The Short Version

• Nearly 7 in 10 small business owners already use AI, making it a present reality for retailers.
• The real challenge is adopting AI without losing the personal connections that define your brand.
• Start small and focus on solving pain points rather than chasing every new tool.
• Be transparent with employees and customers to build trust and ease fears.
• Treat AI as an evolving tool: gather feedback, share results and encourage innovation across your team.

The Real Challenge: Integrating AI Without Losing Your Brand Identity

Artificial intelligence isn’t the future for small retailers — it’s the present. Nearly 7 in 10 respondents in Goldman Sachs’ recent 10,000 Small Businesses Voices survey are already using the technology. The challenge now isn’t whether to adopt AI, it’s how to integrate it in a way that strengthens your culture, protects your brand’s personal touch and actually makes work easier.

Kenny Trusnik, the president and CEO of Forest City Digital, a performance marketing agency that helps e-commerce retailers and other businesses grow through digital marketing and AI-driven strategy, explains how to pick the right AI tools, build team alignment and avoid common pitfalls.

Address Employee Concerns Before Adopting AI

Start by understanding where your employees are emotionally and what fears they might have related to AI. Everyone worries about job security, and it’s your responsibility to address those concerns head-on. “You’ll have team members who are skeptical, or afraid AI will replace them,” Trusnik said. “That’s when you have to frame it differently: ‘This is here to make your job easier, not take it away.’”

You can encourage team members’ curiosity by giving them low-pressure ways to experiment. At Forest City, that might mean using AI to make a lighthearted project, like generating a personalized birthday song for a client or colleague, to show that the tools can be fun as well as functional. While the company doesn’t always give formal rewards, Trusnik has seen clients’ teams use things like “AI Champion of the Week” to recognize creative applications.

“These small, approachable uses make the technology less intimidating,” he said. They help employees see AI as a practical, even enjoyable, tool rather than a cold, impersonal robot.

Beginner’s Approach: Experiment With One AI Tool at a Time

If AI feels intimidating, Trusnik recommends first dipping your toe in the shallow end. “Go on YouTube, read a few articles. There’s a lot of free, high-quality information out there,” he said. But the real gold comes from talking to other small business owners. “Ask them: ‘How did you get started with AI? What do you use it for? Why those areas?’ You’ll find that while a lot of us are tackling similar challenges, the solutions — and the results — can be very different.”

He suggests tapping into local networks, such as business associations or local Chamber of Commerce chapters, and making curiosity part of your culture. “You have to start somewhere, and asking questions is better than doing nothing,” Trusnik said. Think of AI like test-driving a car: You’re looking for a good fit, not perfection. Begin with your biggest pain point, try a tool or two, see what works and build from there.

He added: “AI is not a strategy — it’s a tool. Use it to solve the problems you’re facing today, and it will open doors to the opportunities you’ll tackle tomorrow.”

Use AI To Solve Pain Points, Not Replace Human Connection

When it comes to AI, the biggest benefits often come from solving your most persistent pain points, not from replacing the things your customers value most. For many small businesses, that means targeting tedious or time-consuming tasks for automation while protecting the personal touches that make your brand unique.

For example, Trusnik warned against using AI to automate customer service if your competitive edge comes from building strong client relationships. “That human connection is irreplaceable,” he said. “It’s why people keep coming back.” Instead, direct AI toward behind-the-scenes work that frees you up to serve customers better. This might mean automating routine administrative tasks, streamlining inventory planning or even handling parts of your marketing. While AI shouldn’t take over your brand voice, it can help with tasks like analyzing social media engagement, scheduling posts or brainstorming content ideas — leaving you more time for the work only a human can do.

The goal is to let AI handle the repetitive, low-value tasks so you can focus your energy on the areas that create customer loyalty, trust and growth.

How To Stay Focused and Avoid AI Tool Overload

When AI excitement peaks, it’s easy to fall into the trap of adopting too many tools too quickly. Trusnik has learned that lesson the hard way. “Last year, we went way too much, way too fast,” he admitted. “We were experimenting with everything, and while that’s a great culture to have, it overloaded us.”

At one point, Forest City was spending $10,000 to $12,000 a month on software, much of it redundant. The team was losing focus. Since then, they’ve scaled back by more than half and shifted to a more disciplined approach.

Instead of chasing every new app or platform, Trusnik recommended starting with the basics: Identify your biggest operational pain points, prioritize them and then research one or two tools that might actually solve those problems. Build a simple, high-level roadmap for what you want AI to accomplish.

“Overinvesting or adopting too many tools too fast isn’t a disaster,” Trusnik said, “but it will create unnecessary challenges.” His rule of thumb is to test a new tool for 60 to 90 days, measure the results and expand only when you’re confident it’s working. “Less is more. The right tool in the right place beats five tools gathering dust.”

Build Trust by Being Open About AI Use

Many companies keep their AI use behind the scenes, but Trusnik believes in putting it front and center. “We take the radical approach of owning the fact that we use AI,” he explained of Forest City Digital. “It builds trust and credibility. Customers can see we’re using modern tools to be efficient without sacrificing quality.”

The same philosophy applies internally. By showing how AI supports rather than replaces staff, he’s found that fear gives way to curiosity. “If people understand that AI is here to make them stronger at their jobs, they’re more open to learning it,” he noted. Pairing that honesty with training signals that AI isn’t just a passing experiment but a long-term investment in the team.

Collect Feedback To Improve AI Integration Over Time

AI isn’t a “set it and forget it” tool — it’s an evolving part of your business. Trusnik recommends treating the rollout a bit like a 360-degree review. “[By] having weekly meetings, reviewing those early implementations of AI into different areas … you’re asking questions as a business owner and getting and soliciting feedback from your team,” he said. Just as important, open the floor for employees to ask you questions about how things are going. This two-way dialogue builds trust and uncovers problems before they become costly.

And don’t keep the numbers to yourself. “If you’re seeing stuff in the [key performance indicators or] in customer sentiment provide that transparency to the team. Otherwise they don’t know,” Trusnik said. In other words, the more your team understands the data behind your AI-related decisions, the more likely they are to use the technology effectively and spot opportunities you might miss.

Empower Employees To Solve Problems With AI

For Trusnik, the real magic happens when employees start identifying opportunities on their own. One of his favorite exercises is simple yet high-impact: “Ask your team to bring one challenge they face and brainstorm three ways to solve it using ChatGPT or another AI tool,” he explained. The goal isn’t just to fix immediate problems but to build a lasting habit of creativity and problem-solving that benefits the entire business.