How AI and ML are revolutionising the ecommerce industry

The constant evolution of ecommerce, all to satisfy the customer and keep them engaged with the platform has made the field of play extremely interesting to watch. At present, the one thing that is leading disruption in the sector is technology — Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

The technological capabilities are attempting to solve real-world issues, moving beyond customer satisfaction. Further, the pandemic has accelerated the use of both ecommerce as well as technology. By 2025, 95 percent of all consumer interactions will be controlled by AI & ML technologies, as per Servion Global Solutions.

With the help of AI and ML, the ecommerce industry leaders are improving customer experience with personalisation, aiming at prospective buyers to increase sales, and recommending them products based on their browsing and buying patterns. Giving tailored alerts on shopping deals, personalised replies to customer inquiries, and sending reminders about wish lists are some of the popular ecommerce strategies.

Moreover, brands are constantly inventing new modes of communication to keep the customers engaged and AI and ML are contributing to the process with more accurate data and to find potential customers.

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Let’s dig deep into how AI & ML are revolutionising the ecommerce industry:

1. Chatbots

Probably all of us have experienced customer care services of at least one of the brands. It is really annoying when our call is put on hold and we have to wait for a long time before we are connected with an agent. However, modern ecommerce platforms are now incorporating chatbots into their business communication services to advance customer service.

Chatbots automate communication and create personalised customer experiences by conducting conversations through textual or auditory methods. In fact, chatbots are the only reason why ecommerce platforms can offer 24x7 assistance to customers.

These bots not only help customers with all the possible solutions to their queries but also help them make buying decisions. Ecommerce platforms offer a wide range of products which often cause confusion and difficulty in buying decision.

The other important reason for incorporating ML in ecommerce is to make buying easier. Chatbots facilitate conversational ecommerce by enabling brands to learn from customer input and fine-tune their responses for accuracy.

2. Hyperlocal ecommerce

Ecommerce businesses are increasingly leveraging hyperlocal ecommerce as it allows them to create multiple sub-stores based on customer geo-location, catering to the unique needs of targeted customers.

The customers can connect with local stores of a particular geographical region and enjoy a better shopping experience with fast delivery. Further, businesses are boosting sales by offering bestsellers on their sub-stores based on local demand analysis.

3. Headless commerce

Headless commerce provisions the decoupling of the presentation layer or front end of a website from its functionality or back end. This facilitates developers to utilise front end technology of their choice to deliver a good content experience and plug in an ecommerce solution on the back end to manage the functionality.

For experience-focused brands like DTC brands, lifestyle products, and brands relying heavily on influencer advertising, an experience-led strategy like headless commerce is a blessing in disguise.

It not only helps brands create a seamless and personalised buying experience but also lets them create a unique brand identity by customising their checkout, themes, and other functionalities.

4. Localised content

Among many other benefits, technology is helping ecommerce players reach large masses without any hindrance of location or language. With the help of multilingual ecommerce solutions, brands can translate their website into 100+ languages.

The translation is automatic, hassle-free, and creates a multilingual website in just a few clicks.

5. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

By integrating immersive technologies like AR and VR into existing ecommerce stores, brands are making shopping experiences more friendly, intuitive and satisfying. These technologies are changing the way businesses function and revolutionising the ecommerce industry.

Several small startups and ecommerce giants are engaging customers through virtual experiences. With AR and VR, retailers are building innovative marketing campaigns to influence behaviour and attract customer attention.

Apart from last-mile delivery, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will continue to assist ecommerce businesses in the areas of the website and app optimization, customer experience, personalised services, customer relationship management, warehousing management, etc. Since AI and ML keep evolving, it will continue to benefit the ecommerce industry in a better way.