How Easy is It to Use AI in eCommerce?

Virginia Miller

September 19, 2023

In this article

One of the aftermaths of the pandemic era was a change in consumer behavior. The restrictions of the pandemic forced consumers and businesses to shop for daily and business needs via the internet, opening their eyes to a more convenient and effortless way of shopping. Since then, there has been a growing preference for eCommerce services from the comfort of their homes, in the palm of their hands.

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This has led to the constant growth of the eCommerce market. Many businesses are now seeking to tap into the many benefits of this market by expanding to include the eCommerce section and many others springing up in the eCommerce space. However, the eCommerce industry has faced challenges, highlighted by increasing customer demands and modern-day trends.

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Artificial intelligence in eCommerce provides a way out of these challenges, revolutionizing the eCommerce industry with its many applications in eCommerce, including customer experience, fulfillment, shipping, etc. However, many businesses face the challenge of integrating this technology into their eCommerce operations. In this article, we'll look at various applications of this technology in eCommerce to achieve business optimization in multiple areas. But first, let us look at the impact of this technology on eCommerce.

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Impact of AI on eCommerce

The introduction of AI into eCommerce has seen the industry experience a spike in profitability, with a predicted 38% boost across 16 industries by 2035. The benefit of this technology to eCommerce is seen mainly in two vital areas; customer experience personalization/customization and intelligent business decisions.

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This technology also improves eCommerce business profitability, with AI-powered strategies such as upselling and cross-selling driving success. AI-enabled product recommendations and chatbots have enhanced personalized services for your customers, leading to more sales and business profits.

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Consumers are more willing to buy from eCommerce stores where they get more personalized services, a fact shown by a study by Ubisend, which says that 20% of consumers will purchase goods or services from a chatbot, while 40% seek great offers and deals from chatbots. In addition, AI has improved eCommerce businesses through enhanced business analytics and enriched data quality, enabling them to make more informed and better business decisions.

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These impacts have led to this industry's steady and continuous growth, with global eCommerce sales projected to reach incredible heights and 80% of customer interactions to be handled by AI shortly.

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How to Use AI in eCommerce

The application and benefits of AI in eCommerce cover diverse areas where it's applied to achieve improved customer services and experiences, increased automation, high-quality lead generation, etc. Various eCommerce businesses, including shipping companies in Dubai, employ this technology for increased business success. Using AI in eCommerce is as easy as the following applications.

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Product Recommendations

Big data technology has enabled data collection from various channels and previous transactions, using this data to analyze and determine shopping trends and habits. This analysis can create product recommendations to suit the user's taste and preference. In addition to showcasing preferred products, AI also accesses customer behavior and uses this information to design personalized future sales strategies.

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ECommerce stores use collaborative filtering to achieve this kind of eCommerce marketing, with AI and deep learning employed to create a personalized experience for the customer. Several AI integrations with online platforms provide insights into customer behaviors and customized product recommendations.

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Create Customer-centric Search

AI uses natural language processing (NLP), advanced image, and video recognition to narrow and improve search results for online shoppers. With advanced imaging and video recognition, you can now use apps that 'see the world as you do' and create a more customer-centric experience for their customers. Also, AI-powered machine learning enhances visual searching, automatically tagging and organizing content by labeling image or video features.

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Furthermore, with bespoke models, AI can be taught to understand concepts such as product, logo, aesthetics, etc. These and other pre-existing concepts can be employed to enhance web searches using keyword tags or visual similarities. AI helps generate new software platforms for eCommerce websites, enabling shoppers to have more innovative visual search experiences.

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This visual searching enables customers to find matching and complementary products to uploaded product images, enhancing searching operations and improving the overall shopping experience. Also, using cues from uploaded images, AI helps online shoppers find desired products.

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Due to this technology, the capabilities and possibilities available to eCommerce businesses are enormous, increasing profitability and giving them a competitive edge over their competitors.

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Chatbots and Virtual Assistants

AI-powered Chatbots and virtual assistants provide online shoppers with online support, enabling them to get round-the-clock service and providing a more intuitive and better customer experience. Other capabilities of chatbots that enable them to improve customer experience are:

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- Natural Language Processing (NLP), enabling them to interpret customer voices for better interactions.
- Self-learning, enabling them to improve over time
- Providing personalized customer offers
- Providing solutions to consumer needs with deeper insights gathered on these needs.

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These technological features serve as online shopping assistants, helping shoppers through their shopping experience by helping them with product recommendations and suggestions, taking their complaints and feedback, creating personalized offers and deals, etc., and keeping them happy. Therefore, integrating chatbots into your eCommerce site will help retain your customers and ensure business profitability.

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In making wiser and more efficient business decisions

With AI incorporated into every aspect of business operations, companies leverage this technology to optimize business operations for more efficiency and increased profitability. Companies can use big data to get insights into business operations for informed and better business decisions.

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AI-powered tools can help assess factors such as market dynamics relevant to market competition and product pricing. This assessment helps in product pricing optimization, helping the business succeed and remain afloat amidst the stiff competition in the business world. Also, Big data analysis helps achieve increased inventory management efficiency, providing valuable insights useful to formulate better business strategies and make better decisions.

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Furthermore, Big data analysis enables you to analyze products and business actions and identify the ones that are doing well or not, to make changes or adjustments where necessary for better company-wide decisions.

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Remarketing

AI helps businesses to keep reminding their existing and potential customers of the brand. These may be users who have purchased from you in the past or have abandoned their shopping journey at some point. AI uses computer vision to identify consumer behavioral patterns due to user views, purchases, etc., and use such data to lure the users back to your website.

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One way of achieving this is with push notifications. This powerful remarketing strategy has little risk of annoying your customers, as they are short and straightforward and can also be personalized to obtain the best effect. Using AI in remarketing campaigns makes the process more cost-effective and productive and keeps you in the minds of your target audience so that when they think about the products in your field, they think of you.

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You can use AI to enhance eCommerce business operations in several other ways. They include

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To identify exceptional target prospects

Empower store workers

Tackle fake reviews

In advanced semantic-based search

Cyber Security Enhancement

Sales forecasting, etc.

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Conclusion

AI has revolutionized eCommerce, with its various applications significantly transforming the industry and enhancing business operations. AI eCommerce companies leverage these many applications in creating optimized business operations that enable them to stay afloat and remain competitive. Furthermore, eCommerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify allow the seamless integration of various AI tools into your eCommerce business for increased profits while fostering business growth.

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