Competition in the E-commerce market is getting fiercer by the day, and while many businesses have managed to stand up to it, AI helps in achieving a better outcome. Artificial Intelligence has become an integral part of the E-commerce industry. Its implementation has helped various E-commerce businesses in understanding their customer’s preferences, their buying behavior and has also helped them in offering a customer’s desired products at the appropriate time. With the help of reliable AI analytics, businesses can also identify their competitors’ strategies.
E-commerce giant, Amazon is already using AI-related technologies to revolutionize its businesses. Back in 2016, Amazon reported that it attributes 35% of its overall revenues to product upselling and cross-selling. Without a doubt, this has only been made possible because of Amazon’s AI-powered real-time product recommendation engine.
Along with product recommendations, AI in E-commerce provides personalized customer support, analyzes user comments, and offers chatbot services. A 2017 Ubisend study reported that 21% of users see chatbots as the best and easiest way to contact a business, while 40% don’t care if it is a bot or a human helping them, as long as their issues are resolved.
So, how is AI implementation in E-Commerce transforming the shopping experience?
Table of Contents
1. Chatbots and Other Digital Assistants
Chatbots and other virtual assistants are systems that interact through text or voice interfaces. They let you offer 24/7 support to your users. With the help of AI technologies, chatbots are unlocking a new and better customer experience. For instance, Facebook messenger and Slack can change the language depending on the region and respond accordingly. This gives the users a sense of closeness and helps them stay loyal to the brand.
Chatbots are increasing the influence AI has on the E-commerce sector in ways more than one:
- They are capable of interpreting voice-based interactions with users using Natural Language Processing (NLP).
- They can address customer needs through deeper insights.
- They offer personalized and targeted ads.
- Their self-learning capability helps them improve over time.
2. Intelligent Product Recommendations
This is one of the most beneficial applications of AI in E-commerce. According to a MyBuys study, customized product recommendations are responsible for expanding conversion rates by 915% and Average Order Values (AOV) by 3%. Big data influences a consumer’s choices by storing the history of user’s prior purchases, frequently searched products, and browsing habits.
Due to personalized product recommendations, many E-commerce businesses have witnessed an increase in returning customers and improved sales. Furthermore, you can also offer your customers a more customized shopping experience.
3. Clearing Fake Reviews
Fake reviews are one of the main problems faced by online retailers and E-commerce businesses. According to a report by Search Engine Lands, 88% of users trust reviews as much as they would trust a personal suggestion. Artificial Intelligence can help you remove these fake reviews and present only authentic comments to your users.
4. Warehouse Automation
AI in E-commerce has especially proved to be useful to small businesses by transforming warehouse management. Working 24/7, AI-powered solutions streamline product pick-and-pack processes. This results in minimized errors and better precision. AI technologies can also detect and examine the risk score of warehouse activities by carefully analyzing them.
5. Improve Cybersecurity
The growth in the E-commerce sector has also led to an increase in malicious attacks; hackers are waiting to steal your valuable data at any given opportunity. By introducing AI-based technologies to your security solutions, you can keep your business and information safe.
6. Inventory Management
Initially, inventory management was restricted to only current stock levels. Now, with the help of AI, inventory management allows you to maintain stocks based on data associated with:
- Estimated changes in product demands.
- Sales trends over a certain period.
7. AI-enabled Visual Search
Visual search means the ability to search for identical or similar items using an image. In case your user does not experience a simple search process, he/she might end up not purchasing at all. AI helps with that by easing the way users see a product. It improves visual search abilities and helps in discovering products your users would want to see.
8. AI-enabled Smart Solutions
With AI-based technologies, you can introduce your customers to products they were not even aware of in the first place. AI in the fashion industry has decreased the number of returned items purchased from online sites. This is because big brands, such as Zara, use AI to recommend the right apparel size and style preference based on the customer’s previous purchases.
Other than these areas, AI-powered solutions are also transforming the following sectors:
- AI-enabled email marketing sends emails to promote products or services to the interested set of users.
- AI-based data analytics tools offer numerous advantages to the E-commerce industry, such as business intelligence, customer profiles, and sales analysis.
- AI-enabled supply chain automation helps you effectively Itransition for E-commerce brands. It also helps you in making your business decisions quickly, anticipating market trends, and managing your delivery schedules.
Final Thoughts
AI and E-commerce have become synonymous with each other. Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the E-commerce sector by affecting not only the sales but also by improving the customer experience and increasing its profit margins. It helps E-commerce businesses maintain a competitive edge so that they can stay ahead in the race.
