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Do you run an e-commerce store that sells fast moving products or services? Well, if you do, then you are lucky. Research by Statistica shows that in 2018, total e-commerce sales hit $2.8 trillion. It is expected that this figure will significantly increase in 2019, and might hit $4.88 trillion by 2021. This means that, if you do everything right and reach a wider target market, your business will grow tremendously.
Similar to e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI) is another booming field. A survey by Statistica shows that the global revenue of products and services using AI is over $482 billion, and is expected to hit $3.61 trillion by 2024.
With the above statistics, you learn one lesson – if you want to succeed in your e-commerce endeavours, you should incorporate AI.
But how do you do this?
Below are some innovative ways you can use AI for your e-commerce store:
Provide A-class service
Today, your credibility, trust, and reputation are dependent on how you serve your customers. If they have a bad experience, they are not likely to come back to your business, and they will most likely give you poor reviews in multiple review sites.
However, if you give them the best customer service, they will come back for more, refer you to others and give you good reviews which will enhance your reputation.
You can use AI to enhance customer service by using chatbots, which give customers 24/7 customer support even when you are not online.
Chatbots are capable of saving you money by improving response times and offering quick solutions to the most pressing issues about your website.
They also enhance personalisation in your business, which goes a long way to increasing sales and profit margins.
Optimise searches and recommendations
Most people who visit your e-commerce store will search for products using natural language, and if they are unable to find them, they will believe they are having a bad shopping experience and leave your site. You can fix this by using AI.
Today, it is not wise to create a search box and leave it as it is. Instead, optimise it and include some recommendations with the help of AI.
For example, when a user searches for a product the system could automatically recommend similar products and display their prices. This will ultimately increase your sales.
Retarget potential clients
Are there people who showed interest in your products or services, but never completed a transaction, or didn’t perform any action? You don’t have to ignore them and carry on with your business life. You can retarget them using AI.
AI will automate your sales process and give you necessary information such as user behaviour which you can then use to retarget your client. It will also give you insights on the types of products you can target for a particular audience depending on their behaviour patterns.
You can also use AI to;
If you want your e-commerce store to succeed don't treat AI as an emerging technology. Treat it as a mature technology, and use it in the innovative ways mentioned above.
Danny Kariuki
Marcus Gordon
