7 Powerful Ways AI is Reshaping the Ecommerce Industry

There are several studies relating to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) within eCommerce. What’s common among them is that the best eCommerce stores utilize the power of AI to improve their target market’s experience.

Undoubtedly, AI is now no longer confined to academia and scientific fields. If you take any industry, you will see AI playing a crucial role.

If you wish to scale your eCommerce to the next level, you need AI, as it is no longer an option but a necessity.

How is AI Transforming ecommerce?

Today, we will list the multiple ways through which AI is reshaping the eCommerce industry.

1. Product Recommendation Systems

Go to Amazon right now and start searching for products. After a while, you will see products showing up in your recommendations section based on search history, past purchases, product interactions, and ratings.

Due to its personalization strategy, Amazon has become the world’s top eCommerce store. It created the Amazon Personalise tool, which creates a highly personalized shopping experience for its customers.

The best thing is that you can use this tool for your eCommerce store without any machine learning or AI expert. All you need to do is ask your eCommerce development company to implement this tool for your store, email strategy, or app.

The above picture describes how the Amazon Personalise tool works and adds value to your eCommerce store. Without personalization, your store will never reach the level it aspires to and will always lag behind competitors.

Remember, personalization is not only about increasing sales. A customer loves a store that offers a highly personal experience. It can help improve brand loyalty and greater brand recognition.

2. Customer Support

Ask any eCommerce development company, and they will say to include as much product information and FAQs as possible.

Why? It improves user experience and reduces the need for a dedicated customer service agent present 24/7 to answer customer queries.

It might have been true before, but not now. If your eCommerce development company focuses on adding detailed product descriptions, reviews, and testimonials, the idea is to improve the customer experience and not save money on customer service agents.

AI-powered chatbots were still unheard of back then but are now a norm. Today, we can say with conviction that it is challenging to discern whether you are talking to a chatbot or a human.

Chatbots can handle simple to complex queries 24/7 due to the improvements in technology, allowing you to answer customer queries.

It would not be wrong to say that AI chatbots not only improve communication but can lead to a personalized experience.

3. Personalised Marketing Strategies

If you think setting up an eCommerce store is the only thing that will set you up on the path to success, you are wrong. You need to invest in search engine optimization and other marketing activities.

AI can help you with marketing copies, product descriptions, blogs, and more. In short, it eliminates hiring dedicated human resources for marketing purposes.

There are also tools available that can design, implement, and monitor your entire marketing campaign with little human input.

4. Video Surveillance

While the above benefits mostly apply to online eCommerce stores, AI promises many benefits to in-store retailers. Whether online or in-store retail, no one likes a dragged-out checkout process.

For instance, would you like to wait for 10 minutes at the checkout? The answer is no. Time is money, and it has never been truer than it is today, given how fast-paced our lives have become over the years.

AI video surveillance can track customer movements and alert your staff when multiple people are heading to the checkout phase. They can open multiple checkout counters to eliminate wait times. AI can also help detect theft/fraud.

There are several AI surveillance systems that detect and analyze human behavior. They can alert you about suspicious behavior. You can implement the same strategy in your warehouse, i.e. track your employees to prevent pilferage.

5. Improve Productivity

Would you be comfortable paying someone a full day’s salary when their entire day involves a maximum of two to three hours of work? The answer is no, as it signifies financial mismanagement and can demotivate other employees.

Let’s re-consider the previous example about AI surveillance and checkout counters.
If fewer people are expecting to complete a transaction, opening all the checkout counters is no longer necessary.

The staff members can shift their focus on other duties and ensure every person is contributing to the store’s success.

This strategy can also help in better workforce planning. For instance, AI can help businesses calculate when more staff is needed and where.

6. Efficient Product Placement

Suppose that you list certain products in Category A. You are hopeful that these products will sell out quickly due to their value for money, quality, and other factors. Unfortunately, it is not the case.

AI can help track a visitor’s journey from the start to the end. With this information, you can track which part of the website or category a visitor spends the most time on and then organize the products accordingly.

7. Smart Inventory

Regardless of your warehouse size and finances, it is not wise to store all products all the time. Predictive analytics help eCommerce stores analyze which products will be in demand. It helps the business stock only relevant inventory, reducing the costs of holding inventory.

Get started immediately if your business has not opted for AI in inventory management. The reason is that AI becomes better over time. You may not see any benefit now, but as the AI system establishes its roots, it will become accurate.

Conclusion

It concludes our article on how AI is reshaping the eCommerce industry. One thing that you must keep in mind is that AI is an evolving field.

We believe that AI is still a mystery and we have yet to fully comprehend its benefits and uses. If you are not using AI even now, you might as well close your eCommerce store before your competitors drive you to the ground.