We live in a fast world that requires more accurate predictions than humans. It is a primary reason behind Artificial Intelligence gaining prominence. Artificial technologies are rapidly evolving, becoming the need of the hour.

 

SwissCognitive Guest Blogger: Jennifer Simon


 

Most businesses utilize AI, which is not a wonder since it is an unavoidable part of their day-to-day activities. Several innovations and advancements previously only possible in science fiction have gradually morphed into reality. Experts view artificial intelligence as a factor of production with the potential to introduce new sources of growth and change the way work is done across industries. 

Why is AI important for eCommerce businesses?

AI is significant because it can provide enterprises with previously unknown knowledge and insight into their operations and, in some cases, perform tasks better than humans. AI tools are valuable and complete jobs super-quick with minimal errors, especially when doing tasks like data entry, segregating facts, sending emails, etc. 

While the massive amount of data generated daily would be tedious and exhausting for a human researcher to sift through, that is where AI applications come into the scene. Machine learning can quickly turn that data into actionable information. The preliminary disadvantage of using AI is the high cost of processing the large amounts of data required for AI programming.

How is AI impacting eCommerce?

The benefits of AI eCommerce business are numerous. It reduces workload, helps save time, reduces errors, and makes everything systematic. eCommerce will be one of the early adopters of artificial intelligence. According to studies, artificial intelligence in eCommerce has grown tremendously in the last few years. 

These studies also indicate that the growth will continue in the coming years, as 84% of eCommerce businesses are either actively working on AI solutions or have it as a high priority. 


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Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence is altering the eCommerce landscape. It will also improve various areas of your job. However, it will not distort your data or cause communication inconsistencies. The truth is that there are dozens of actual use cases for AI in eCommerce that benefit the organizations that have implemented it. Using AI for marketing campaigns smoothens SEO services by making it easy to get relevant and valuable keywords to carry out campaigns.

Powerful Ways To Use Artificial Intelligence In eCommerce

eCommerce can make use of AI for various reasons. Most business owners have realized the benefits of AI and have started utilizing them. The most common application areas include the following. 

  1. Personalized product recommendations
  2. Advanced visual search
  3. Pricing optimization
  4. Enhanced customer service
  5. Customer segmentation
  6. Smart logistics
  7. Sales and demand forecasting

Let us now discuss each one in detail. 

  1. Personalized Product Recommendations

Collecting and processing customer data about their online shopping experience is now easier than ever. AI understands customer behavior in a better way and provides error-free personalized product recommendations to customers. It will analyze previous purchase behavior and recommend similar items to customers. 

Customers will love the personalized experience, which will be a sure shot conversion into sales. This data will be helpful for marketing campaigns, optimizing prices, and creating a database for future reference. Employees can dedicate time productively as the time required to segregate data is minimal. 

Product recommendations provide numerous advantages to eCommerce retailers, as below. During WooCommerce development, you can ask your developers to incorporate the required functionalities into your website. 

  • Increased number of returning customers
  • Customer retention and sales have improved
  • Online shoppers can enjoy a more customized shopping experience
  • Make a personalized business email campaign possible
  1. Advanced Visual Search

For online searches, AI-based visual search technology employs real-world images such as pictures, screenshots, internet images, and so on. It first understands the image’s content and then returns relevant results. It benefits the eCommerce industry, particularly the clothing and home décor industries.

Google, Amazon, Pinterest, Bing, and several eCommerce companies have begun developing visual search engines. You’ve probably heard of Google Lens, which can recognize over a billion objects. ASOS, eBay, Walmart, Levi’s, Disney, Salesforce, Snapchat, Ikea, and Lifestyle are well-known retailers utilizing advanced AI-based visual search. It would help if you used relevant plugins to avail of these features, and you can seek help from your eCommerce development service provider for integration. 

  1. Pricing Optimization

According to a recent Forbes article, AI-based pricing has the potential to generate $500 billion in global market value. AI can automate system pricing rules and increase revenue by up to 5% in less than a year. AI and machine learning can significantly transform B2B pricing, especially given that 85% of B2B management teams felt their pricing decisions could be improved, according to a survey of over 1,700 business leaders.

AI-enabled dynamic pricing is a pricing strategy that changes determined by the market. With the correct data, today’s tools can dynamically predict when and what to discount, evaluating the minimum discount required for sale. It is a significant advantage resulting from Artificial intelligence. 

Establishing accurate prices is difficult for most B2B companies due to the complexity of the internal and external data. Machine learning allows for the rapid analysis of large amounts of data and can even generate insights that can help businesses move forward. Companies can increase profits using value-based pricing and optimal price tiering because decision-makers better understand customers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and behavior based on pricing strategies.

  1. Enhanced Customer Service

Customers expect fast and quick solutions on their terms. Throughout the year, brands must always be available and responsive to customers. It is possible with automated customer service. It enables businesses to provide continuous customer service and resolve issues as they arise.

Customer service representatives handle many customer calls, emails, and chats daily. They are thus challenged to reduce the average resolution time for each customer. Chatbots can play an essential role in addressing both of these issues. Chatbots can not only provide prompt answers with real-time thunder responses, but they can also relieve the severe impact on human agents by resolving a large number of customer queries with the highest accuracy and human-like behavior. 

You can simulate higher-touch customer service with virtual assistants and chatbot technology. Even though these bots aren’t entirely self-reliant, they can help with simple transactions, freeing support agents to handle more complex issues. Virtual agents are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, making it possible to address any questions and problems without attempting to make your customer wait. 

  1. Customer Segmentation

Previously, customer segmentation was a tedious and time-consuming task that required hours of manually poring over different tables and querying the data to find ways to group customers. However, machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that find statistical regularities in data made it much more accessible in the past decade.

Machine learning models can analyze customer data and identify recurring patterns across multiple features. In many cases, machine learning algorithms can assist marketing analysts in identifying customer segments that would be difficult to locate through intuition and manual data analysis. 

Access to more business and customer data and processing power enables eCommerce operators to understand their customers better and identify new trends. AI systems can rapidly investigate highly complex and diverse options for customer engagement and continuously optimize their performance as more data becomes available. Marketers can set parameters and then let AI optimize and learn to achieve precision.

  1. Inventory Management

Inventory management is more than just delivering goods to customers and keeping stock. Instead, it is about having the inventory ready before customers order it, which necessitates accurate forecasting. Overstocking results in lost revenue, while understocking results in shortages and dissatisfied customers.

Artificial intelligence software assists businesses by learning to analyze consumer demand for specific products accurately. Furthermore, as it stocks inventory, it responds to changing trends, accounts for seasonal shifts, and considers regional requests.

The benefits of AI in inventory management are:

  • Improved Communication: AI systems can communicate accurate information faster than human operators. Using cloud-based devices enables instant and on-the-fly updates.
  • Logistics: AI can now optimize logistics tasks such as counting pallets or designating the necessary equipment for staff, reducing processing time and human error.
  • Inventory Optimization: AI frees up resources and budgets that merchants can otherwise use for inventory control.
  1. Sales and Demand Forecasting

AI in sales can assist in managing and forecasting customer behavior, identifying cross-selling and upselling opportunities, automating repetitive tasks, and improving forecasting accuracy. The ultimate goal of AI in sales is to increase efficiency and efficacy while remaining cost-effective. 

Sales representatives play an essential role in the sales process. But AI and machine learning are likely to replace them partially going forward. AI and machine learning can automate specific tasks that sales representatives typically perform. It allows sales representatives to focus on more critical studies, improving the efficiency and impact of their sales process.

To Sum It Up:

ML and AI will transform the way the eCommerce industry functions in the coming years, but they are already impacting the present. AI plays a significant role in improving customer experiences and developing innovative solutions in the eCommerce industry. 

Some of the most notable applications of AI in eCommerce are product recommendations, personalized shopping experiences, virtual assistants, chatbots, and voice search. The advantages continue beyond there, and we will see them in the future. Now is the right time to implement them in your day-to-day process and widen your business goals.


About the Author:

Jennifer Simon is a  well-experienced WooCommerce developer at Virtina. She has been helping eCommerce customers gain in-depth knowledge about various eCommerce trends, including artificial intelligence and other technologies.