With the help of artificial intelligence, considerable optimization potential can be recognized and exploited in the online shopping area. Future-oriented e-commerce providers are increasingly relying on the use of smart algorithms to improve the shopping experience on the one hand significantly and to use the resources available in the company in the best possible way on the other. The customer journey is influenced not only by the actual research, selection and shopping experience but also by the quality and availability of the after-sales service.
Various challenges arise in the respective application areas, which can significantly influence business success. Accordingly, one of the first optimization tasks is identifying the starting points for using applications or solution modules that can be combined along the value chain. Before customers can even deal with a new article, it has to be integrated into the shop system as quickly and easily as possible. Possible stumbling blocks arise here from the variance in supplier information, which can still occur beyond all international standardization efforts.
The AI can provide support with categorization suggestions via Smart AI Mapping – a sophisticated and adaptive content analysis – and save up to 30 per cent time when importing supplier data into the PIM. Customers like to be inspired when shopping online – as long as the product suggestions match the original search results and intentions. An AI-supported attribute recognition reliably recognizes certain products,
Increase In Conversions & Product Purchases
On e-commerce marketplaces, in particular, potential buyers are shown many similar products, which only differ marginally on the surface. The judgment of real people is all the more important in the final purchase decision. Of course, there are also many fakes or inappropriate comments in the reviews, which also have little to do with the product variant. Valuable human resources are tied up to check and filter the reviews before publication – but they cannot reliably identify and remove every “rotten egg”.
In the field of machine text recognition, on the other hand, by integrating intelligent algorithms, many filter criteria can be taken into account simultaneously – and learned continuously. The respective search or purchase history is usually used as the basis for recommendations. In very few cases, however, consumers are encouraged by the documentation of their previous purchases to make them again. More interesting and effective, however, are tips and suggestions that display images of similar items via an image-based product recommendation.
Perhaps the consumer was looking for exactly this product but needed help remembering the name, a generic term or a specific property. Providers of intelligent commerce and customer service software solutions must constantly evolve to meet the latest industry requirements. One of the technology leaders in this segment comes from Hamburg. As one of the market-leading innovators, the software and solution provider novomind has been taking on the challenges associated with global digital transformation for more than 20 years. More than 400 employees support international corporations, SMEs and organizations from different industries in e-commerce and customer service.
The range of services of the owner-managed Hamburg IT company is closely oriented towards the current and future goals of customers in Europe and Asia. The fields of application of artificial intelligence range from individual e-business solutions, e-commerce products and marketplace integration to solutions for contact and service centers. In the area of customer service, in particular, providers such as novomind are paying more and more attention to enabling a holistic approach so that online retailers can pick up their customers on all available channels.
Customer Service Never Stops
As is well known, the customer journey continues after a click on the button to confirm the terms and conditions. The after-sales service decides to a large extent to what extent it is possible to transform a “merely” satisfied customer into a real brand ambassador. To get more time for resource-intensive exception handling, artificial intelligence can help to automate standard transactions and routine tasks as far as possible. The dark processing of emails helps a constantly underestimated communication channel gain new relevance.
Until now, the satisfactory answering of customer emails required considerable personnel expenditure. In addition, chatbots can record and process a significant proportion of low-complexity inquiries. The connection to a knowledge database ensures that the correct wording is always used and that the answers consider the current state of the art. When communicating with contact center agents, customers particularly appreciate it when they have all the relevant information at their fingertips – and can even forward complex questions to the responsible experts in the specialist department.
Accordingly, the core of the question should be grasped quickly, and suitable and available employees should be identified and informed immediately. Intelligent routing ensures via various interfaces that existing ERP or CRM systems can continue to be used. The areas of application of AI in e-commerce are diverse and offer enormous potential for optimization when properly integrated. Large players in the online trade are already using software solutions from leading IT companies such as novomind. To keep up in this competitive market, smaller companies and start-ups will also have to integrate solutions that take advantage of the opportunities offered by AI in customer service and e-commerce.
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