For some, shopping is just a hangout activity; for others, it’s a pure form of art. Some hate it, some love it but rarely is someone indifferent towards this popular venture?
Things have evolved; brick and mortar purchasing is now a thing of the past. With this globalization, everyone has started to shop online. Online shopping has now become a lifestyle. With the ease of product delivery at your doorstep, just by few taps makes it a big go-go for even the people who despise this pursuit. The popularity and growing customer- base have made many brands step into the world of online shopping. Now, the world belongs to AI and Big Data. The launch of these smart technologies has transformed every basic activity. Online shopping is no exception.
In this read, we are going to discuss the impact of these cutting edge technologies on the shopping world. But first, let’s begin with some mind-boggling numbers regarding AI and Big Data-
- There are quite high expectations in the online shopping world from AI. The research did on 13.5 million online shoppers, 43 % look forward to a more customized experience. Another 46% expect AI to bring about new d functionalities.
- Bad data costs around the US $3.1 Trillion annually.
- The data investment in the finance industry accounted for around $9 Billion in the year 2018 alone.
- AI’s impact on marketing is rapidly growing. It is predicted to reach approximately $40 by the year 2025.
Why do We Require a Shopping Assistant?
There are many reasons why people require personal shopping assistants. Spending hours browsing on the phone for a new attire is very time-consuming, which not everybody can effort. A shopping assistant allows shoppers’ to compare prices and fetch the best deal. It saves a lot of time by providing customized product recommendations to shoppers. The personal shopping assistant has now become a trend. Some of its’ benefits include-
- Personal shopping services
- Customer Orders
- Process Finances
- Recommend Products
- Support Customers with exchange and replacement
- Maximize Customer Base
- Answer Queries
- Coupons/Gifts options
Impact of AI in Creating Shopping Assistant Apps
1. Personalized Shopping Experience
AI equips the shopping assistant applications to listen, understand, recommend, and even resolve queries, just like a human customer care representative. It thus makes the complete experience easier and smoother for the customers.
2. Prediction of Customer’s Needs
The AI-powered algorithms predict the customer’s needs by analyzing their purchase preferences and search behavior. With this, the assistant makes more relevant offers for the customers.
3. Easy Search Process
Artificial Intelligence simplifies the whole search process and makes it much more convenient by enabling image and voice search engines. This trait gives a more real-life shopping feel.
4. Sales Prediction
Big Data also has an essential role to play in this sector. The advanced technology is used for marking predictions for sales. Resultantly, it provides valuable insights into the sales and marketing pattern.
5. Improved Analysis
AI algorithms aids in analyzing and studying marketing and warehouse logistics for planning well-informed business moves.
6. Maximize Business Profits
Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are very much useful in reducing manpower, cutting expenses, and increasing revenue.
7. Better Efficiency
AI increases efficiency by providing bots that help in performing tasks usually done by support staff and delivery agents. The jobs mainly include packaging and shipping the merchandise, products organization, and others.
8. User Reviews
Another major advantage of using AI for online shopping is to user reviews analyzation. AI offers assistance in marketing by understanding the content of reviews and relevant data from the page descriptions.
Popular Shopping Assistant Apps
Both Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce has been the preference for many large enterprises. There are various shopping assistant applications available in the market that aids shopaholics to make purchases with greater convenience. Few of the popular ones are-
- Nike’s chat-bot
- Aerie’s shopping chat-bot
- Ebay’s shopping bot
The Verdict
Although the term ‘artificial’ may mean something dehumanized, but this non-human thing has allowed the companies to provide a more personalized shopping experience for their customers. AI makes it possible to analyze millions of interactions on a daily basis. Even with the large data, the technology boils down to a single customer – the feel every marketer wishes to provide. Sales teams are now equipped with the information they didn’t even imagine having. They can now personalize the sales cycle using AI-driven software. The apps help the sellers to engage with the right prospect with the perfect message at the right time. The technology is going to have many more benefits in addition to the above mentioned, in this industry. It will undoubtedly refine the way consumers look for the products online. With the rapidly decreasing attention spans in this digital arena, it is proven that these AI-driven bots will be essential to the shopping world.
So are you intimidated or excited? Whether you’re an experienced online retailer or a regular online shopper, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to sound off your views on this article below.
Happy Shopping!
