TL;DR: While AI is showing signs of improving business performance, business must still focus on core mission to find long-term integrated success.
I admit, I have used AI to help build shopping lists. What I have yet to do it let AI take me all the way to purchase. Walmart recently reported that users of their AI shoppers are adding 35% more merch into their shopping carts. “Sparky is helping customers find the things they need, they want and they love, and it’s strengthening our digital unit economics as it scales.”
I have a hypothesis that perhaps their AI is eliminating fear of purchasing the wrong thing?
Funny how that works, eh?
Recently Educational Employees Credit Union launched their “mobile branch” in an effort to fill the growing need of banking deserts in their footprint.
Having worked and helped opened new bank branches, I know they are not cheap; physical or mobile. This mobile branch came to life because of a mission to serve underserved families with essential services that improve daily life. They took that mission and executed against it, flawlessly.
My friends at Finalytics AI released their 2026 Credit Union Digital Experience report this week and two things stand out to me:
First (and most importantly) nearly 20% of the top 100 credit unions redesigned their websites in the past year, including ten of the top 25. But only half of those saw improvement in their digital scores year-over-year. 🤔
Second, and equally important, designs of credit union websites are still lagging interaction, creativity, and modern design approaches. I have a theory for why this continues to be a laggard: Old CMS systems approach and not tapping into modern technologies coupled with conservative approaches. This inhibits growth into the Gen Z market when credit unions are seen as stodgy enterprises operating as "business as usual."
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