IMPACT OF AI DRIVEN PERSONALIZATION IN CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT With Reference To ZEPTO

This study has examined the impact of AI-driven personalization on customer engagement with specific reference to the Zepto quick-commerce platform, providing empirical evidence from a sample of 61 active platform users across multiple demographic profiles. The research has confirmed, through both survey analysis and hypothesis testing, that AI-driven personalization exerts a meaningfully positive influence on customer engagement, purchase frequency, and customer retention on the Zepto platform—validating the strategic importance of personalization investment in the quick-commerce sector. The findings reveal a nuanced performance landscape: product recommendation quality and time-saving personalization features achieve strong positive reception, notification-based engagement delivers meaningful influence over purchase decisions, and the platform successfully retains its user base across extended usage durations. However, significant improvement opportunities exist in the areas of offer and discount relevance personalization and emotional brand connection development—areas where the current generation of AI personalization capabilities has yet to achieve the same level of customer-perceived value as the recommendation engine. The demographic profile of the study—dominated by young, digitally native consumers in the 18–24 age group—underscores the critical importance of AI personalization as a baseline expectation rather than a differentiating feature for this consumer generation. Platforms that consistently deliver high-quality, relevant, and privacy-respecting personalization will retain competitive positioning with this high-value demographic, while those that fail to meet expectation thresholds will face elevated churn and reduced engagement in an increasingly contested market. The study also highlights the essential role of trust and data privacy as moderating conditions for personalization acceptance. The convergence of this study's findings with the broader literature in identifying privacy concerns as a significant factor in personalization reception makes it clear that technical excellence in recommendation algorithms must be complemented by genuine investment in transparent data governance and user-empowerment mechanisms. AI-driven personalization will deliver its full potential for customer engagement only when customers trust the systems that personalize their experiences. In conclusion, AI-driven personalization is an effective, evidence-backed strategy for strengthening customer engagement in the digital quick-commerce environment. To maximize its impact, organizations must pursue continuous algorithmic improvement, develop differentiated personalization strategies for key demographic segments, address the offer relevance gap through more sophisticated promotional targeting, and invest in the trust and emotional connection dimensions of the customer relationship. A customer-centric, data-responsible approach to AI personalization will enable organizations to create genuinely meaningful customer interactions, achieve sustained retention, and build the durable competitive advantage necessary for long-term success in India's rapidly evolving digital commerce ecosystem.

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