Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Drive Customer Loyalty in the Retail FMCG Sector: Insights from Sefalana Holdings, Botswana

As digital transformation accelerates across global retail landscapes, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a critical driver of customer engagement and brand loyalty. This study investigates the role of AI in fostering customer loyalty within the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector in Botswana, focusing on Sefalana Holdings as a case study. Despite Botswana's increasing interest in digital innovation, AI adoption in the retail sector remains limited and underexplored. Using a positivist research paradigm and a quantitative methodology, data were collected from 370 online customers at Sefalana’s Broadhurst branch via structured questionnaires. Statistical analyses, including descriptive and Pearson correlation, were conducted using SPSS Version 23. The results reveal a strong and statistically significant relationship between the deployment of AI-driven services, such as Chatbots, personalized recommendations, and automated customer support and increased customer loyalty. The study concludes that AI technologies, when strategically implemented, can enhance personalization, streamline service delivery, and build long-term customer relationships in the retail FMCG sector. The paper recommends that Sefalana and similar retailers invest in scalable AI systems to remain competitive in an evolving digital marketplace. It also calls for further research into the long-term behavioral and economic effects of AI on consumer loyalty within emerging African economies.