Wednesday, 23 October 2019

AI and E-Commerce: How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing the Sector?

The e-commerce industry has become a boom in no time! Today, every person looks forward to shopping online. The simple reason being the e-commerce platform provides its users with great convenience and experience. This has been made possible by incorporating the use of the latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to streamline business processes and have a better understanding of customer behavior. If we talk about AI in general, it was initially only associated with robots. Eventually, the use of AI expanded to almost every gadget that we can think of today. AI help in eCommerce data management that has been revolutionized the retail market currently and is predicted to revolutionize in the coming times too.


The Artificial Intelligence Growth Rate from 2019 -2025

AI has become the present and the future of e-commerce business and the following stats prove the same:-
  • According to Statista’s research for the year 2018, the worldwide E-Commerce retail sale was $2.8 trillion and is anticipated to reach $4.8 trillion by 2021.
  • According to Gartner, AI would generate approximately 2.3 million jobs by 2020.
  • By 2020, 80% of businesses are anticipated to initiate chatbot automation.
  • The chatbots would cover over $1.3 billion market size by 2024, says Global Market Insights.

Artificial Intelligence’s Influence on E-commerce:

If you are thinking about incorporating the use of AI in your business, you should absolutely do so as soon as possible. Below are some facts and stats about the influence of AI on E-Commerce:
  • 27% of consumers agreed to buy products from chatbots.
  • The worldwide chatbot market is anticipated to rise to approximately $454.8 million dollars in revenue.
  • According to HubSpot, 48% of consumers prefer to connect with a company via live chat than any other mode of contact.
  • 95% of consumers believe that ‘customer service’ would be a major beneficiary of chatbots.
Artificial Intelligence is taking E-commerce to the Next Level:

1. Chatbots: Chatbots provide 24/7 personalized customer support experience through past data collection.

2. Recommendation systems: AI and machine learning use algorithms to predict consumer behavior and benefit E-commerce.

3. Warehouse automation: AI robots glide around making warehouse tasks to be an automatic and smooth process.

4. Intelligent data management: AI efficiently handles enormous customer data in a single minute.

5. Cybersecurity: AI and machine learning mitigate the chances of fraudulent activities that can have a negative effect on the E-commerce business.

6. Image search: AI understand images and help E-commerce websites recognize products without keywords, by pointing the camera towards the product.
Positive Effects of Artificial Intelligence in E-commerce:
  • Automated workflows
  • Fraud detection and prevention
  • Better sales

Real-life Applications of Artificial Intelligence in E-commerce:

1. Shopping experience: Google Analytics provides user information, and AI personalizes the experience based on metadata for user behavior.

2. Fighting fake reviews: According to Dimensional Research, over 90% of people said that reviews influence their buying decision. AI combats fake reviews and prefers verified users.

3. Sales forecasting and inventory management: AI software gathers information from the past to draw a conclusion for easier and accurate decision making. This helps businesses to stock and manage inventories efficiently and reduce loss.

4. Chatbots and automated customer services: AI-enabled assistants are capable of assisting efficiently and reduce response time. It saves about $1.3 trillion every year on the customer support channel.

5. CRM systems: CRM vendors are investing in AI-powered systems to automate data processing. Personalized recommendations, automatic updating of customer data and managing customer reviews on social platforms is something that the CRM systems have achieved.

6. Voice search and smart home integration: According to a study in 2018, one out of six Americans owns a smart speaker. Amazon’s Alexa is an example of voice search technology which can respond with respect to various voice instructions.

7. Visual search: Image recognition benefits customers by instantly finding what they need. Pinterest uses Lens tool for a visual search, and 8% of the specialty retail brands use visual research too, according to L2.

Conclusion

Digital platforms have made the business a lot easier for retailers and buyers. AI provides a better experience to E-commerce website users and increases profits drastically. AI has impacted the transaction, efficiency, customer retention, and satisfaction in the e-commerce industry in a positive way and will continue to do so in the future as well.