What is E-Commerce Intelligence and How Can it Boost the Business?

When anyone talks about Artificial Intelligence, the first thing that comes to mind is something straight out of a Steven Spielberg movie. However, in the e-commerce sector, it is less about humanoids and more about algorithms and learning technologies that boost up sales and better user interaction. 

Today, AI can help retailers deliver the perfect customer experience both off and on the e-commerce website using the collected customer data to make improved business decisions. Let’s see how AI & its associated technologies are helping the world of e-commerce move forward, from streamlining business processes to improving customer interactions. 

What is eCommerce Intelligence (AI)

In eCommerce, Artificial Intelligence offers interactive and personalized buying experiences. With the help of AI-enabled systems, organizations can keep an eye on the preferences of their customers in real-time. 

To understand AI in e-commerce, you need to know what the main tasks of an AI are. AI encompasses data mining, machine learning, and natural language processing. When an AI gathers current as well as historical data, we call that data mining.

The human-computer interaction is referred to as natural language processing while machine learning in e-commerce is about the application of algorithms to solve problems. In the world of eCommerce, AI has started to embed itself everywhere – from advanced security checks at the exits to self-checkout cash registers. 

By analyzing shopping carts, clicks, search queries, and purchasing history, machine learning in e-commerce identifies customer behavior. Then, AI delivers suitable product suggestions based on user preferences. This helps the E-commerce brands deliver suitable and appropriate suggestions for additional purchases. 

How Does Artificial Intelligence Affect Business? 

AI in e-commerce not only reduces operational costs but also increases efficiency and improves the customer experience. All of this has a great impact on the company's revenue bottom line. By deploying the right AI tech, a company can save money and time by optimizing and automating routine tasks and processes.

AI increases operational and productivity efficiencies. Based on the outputs from cognitive technologies, businesses can make faster business decisions. If the AI systems are set up properly, the possibility of mistakes, particularly ‘human error’ is reduced. 

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce 

From software-as-a-service and virtual reality to digital transformation, technology has been pushing the limits of what e-commerce can do. With the ever-increasing advancements in the world of technology, there is something new every day competing for the attention of online retailers. 

The real task is figuring out which opportunities are the best for your e-commerce business. AI isn’t simply a novel technology that you can implement as a ‘cool factor. If you implement AI in e-commerce, it has the potential to impact various functions of an organization. 

What is the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Buying Experience?

From creating grocery lists for the buyers to even placing online orders, the world of e-commerce is changing for the users with the use of AI. You can chat with chatbots who can answer your queries, place time-sensitive orders, and do a lot more due to eCommerce intelligence. 

Thanks to the knowledge of the user’s previous purchases, online browsing habits, and searched products, AI in e-commerce is impacting the user's choices. 

Intelligent Product Recommendations

AI is transforming the e-commerce industry by keeping an eye on shopping patterns. For instance, if a person buys a particular brand of coffee once every week, then the retailer can send a personalized offer to the shopper based on this shopping pattern.  

Moreover, the AI can generate a recommendation for the user based on the items they have just purchased – a supplementary product such as full-milk cream that goes well with the coffee they just bought!

From improved customer retention & sales to a higher number of returning customers, product recommendations for artificial intelligence are providing plenty of benefits to e-commerce retailers. 

Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in e-commerce

If you decide to create your eCommerce store, then you should know everything about AI and its’ benefits. There are plenty of benefits of eCommerce intelligence. Let’s take a brief look at a few of them.

• Targeted Marketing & Advertising

Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertisements that don’t even generate leads, the advances in AI allow companies to stand out from the crowd by having one-to-one conversations with customers through personalized messages. 

When a company delivers targeted messages to the customers, it helps increase retention rates. 

• Seamless Automation

The purpose of automation is to complete a task with very little human intervention. From scheduling emails to providing self-checkout registers and eCommerce pricing intelligence, this can mean anything. You can automate low-level support, loyalty discounts, recommendations, etc. 

• Efficient Sales Process

With the help of AI, you can increase the efficiency of the sales process. You can do this by gathering data about the customers, following up with abandoned cart inquiries, information chatbots, and a lot more. 

AI Use Cases in Ecommerce

AI-based tech is introducing online shoppers to a large variety of products that they didn't even realize were available in the market. Boomtrain is an AI-enabled tool that analyses customer data from different touchpoints – mobile apps, websites, email campaigns – and checks how they are performing. 

Amazon is introducing Alexa Voice Shopping that will allow you to review the best deals on Amazon and place orders with your voice only. From giving wardrobe tips to comparisons between outfits, Amazon Alexa is there to change the world of e-commerce. 

Similarly, Zara is using AI to suggest the correct apparel size. This will not only improve repeat purchases due to better user experience, but will also reduce the product returns.