The Impact of AI Adoption on a Retailer’s Shareholder Value: The Moderating Role of the Type of AI

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly implemented in retail to improve customer experience and performance. AI initiatives are often announced with expectations of signaling innovation and future value creation. However, it remains unclear whether these initiatives influence financial markets and shareholder value. Shareholders, exerting significant influence over strategic decisions and operations, are a key consideration. Therefore, this study tests whether the adoption of AI within large retail companies results in abnormal share price returns, and whether the type of AI – online, offline, or omnichannel – moderates this effect. An event study was conducted using a [-1,1] window around 40 announcements from major retailers between June 2020 and June 2025. Abnormal returns were calculated using market-adjusted models, and significance was tested using Patell’s Z statistic. A regression analysis tested the moderating effect of AI type, controlling for confounding events and the announcement’s year. The results show that there are no significant abnormal returns following the announcement, and small insignificant differences between offline, online or omnichannel AI, with p-values above the significance threshold and coefficients close to zero. These findings suggest that AI adoption does not lead to increased shareholders value in retail, implying that AI might be viewed as baseline rather than valuable.