Artificial intelligence is now being introduced into more industries and sectors. The idea of a machine being able to reason “like a human” may seem overwhelming. But, it has opened up a new dimension of productivity and service in eCommerce. Online businesses can now offer customers so much more. Let’s look at artificial intelligence in eCommerce and how it has affected the community.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
It is also called the machine intelligence, which is created in a contrast to the human intelligence to use it in computer science, mathematics, information engineering, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and many other fields.
Why Artificial Intelligence Is Needed?
AI is needed to simplify the process of receiving the required information. Now, we have tons of data, questions, answers, articles, and videos. Physically we are not able to find relevant information, for example, without Google search with related questions, best match, the assortment of data and other helpful AI-based solutions
That’s not all. With the growth of technologies, most fields require complex solutions to operate their products. IoT is a network of devices connected with the Internet. To perform such complex task requires AI to build a secure and stable system of devices for a house or office.
How Does Artificial Intelligence Work?
AI works by handling a large amount of data and its fast processing with intelligent algorithms which was broadened to the classification of subfields where AI is used:
- Machine learning – analyzes data and make predictions without being programmed for this purpose. It is used to predict the best matches and give you the variation of things that you might like.
- Cognitive computing – imitates and recreate the process of human thinking for better understanding of human language and the meaning of images. Together, cognitive computing and Artificial Intelligence aim to empower machine with human-like behavior.
- Deep Learning – are neural networks that learn by processing data. Machines use many inputs to determine one output. Another form of deep learning is speech recognition which allows the voice assistant to understand and answer difficult questions like our article covers.
- Neural Network – learns with examples to identify the right object. Neural networks were created from human neural connections example. These computer systems learn from large data sets by analyzing data many times to make associations and give meaning to the previously undefined data.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) – allows machines to learn, understand and process human languages in context and create logical responses. This enables machine intelligence to facilitate communication between people. The example of using NLP can be apps that translate sentences and any text to other languages in a real-time.
- Computer Vision – enables computers to identify, process and interpret the content of an image. It serves in a healthcare and R&D sector.
Artificial Intelligence – Examples
As we are interested in eCommerce, we’ve collected the most common features where AI can be used for an online store. This includes:
- Product recommendations
- Advanced searches with autosuggestion and autocomplete
- Personalization services
- Fraud detection
- Voice search
Also, we can’t forget about live examples. Below you can find the tools that are widely used in eCommerce and which companies have successfully implemented those tools to their stores.
The Growth of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce
The popularity of artificial intelligence in eCommerce has grown exponentially. It has become easier and cheaper to implement in online businesses. These are some of the leading business aspects that benefit from AI:
Unique Customer Experience
Artificial intelligence can be used to personalize customers’ shopping experience. Using their buying history, it is possible to determine what other related items you should advertise to them.
Useful for you:
AI allows this to happen, based on the guidelines that you provide. For example, if a customer buys a mobile device, the next ad they see might be for accessories for that device. Your conversion rates can increase if you market the right items to the right customers. Artificial intelligence helps make that possible.
For example, well-known VPA Alexa made by the Amazon. It is built on skills. They give a platform an opportunity to understand the verbal commands and requests. It is a cloud-based solution, and you can just use it for playing the music, creating to-do-lists, streaming podcasts, etc.
Chatbots
In the past, online chatting was only as responsive as its pre-programmed responses. By using AI, the chatting experience is now as satisfying as chatting with a real person.
A chatbot can act on specific conversational cues, rather than wait for hard-commands. It can mimic a conversation with a real person. They are intelligent and relatable. Customers respond to chatbots, thanks to AI development and machine learning in eCommerce.
There are many chatbots existed in Telegram messenger to stimulate customers reaction and engagement for events and posts. As well as Bank of America uses instant notifications to help customers make better financial decisions.
Virtual Shopping Assistant
Online shoppers can now enjoy the services of an intelligent virtual shopping assistant. These virtual shopping assistants can help a customer pick items based on that the customer’s preferences are. They can learn about the latest trends and combine them with the needs and tastes of the customer. They use that information to make smart suggestions to the customer.
Imagine having an assistant that accompanies you whenever you browse an online store. An AI shopping assistant who knows that you prefer plain white sneakers. Or, for example, that you’ve had your eye on a new coffee machine for a long time. Now imagine that assistant finding the best deals on those items for you.
Useful for you:
Big Data Analytics
There are vast amounts of user data that is now available. These are just collections of raw data that need to be processed into useful information. This would usually take a lot of computing resources and workforce to analyze all this data.
We want to mention excellent Netflix strategy with the usage of AI in preempting marketing. They use history of the viewing data, flow it through their AI programs to suggest similar movies or TV shows that their customers may enjoy.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, we can let a computer sort through everything. It will create useful information by itself. This still requires some initial programming. But this is more of a guideline-giving practice. Once these guidelines are set, the data can start being analyzed. It can be used to predict trends and determine buying patterns. It is an effective way of learning about customers and what they want. It is based on their past actions and not on traditional, outdated models.
Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce
The benefits of AI commerce are so much greater than traditional eCommerce practices. It merges the efficiency of a computer with thought processes similar to that of a human. Intelligent systems in e-Commerce can generate more profit because many functions get improved. Let’s look at a few of them.
Useful for you:
Customer Involvement
Artificial intelligence is based on massive data sets from various sources. This means direct customer involvement with the conclusions that are reached. Your strategies can be found on actual customer data, not assumed predictions that one cannot guarantee.
The customer can engage more actively with you on all your media platforms. Customers would rather give their business to a friendly chatbot, rather than a cold, lifeless order form. The conversation between customer and merchant is more amiable.
Sales Growth
It must be noted that artificial intelligence is not meant to replace a salesperson. Instead, it provides sales staff with the information they need to deliver a better sales pitch. A successful sales pitch means more sales growth. The sum of all your AI usage ultimately leads to increased sales.
Efficient Sales Process
Artificial intelligence can accept voice and natural-language input. This means that one could place an order by only having a normal conversation with an online machine. No need for individual commands or specific processes. Asking your phone to “find a cheap flight to New York” it will do exactly that. No need to be redirected to other sites or to be put on waiting for an actual salesperson.
AI can process an order based on a regular human conversation. Customers want that kind of efficiency. This is possible, thanks to artificial intelligence online shopping.
Targeting Potential Customers
Research has shown that one-third of all marketing leads do not get followed up. This means that you could be losing potential customers by not even talking to them. Perhaps, you simply don’t have the human resources to give all that personal attention to every single lead. That is where artificial intelligence can help. It could determine how long customers spend perusing certain products (i.e., dwell time spent on a web page).
Your AI-enabled system could flag the sales staff of a potential customer showing actual interest in a product. It could also send them special offers or perhaps advertise other options for that item.