Singapore mall retailers report 77% pushback on AI rollout

Most prefer a hybrid approach—57% use AI to generate insights but keep decision-making in human hands.

Despite surging AI adoption across Singapore’s retail sector, shopping malls are emerging as a flashpoint for resistance, with 77% of retailers operating in malls reporting employee pushback against AI implementation.

This is the highest resistance level across all retail environments, according to a new survey by global software firm monday.com.

Whilst 98% of retailers are actively deploying or exploring AI tools, only 10% trust the technology to operate autonomously across the full customer journey. Most prefer a hybrid approach—57% use AI to generate insights but keep decision-making in human hands.

Human oversight remains a dominant theme. Only 7% of respondents allow AI to make business decisions independently, and 70% believe that close human-AI collaboration is essential, particularly in managing complex or sensitive customer interactions.

At the same time, 71% anticipate major challenges in integrating AI seamlessly across all customer touchpoints.

Small and micro retailers appear to be struggling the most. Whilst 94% of all respondents believe AI can help local players compete with global retail giants, only 50% of small retailers (under 50 employees) agree.

Among micro retailers with fewer than 10 staff, resistance is compounded by implementation hurdles such as high costs (25%), complexity (34%), and employee pushback (37%).

In contrast, larger retailers are more equipped to harness AI’s potential. Companies with 1,000 or more employees are far more likely to have dedicated AI teams (44%) or even a C-suite executive overseeing AI strategy (50%).

Data privacy and transparency also loom large in the AI adoption conversation. In the Health & Beauty sector, 73% of respondents flagged data privacy as a significant barrier.

Nearly 75% of all retailers surveyed believe customers will be more loyal to brands that are upfront about how they use AI.

Retailers are also turning to AI to meet sustainability goals. Three in four businesses say they are using AI to reduce waste, improve production processes, and support circular economy strategies.