A bibliometric and thematic evolution analysis of artificial intelligence in online customer experience

Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played an increasingly important role in e-commerce, especially when it comes to its impact on customer experience (CX). In this regard, the paper presents a bibliometric analysis of studies dedicated to the application of AI technology and online CX, based on 257 Scopus-indexed works produced in 2015–2024. The analysis is conducted through Biblioshiny and VOSviewer and involves investigation of publication dynamics, top authors and journals, co-authorship network, keywords co-occurrence, as well as thematic evolution. According to the results, there has been a sharp rise in AI-CX research since 2018. The country-level analysis showed that India and the United States were among the most productive contributors, while the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services emerged as the leading journal within the retrieved dataset. As for thematic trends, chatbots, recommendation systems, personalization, and predictive analytics dominate the sphere. At the same time, the findings reveal a shift from effectiveness-based usage of AI to more customer-oriented applications.