Artificial Intelligence will soon become an essential part of our daily life. From identifying trends and consumption habits to offering personal shoppers – AI is set to revamp more than our lives including online shopping experience.
Artificial intelligence provides countless opportunities to the ecommerce industry where countless retailers compete to provide the maximum customer convenience. In the face of this challenge, AI can assist retailers in staying a step ahead of their customers; providing the ultimate shopping experience.
On the back of recent developments in the field, I’ve gathered a list of amazing AI features that can transform the ecommerce industry.
Machine Learning For Search Results
Typically, online shopping involves the use of a search bar or assistance to find the right product. Upon typing the initials of a product, the website generates suggested results using matching keywords and search algorithms.
Now think of a list of results that is generated on the basis of relevance. The aim of such a list would be to interpret the human semantics and reveal the true intentions behind a search query. Using Machine Learning, AI will have the ability to learn and decipher customer’s requests and deliver relevant results.
eBay, for example, uses machine learning to predict and display the most relevant data. The giant retailer makes the most of cataloging its products and improving search abilities. The ecommerce world at large is yet to catch up, but once it does, it will completely reshape how you and I shop online.
AI-Assisted Product Recommendation
Improving search goes hand in hand with AI-assisted personalization to recommend the most relevant products. By combining the power of data mining and machine learning, retailers will be able to improve predictive personalization which in turn will keep the “Frequently Bought Together” or “More options for this product” sections of an ecommerce website relevant.
The idea is to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer’s preferences and needs. Retailers will be able to combine the data gathered from the transactions and other daily activities of the customer to determine their possible needs and wants. AI can analyze large volumes of data using Big Data and determine what material, color or type of particular product customers are buying in a specific region.
Artificial Neural Networks for Campaigns
Artificial neural networks are the computational model based on the structure and functions of a human brain. This type of AI can be used to crunch big data and understand the motives behind individual product purchases. This information can then be used to predict preferences; aiding in marketing campaigns.
Additionally, artificial neural networks can learn from frequent supply of data and recognize trends and patterns. And as it draws target-specific conclusions, it can be used to deduce the response of ads and commercials and how they can be improved.
Virtual Buying Assistant
Shopping assistant will no longer be a luxury; retailers are already on their way to harnessing the powers of AI in the field of virtual buying assistants. Online shops shall soon be able to curate a customer’s likings without the interference of the customer.
There are already many services that serve as virtual assistants and notify when the price of a particular product or service drops e.g. airfares. But imagine when these virtual buying assistants reach the level where they are able to take over the whole process; making sure that a particular flight fits in with your schedule and makes the purchase on your behalf.
Chatbots
Making conversations through artificial intelligence has been predicted by many. Chatbots give the ability to interact with buyers and deliver specific results to a customer’s query. The chatbot looks through the profile of a customer and delivers the most appropriate response. These responses are personalized and provide a real-time update.
The experience could be enriched if, in the future, the chatbot could pull together different sources and integrate other features of AI as well.
