaviors and preferences, allowing for more effective marketing strategies, improved customer relationships, and more revenue. With a focus on delivering actionable insights, Brij empowers over 150 leading brands to enhance customer engagement and drive revenue growth in an increasingly competitive retail landscape. For more information, visit www.brij.ai.
Press Contact:
Lauren Gill, MAG PR
lauren@mooringadvisorygroup.com
SOURCE: Brij
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/consumer-and-retail-products/brij-survey-finds-ai-fluency-gap-costing-retailers-millions-in-missed-1080255
