What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is now everywhere in our life and its use is continuously being increased day by day. One can experience it from self-checkouts at superstores to advance security checks at the airport. It is changing and improving our lives continuously. It has also brought in efficiency and security that makes it highly attractive for the businesses around the world. It is highly awaited that AI is set to reach new highs in next few years with corporate giants like Microsoft and Google investing into it. Google recently bought AI based start-up DeepMind specializing in machine learning which is expected to further boost the AI technology. This paper will look at how AI can be used in conjunction with customer data be applied strategically in the ecommerce industry and will look at opportunities and challenges in doing so in a critical manner. (Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
One is facing artificial intelligence (AI) when algorithms allow technological elements to have capabilities typical of human intelligence, for example, the interpretation of a text or voice recognition. (Sharma, 2021)
It is increasingly common to find this type of technology in our daily lives. A clear example is the personal assistants that we have on cell phones. These help to find all kinds of information by voice. Or home automation systems that are also based on artificial intelligence controlling different aspects of the house through algorithms, whether it is lowering the blinds when it gets dark or turning on the air conditioning in the home. (Sharma, 2021)
In the business field, progress has also been made in the implementation of AI. Many companies are already aware that with new technologies they can boost their business exponentially thanks to the benefits it offers them. (Sharma, 2021)
What is artificial intelligence used for?
Today artificial intelligence is used to automate processes, program machines to do high volume tasks, in less time than human beings; also, to capture and analyse information, even for accurate and timely medical diagnoses.This area of knowledge points to the benefit of the consumer, from the algorithms that recommend products in ecommerce, to the virtual assistants, who interact with the user, were created. (Bawack, Wamba, Carillo and Akter, 2022)
Apple’s Siri is one of the most famous virtual assistants in the world, through voice recognition, it is capable of making calls, sending messages, searching for information and contacts. It even sings if a human asks it to. Virtual assistants also include chatbots, incorporated into web pages and social networks, capable of answering questions and helping people 24 hours a day and in real time. (Eckel, 2022)
Autonomous cars are capable of imitating human abilities without committing traffic violations or causing accidents. These vehicles, through lasers, radar, global positioning systems and computerized vision, are capable of perceiving the environment and driving in the city or on highways. (Othman, 2021)
To learn about an emblematic case in the world of artificial intelligence, read Sophia, the world’s most famous humanoid , which describes itself as a robot with artificial intelligence, which helps people. (Othman, 2021)
Benefits of AI for companies
There are several benefits that this new technology brings to the business world which are true not only for ecommerce businesses specifically but generally to all companies. (Bawack, Wamba, Carillo and Akter, 2022)
More time to do other tasks
The implementation of AI generates greater profitability for companies, since through the use of new technologies opportunities are generated for the reduction of time. Daily and repetitive tasks such as loading data are being carried out by artificial intelligence, and this allows people to dedicate their time to other types of work. (Bawack, Wamba, Carillo and Akter, 2022)
Competitive advantages
Artificial Intelligence is a tool that generates value for the company and positions it in a privileged place. Companies that are at the forefront in terms of technology have a better reputation and can greatly differentiate themselves from the competition.
More efficient information processing
AI seeks to generate algorithms capable of understanding the environment and responding to problems. This makes a massive processing of all kinds of data, from written information to audio and images, and with them it performs an analysis and draws conclusions. Artificial intelligence uses the information it obtained to determine how to perform certain tasks and then execute them. (Anantrasirichai and Bull, 2021)
Increased effectiveness
Artificial intelligence quickly learns from the data it collects and the processes it performs. This makes the tasks it performs more and more effective. Process automation helps reduce errors and increase the number of operations to perform.(Anantrasirichai and Bull, 2021)
The role of AI in eCommerce is increasing day by day as AI is helping businesses in better understanding the consumer needs, generating new leads and offering improved customer experience. (Anantrasirichai and Bull, 2021)
Artificial intelligence is combined with Big Data to analyse customer profile data in real time, which optimizes the user experience and helps sellers improve engagement with them. The more data there is, the better the algorithms will perform.
For example, Netflix feeds its artificial intelligence algorithms with the conglomerate of all the interactions that its users have historically had with its content, characterizing their preferences and generating good recommendations.
The client receives the right message at the right time, even the algorithm is capable of predicting the future. Artificial intelligence puts the consumer at the centre because his experience is personalized
Virtual stores can capture information that helps them to know their users, they know what they buy, they know their tastes and their demographic data, to influence their advertising campaigns correctly and intelligently, instead of spending resources targeting people who do not need They don’t even look for their products. (Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
There are three main ways with which eCommerce has is made more efficient by the artificial intelligence. These happen at the different stages which are as follows:
Understand Customers
Understanding the needs of each client is essential to know how to reach them, treating them in a generic way decreases the ability to retain them. This is where clustering techniques come in, which are algorithms that can automatically identify the most representative groups of a population. (Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
In the context of sales, grouping techniques can be used to automatically identify different types of customers. This helps to offer personalized advertising campaigns and promotions, in such a way that each action we carry out is directed to a specific group of potential clients with common characteristics. (Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
Suggest Products
Any visit to e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, among others, shows a section of recommended products in different spaces in a personalized way, that is, it contains different articles for each user, according to their interests. (Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
This level of personalization is achieved through the development of recommendation systems, which feed on the characteristics of different products and users, but mainly use the information on the interactions between them. These can be of several types: the rating that a user explicitly gives to an article and the time spent viewing it.(Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
With this information, it is possible to estimate the affinity that users have with different products, even with those they are unaware of, which is a determining factor to increase sales.
E-commerce: the product that the user wants in their hands
Streamline the sales process
Some e-commerce platforms have a chatbot with which they can answer all kinds of questions, complaints and claims, as well as guide the customer throughout the purchase process.
A few years ago, this service could only be offered through a call centre, which required many employees, trained to respond to all customer needs and questions. However, today it is possible to train chatbots, technological tools that are used to maintain automated conversations with natural language, that is, people do not notice that they are talking to a machine. These improve response times, scalability and lower operating costs.
Chatbots require automatic language analysis that identifies the intentions of different customers and some keywords to accurately respond to them.
In short, the development of artificial intelligence gives us several possibilities to boost sales through electronic commerce, which is an environment conducive to the exploitation of these techniques given the large amount of data involved in the entire purchase process.
(Areiqat, Hamdan, Alheet and Alareeni, 2021)
Some of the ways AI is impacting the eCommerce is as follows:
Creating consumer-centric searches
One of the problems due to which consumer switch ecommerce portals is that they do not get relevant search results. Firms have developed AI logarithms that improve customer experience by showing them only relevant search results. This is done through natural language process that helps narrow down and contextualize the search resuls. With the help of machine learning, the AI algorithm-based software organizes, tags and visually searches the content through labelling features in the image or even in the video, making it easier for the consumers to search their relevant content and products. Example of a company that is utilizing this technology for improving consumer searches and thus their experience is pinterest. Amazon, argubally the largest e-commerce company globally is also using the similar AI technology that increased its efficiency as well as impacting bottom line positively. (Bawack, Wamba, Carillo and Akter, 2022)
Figure 1: A search on Amazon for iPhone 13 pro case showing only relevant results
Along with finding similar products, the AI also enables customers in discovering complimentary products with regard to its shape, colour, size, fabric or brand through the use of its visualize capabilities. The software do this through first getting visual cues form the images uploaded into it and then can easily help the customer in finding their desired products. This eliminates the need for the consumers to shop for seeing something that they want to purchase.
For example, if a consumer likes the shirt of his colleagues, he can simply click the pic, uploads it and the AI would help them finding the same shirt online through using the visuals.
(Bawack, Wamba, Carillo and Akter, 2022)
RetargetingPotential Consumers
A large number of sales leads are overlooked by the sales team. It implies that pre-qualified potential customers that wants to buy your products or service fell through the systematic loophole in your system.
Moreover, numerous business are often overloaded with the huge amount of consumer data that they seldom utilize. The AI can mine and manipulate that data and help companies enhancing their sales cycle.AI can also help in increasing security of the brick and mortar stores or warehouses of the ecommerce platform, by identifying the shoplifters through scanning on CCTV.
Predictive Analytics
AI-based technologies are capable of handling large amounts of data, being able to identify patterns and even predict the future. People are always interested in knowing what is going to happen next, and this is a fundamental requirement for business. This is very important for all facets of the business, especially ecommerce as it allows businesses to plan well ahead for the situation that can develop in future. (AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Self-learning abilities, the ability to quickly find important and relevant conclusions when processing data and build certain predictions based on them, are among the biggest advantages that this type of technology brings. These characteristics allow companies to find ideas and opportunities that can be used to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Real-time analysis
One of the greatest advantages of Artificial Intelligence for companies, including ecommerce companies is the possibility of processing a large amount of data and interpreting it in real time. This allows them to make crucial decisions and act much faster, which will ensure that their competitive position remains strong and differentiated. For example, through the real time data, the company can replenish inventory within the dispatch time mentioned on the order. (AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
In some areas, this data may also be provided to all end customers. For example, in the transportation industry, drivers can get data on traffic bottlenecks based on their location and quickly adjust their routes. This data, when passed on to the ecommerce company, it may decide to send urgent shipping through other channels, like through airspace. (AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Improved security of stored data
In the financial sector, online banking services and other areas where data privacy is of the utmost importance, AI can be used with great precision to detect fraud attempts and irregular access to personal information.All this can be done thanks to a complex integration of capabilities such as data processing automation, machine learning, speech recognition and language understanding.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Scalability
Artificial intelligence solutions favour greater process replication. These systems can perform the same analysis multiple times. With AI, ecommerce companies increase their ability to grow in response to demands without losing the qualities that add value to the product or service.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Error Reduction
One of the significant advantages of AI is the reduction of error or the probability of error. AI can perform specific tasks faster and with more accuracy and precision than human performance.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)Mistakes in running a business come at a cost. Therefore, by implementing AI in your organization, manual errors can be reduced, for example, administrative activities such as payment, sales, and billing procedures can be streamlined; At an industrial level, small defects in the product can be detected along the production line, achieved by sensors that are much more effective than the human eye.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
Problem solving
Artificial Intelligence can solve problems and needs, whether operational or management.For example, a company struggling to manage the materials needed for production can use artificial intelligence through automated tools that accurately calculate processes and inventory.(AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM, 2022)
In this case, Artificial Intelligence can be the basis to revolutionize and modernize the way of working. Professionals can reduce their work time and boost their efforts to create more complex jobs. Thus, AI is widely used in eCommerce and its potential uses are rapidly increases.
References
Anantrasirichai, N. and Bull, D., 2021. Artificial intelligence in the creative industries: a review. Artificial Intelligence Review, 55(1), pp.589-656.
GEPARD. 2022. AI In eCommerce: Modern Technology That Drives Business Revenue – Gepard PIM. [online] Available at: <https://gepard.io/insights-trends/artificial-intelligence-in-ecommerce> [Accessed 5 September 2022].
Areiqat, A., Hamdan, A., Alheet, A. and Alareeni, B., 2021. Impact of Artificial Intelligence on E-Commerce Development. The Importance of New Technologies and Entrepreneurship in Business Development: In The Context of Economic Diversity in Developing Countries, pp.571-578.
Bawack, R., Wamba, S., Carillo, K. and Akter, S., 2022. Artificial intelligence in E-Commerce: a bibliometric study and literature review. Electronic Markets, 32(1), pp.297-338.
Eckel, E., 2022. Apple’s Siri: A cheat sheet. [online] TechRepublic. Available at: <https://www.techrepublic.com/article/apples-siri-the-smart-persons-guide/> [Accessed 1 September 2022].
Othman, K., 2021. Public acceptance and perception of autonomous vehicles: a comprehensive review. AI and Ethics, 1(3), pp.355-387.
Riet, L., 2022. 7 Major Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce Business | e-Commerce News HQ. [online] Ecommercenewshq.com. Available at: <https://ecommercenewshq.com/benefits-of-artificial-intelligence-ecommerce/> [Accessed 5 September 2022].
Sharma, D., 2021. Impact of AI on E-Commerce. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Business and Finance, pp.1-28.
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