Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the best ways to help your e-commerce business stay competitive. Website owners have numerous AI tools, not only the infamous ChatGPT, to take their e-commerce store to the next level. However, without understanding artificial intelligence in e-commerce, site owners struggle to find a successful solution to increase profits.
Understanding the various AI applications available for e-commerce businesses is crucial to boost your company’s sales and visibility. To help your e-commerce business thrive, we’ve compiled everything you should know about using AI applications for e-commerce and how you can benefit from the numerous options available
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Examples of AI applications for e-commerce
Before diving into the benefits of using AI in e-commerce, exploring the various applications at your disposal is helpful. Below is a breakdown of typical AI applications used in e-commerce businesses to boost performance and improve customer experience.
Chatbots
Most successful e-commerce brands use chatbots on their website to help customers and boost their experience by making their brand accessible 24/7. Additionally, some AI-powered chatbots can provide customized recommendations to improve the user experience for e-commerce sites that don’t use personalized recommendation engines. Customers want instant answers to their questions, and an intelligent chatbot can provide rapid responses to improve the customer experience.
Studies have shown the following to be true about chatbots:
- 62% of consumers prefer chatbots over waiting for human service agents to answer their questions.
- 74% of internet users prefer chatbots when seeking answers to simple questions.
- 69% of consumers prefer chatbots because they offer immediate responses.
One of the most well-known chatbot applications used in e-commerce stores is Freshchat. Freshchat uses AI to help customers solve problems up to 80% faster as well as increasing chat-driven revenue. Remember that a potential customer might decide whether or not to purchase from your site based on how quickly they can access the information they’re seeking. Chatbots are vital AI applications to ensure you can convert browsers into customers.
Product recommendations
AI product recommendations can significantly influence your store’s overall revenue, and these tools can recommend products a customer would be interested in based on their previous purchases. Implementing this type of AI means your repeat customers can find more products that meet their needs, leading to more significant purchases.
Product recommendations are generated based on a customer’s frequently bought items and search history. This combination can predict buyer behaviors and make it easier for customers to locate and purchase products relevant to their shopping preferences.
In terms of personalization and product recommendations, Clarifai is an AI tool that collects several insights and synthesizes this information to provide personalized product recommendations to your customers.
Implementing AI recommendation engines is increasingly popular among e-commerce stores, with its market size valued at USD 1.77 billion as of 2020 and a compound annual growth rate of 33% between 2021 and 2028.
Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics is a massive help for many e-commerce stores looking to understand their current sales and forecast their company’s financial performance in the future. Predictive analytic tools include AI technologies, Machine Learning (ML) software, and statistical analysis.
Predictive analytics serves numerous purposes beyond sales forecasting and provides a continuous flow of customer data analytics to stay competitive in your market. The capabilities of predictive analytics include the following:
- Customer behavior prediction: predictive analytics allow e-commerce stores to anticipate future purchases. This information includes a customer’s buying patterns, preferences, and purchase history, to create personalized recommendations.
- Pricing optimization: this feature helps to determine optimal prices for your products and services. Predictive analytics software analyzes customer demand, market trends, and competitor pricing to set prices that maximize revenue potential.
- Fraud detection: predictive analytics identify fraudulent transactions as soon as they occur to protect your store from significant financial losses and protect customers from compromising their sensitive information.
- Customer churn prediction: this function of predictive analytics allows you to predict whether a customer is likely to stop using your services. Identifying these customers allows you time to take proactive steps to prevent customer loss, such as through personalized discounts and promotions.
A well-known example of an AI-powered predictive analytics tool is Salesforce Einstein. Using AI, Salesforce Einstein provides powerful insights that you can use you build better marketing campaigns as well as increase sales.
Search optimization
Keyword research is a crucial component of any successful e-commerce business. AI applications for e-commerce are crucial for generating keywords and ideas and performing research into the top keywords to use to maximize your reach. In terms of helping your customers find what they’re looking for faster, Klevu is a platform that optimizes your search using AI.
Given how essential SEO is to your company’s overall success, AI-based tools can make finding the best keywords simple and efficient by identifying what your target audience is searching for. Integrating an elearning mobile app with AI capabilities can personalize the learning experience, making it more engaging and effective for users. E-commerce businesses can utilize AI headshot generators to create professional product images or team member photos without the need for expensive photo shoots.
Supply chain management
Store owners can use AI analytics for essential e-commerce inventory management tasks to predict future supply and demand and monitor inventory levels. The application of AI in e-commerce helps to determine whether to increase or reduce a supply strain to allocate funds to products that are selling at higher rates and monitor these products to prevent lengthy out-of-stock periods.
The benefits of artificial intelligence in e-commerce
Unlocking the benefits of AI applications will help you boost your store’s performance and reach a wider audience. Among the numerous benefits of using artificial intelligence in e-commerce applications include the following.
Enhanced customer experience
AI applications can help customers get the services they need faster. Chatbots provide fast answers to what customers want in your business. At the same time, predictive analytics and personalization features allow customers to find past purchases and explore relevant products for an efficient shopping experience.
By improving your site’s accessibility through intelligent AI applications, you can increase the overall customer experience, making it likelier to have repeat customers and increasing your chances of word-of-mouth advertising.
Personalized shopping experience
Personalization is increasingly important, but many e-commerce companies fail to master the process. Despite 85% of businesses believing that they provide personalized customer experiences, only 60% of consumers agree with this sentiment. Bridging the gap to understanding your shoppers on a deeper level will help your audience feel like valuable contributors to your brand.
One of the best AI solutions for ecommerce is Adobe Sensei. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history in real-time, this chatbot can provide tailored product recommendations, answer specific queries, and offer personalized promotions, enhancing the overall shopping experience.
Improved customer service
Navigating customer service is tricky for customers and employees alike. Small brands might not have the resources to hire an expansive team of live agents, making chatbots, automated notifications, and other AI applications essential to meet customer needs without being stretched too thin.
This improvement benefits all parties involved and helps you avoid time-consuming tasks so you can focus on other aspects of your company while still ensuring customer satisfaction.
Effective marketing campaigns
When you’re running an e-commerce business, frequent digital marketing campaigns are essential to keeping people engaged and interested in your products and services. AI implementation in e-commerce can ensure that your campaigns are relevant and effective to drive sales and ensure that your customers don’t forget you.
Because AI for e-commerce can analyze your customer data to offer consumer insights, you can adjust your marketing campaigns to reflect the current market and what your audience is looking for as their needs fluctuate. Marketing campaigns tailored to your consumers will help cement you as an authority in the e-commerce industry.
Tips for using AI in e-commerce
Adapting to AI technology isn’t easy for all store owners. By knowing the tools available, you can start exploring the benefits that AI offers your business and expanding your audience. Partnering with professionals in AI app development can help you integrate cutting-edge technology into your e-commerce platform, driving innovation and boosting customer engagement. Additionally, remember the following tips as you navigate the AI implementation in the e-commerce process:
- Start with a clear goal: Before implementing AI applications, identify goals you want to achieve, such as improving customer experience, optimizing pricing, or reducing fraud.
- Choose the right AI tools: Research and choose AI tools that align with your goals and fit your budget. Be sure to consider the scalability of the tools as your business grows.
- Prepare your data: Ensure your data is clean and organized before implementing AI applications. Preparing your data will help AI algorithms work efficiently and produce accurate results.
- Test before deployment: Test AI applications in a controlled environment before deploying them to the live site to identify any issues or bugs with your software before they affect customers.
- Monitor performance: Monitor the performance of AI applications regularly to ensure they are achieving your goals and producing accurate results. Adjust as needed to fit any changes in your audience or the market.
- Stay updated with AI advancements: AI technology is constantly evolving, so stay updated with advancements and new tools that can improve your e-commerce site.
- Start with small-scale implementations: implementing numerous AI applications into your e-commerce setup simultaneously can be overwhelming and cause chaos to your website. If you’re new to using AI applications in e-commerce, start small with one or two applications and test the effectiveness of these tools.
The bottom line
E-commerce is a constantly evolving landscape, and given rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, e-commerce store owners must quickly adapt to new and unfamiliar technologies. Using AI applications to boost success in your e-commerce business is vital to stay competitive in your market and meeting modern customers' needs.
To succeed in the e-commerce landscape, you need guidance from e-commerce experts. The team at Amasty ensures that your e-commerce business will grow to new heights with an innovative, personalized, consistent approach to Magento solutions to boost your reach. Our focus on innovation and customer support can help you master the e-commerce landscape to boost your business like a pro. Find out more about Amasty today.