In this ever-changing world, retailer’s ability to innovate is key to staying relevant with shoppers. Failure to innovate can lead to a rapid decline in business, so now more than ever eCommerce is primed for innovation. Successful eCommerce brands like Amazon and eBay are relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to ease their customers’ journeys and create a more personal shopping experience. Below are a few areas where AI can be utilized in eCommerce.
- Personalized Recommendations
Sending personalized recommendations via email is just the beginning to utilizing AI in eCommerce. It’s also not just limited to suggesting items that are similar to those customers have already purchased. AI is becoming sophisticated enough to actually anticipate shopper’s needs by analyzing multiple factors such as, how their style has evolved, or does their age affect their purchasing habits. - Image Search
Traditional product searching has been done through keywords or via a drop-down menu, but AI can actually use image recognition to find similar items. A shopper can simply upload an image and AI could suggest similar brands, colors, patterns, and cuts. AI can also help retailers to identify when competitors are using their images online. - Virtual Assistants and Chat Bots
An easy way to bring the in-store experience online is to implement a virtual assistant or chat bot to your site. By sharing shopping information like occasion, age of shopper, and preferred style AI assistants can pick out appropriate items. Chat bots can be used to handle simple customer questions much quicker than an email or phone call. - Fraud Detection
Companies can train AI to recognize counterfeit products. Companies can work with online resellers to get these suspicious accounts and products removed and keep the value of authentic items high. - Generating Product Descriptions
Creating accurate and SEO-optimized product descriptions for every product can be incredibly time-consuming and potentially expensive if you need to hire a writer. AI can analyze key features to generate optimized product descriptions and write them for you. - Warehouse Automation
Warehouse operations are an essential component of the eCommerce industry and using AI through robots to boost processes is a game-changer. Parcel sorting, packaging, and categorizing products with robots increases the speed and efficient of the warehouse and improves delivery schedules.
The scalability and impact of AI in eCommerce is expected to increase exponentially and will allow businesses to identify prospects, build better customer service relationships, boost sales, and increase personal shopping experience. Integrating artificial intelligence into your eCommerce business can feel like a huge undertaking but it is a necessary tool to remain relevant in the future as well as to maintain a competitive edge.