Have you ever thought about implementing Artificial Intelligence tools in your online store? Or using the AI features offered by marketplaces? If you’ve come to this article, it’s because the answer is yes.
We’re tired of hearing how generative AI can be used to generate text from simple prompts or create images from scratch. But AI is capable of much more and can be a tremendously useful tool in e-commerce.
In this article, we’ll tell you two things: how you can incorporate AI into your e-commerce platform and how you can leverage the various AI features offered by marketplaces in your business. We’ll also explain why it’s a good idea to do so.
Using AI in e-commerce and marketplaces
Artificial Intelligence applied to e-commerce and marketplaces can be used both internally and externally. This means you can use it to streamline your workflows and offer users a better customer experience.
Since ChatGPT’s popularity boomed in 2023, AI has already become an essential tool for any online marketing and sales professional.
In the following sections, we’ll delve deeper into the exact ways you can implement this technology in your e-commerce business. We’ll also tell you how marketplaces have joined this trend.
How to use AI in your e-commerce or marketplace?
The difference between an AI-powered marketplace and AI applied to e-commerce is that, in the former case, the platform itself already has integrated Artificial Intelligence tools for users to utilize and for sellers to benefit from.
On the other hand, in the second case, you’ll be the one who’ll have to implement them or use a plugin or extension. However, if you’ve developed your online store with an e-commerce platform, it may provide these tools for you.
However, if your goal is to develop a marketplace from scratch, you’ll be in the same situation as e-commerce.
Whatever the case, and whatever your situation, we’ll now tell you about different ways to introduce this technology into these environments.
Personalization
Personalizing an e-commerce site or marketplace involves tailoring content and suggestions to each user. This way, what one consumer sees when they enter the platform will never be the same as what another sees.
Personalization shows users the products they’re most interested in and that best match their tastes, searches, or past purchases. Therefore, personalization is a great way to encourage users to expand their shopping cart.
Marketplaces themselves have already implemented this type of AI technology, and you’ll benefit from it if you sell your products in these spaces. But if you want to apply this AI to your e-commerce, you can turn to tools like GetResponse or Clerk.io, among others.
Chatbots and virtual assistants
Implementing a chatbot or AI-powered virtual assistant in your online store will allow you to maintain customer service even when customer service professionals are unavailable. In short, they offer 24/7 support. But not only that, they’re an excellent tool for filtering requests so that only the truly complex ones reach your staff. Even the simplest questions can be resolved in just a few seconds.
Aunoa.ai is a very interesting option, but Zendesk and HubSpot have also developed their own solutions. And, again, we repeat: no matter how you’ve built your e-commerce, you can benefit from AI tools without any problems.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that involves re-engaging with a user who already knows us (whether they’ve visited our website, viewed our social media profile, opened an email, etc.) with some type of online advertising. This advertising is typically displayed or used on social media.
If we’re talking about AI applied to e-commerce, you can adapt retargeting so that when a user visits your online store, they’re suggested products they’ve already viewed, saved to their shopping cart, or added to a favorites list. This is a way to remind them that these products interest them and are available, which increases the likelihood that they’ll end up purchasing them.
It’s even a good idea to make this recommendation when these items have dropped in price or are on sale.
The tools we recommended earlier for personalization can also be useful for retargeting.
Upselling and cross-selling
AI personalization tools applied to e-commerce can also serve this purpose.
Upselling involves getting a user to purchase a product of a higher value than the one they’ve previously purchased. Cross-selling, on the other hand, involves selling a complementary product to another product the user has already purchased or intends to purchase.
AI tools will detect sales that users have made or are considering to suggest items that complement that product or surpass it in features. This way, you can increase your revenue as a company.
Optimized search
If you already have a search bar in your e-commerce site, you should know that you can improve it with Artificial Intelligence. There are tools like Doofinder or e-commerce platforms like Shopify that allow you to optimize your online store’s search bar with:
- Automatic autocomplete.
- Recognition of errors.
- Option to show related or previously viewed products first.
- Option to show trending or top-rated products first.
This will give customers a better user experience on your e-commerce site by helping them find what they’re looking for more quickly. This, in turn, will increase your sales potential.
Visual search & Voice search
In addition to text-based search bars, you can also make it work based on voice or an image, as Google already does, for example.
This will give your customers great flexibility when searching for a product in your store.
The search bar developed by Shopify, for example, offers the possibility of performing visual searches.
Additionally, implementing voice search will make your e-commerce much more accessible to people with disabilities.
Why is it a good idea to use AI applied to e-commerce and marketplaces?
- Improved user experience.
- Saving and optimizing the work time of customer service teams.
- Increased sales opportunities.
- Possible improvement in customer loyalty rates.
Marketplaces with AI applications
We’ve already talked about some AI tools you can implement in your e-commerce, but we’ve left aside how this technology is included in marketplaces. And that’s what we want to talk about in this section.
But beyond that, we also want to tell you about some cases in which marketplaces make AI tools available to brands so they can use them for their own benefit.
Amazon Bedrock
Amazon Bedrock is Amazon’s suite of generative AI tools that enables Amazon Web Service customers to develop their own AI applications tailored to their needs. From chatbots to text and image creation, with Amazon Bedrock you can create a variety of solutions with access to different language models.
Walmart
Walmart is the most famous American hypermarket. It currently operates in several countries and also online as a marketplace. They decided to improve the functionality of their online stores by 2024 by incorporating generative Artificial Intelligence features.
One of them is the implementation of a search function that would offer customers a much more useful, intuitive, and personalized experience. This, for example, allows users to no longer have to enter the name of the product they’re looking for; instead, they simply need to explain the situation they’re seeking to resolve to display related items.
For example, if you want to get ready for back to school, you don’t need to enter words like “planner,” “pens,” or “file cabinet.” Simply entering “I need help getting ready to start the new school year” will be enough.
Zalando and its ChatGPT-based fashion assistant
In 2023, Zalando became one of the first marketplaces to use Artificial Intelligence in sales. Thanks to its integration with ChatGPT and without the need to develop its own AI, they were able to introduce their virtual fashion assistant, a chatbot that goes far beyond the standard virtual assistants found in many e-commerce sites.
Zalando’s virtual fashion assistant can hold rich conversations with users and help them find exactly what they want on the platform, as well as suggesting products.
Zalando’s goal in the future is to personalize this AI so that it can adapt perfectly to each customer and take their context into account. It’s not currently available in Spain, but it’s expected to be sooner rather than later.
