Artificial intelligence (AI) in e-commerce - statistics & facts
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have become so efficient and reliable in processing huge amounts of data that digital industries will not make without them in the future. Often defined as the new electricity, AI empowers online retailers throughout the entire value chain, with applications ranging from inventory management to customer services, from dynamic pricing to fraud detection. Enhanced by AI, extended reality (XR) has reached unseen levels of quality, too. E-commerce companies can now provide a product experience that might be just as good – if not better – than the in-store one.
AI is a machine intelligence trained to communicate like a human – a particularly useful feature in customer care. While chatbots handle standardized and easily categorized customer requests, such as the update on online order status. This was the request most consumers needed help with and felt more comfortable using AI tools for. More advanced AI-driven shopping assistants simulate a human customer agent and can communicate and establish a relationship with the customer. AI agents are popular in the purchase of flights and accommodation services, while the usage rates were lower for other merchandise categories like electronics, beauty, and fashion. More than that, AI is replacing professional roles in the online retail business, as well as the human customer. Just as voice assistants like Siri and Alexa can place online orders, AI technologies behind autonomous cars or smart devices could finalize a purchase of products and services. Machine customers are expected to gain momentum between 2025 and 2030, according to most worldwide CEOs.
AI is very likely to remain at the core of e-commerce innovations – with customer experience being the most affected area - considering that retail is one of the sectors investing the most in artificial intelligence (AI) worldwide.
A different shopping experience for every customer
Customers expect a personalized shopping experience tailored to their needs and interests. To achieve that, online retailers categorize shoppers into groups, customer persona, and cohorts. While this strategy worked in the past, it could now be outdated. Online retail is moving towards a much more sophisticated segmentation, i.e. personalization, as AI tools profile online customers better than ever before. AI-powered product recommendations displayed on e-commerce sites and predictions of customer preferences can be based on more variables: ratings and reviews, purchase history, customer location and demographic data, seasonal trends, previous search queries and browsing history, user interaction, traffic data, and so on. AI can optimize product recommendations to such a level that some shoppers could hardly identify the AI role behind them.AI is a machine intelligence trained to communicate like a human – a particularly useful feature in customer care. While chatbots handle standardized and easily categorized customer requests, such as the update on online order status. This was the request most consumers needed help with and felt more comfortable using AI tools for. More advanced AI-driven shopping assistants simulate a human customer agent and can communicate and establish a relationship with the customer. AI agents are popular in the purchase of flights and accommodation services, while the usage rates were lower for other merchandise categories like electronics, beauty, and fashion. More than that, AI is replacing professional roles in the online retail business, as well as the human customer. Just as voice assistants like Siri and Alexa can place online orders, AI technologies behind autonomous cars or smart devices could finalize a purchase of products and services. Machine customers are expected to gain momentum between 2025 and 2030, according to most worldwide CEOs.
Concerns for privacy
The potential of frontier technologies comes with some risks, as their use requires regular validation. While the output of most generative AI systems is not free from cultural bias and material mistakes, the processing of personal data in AI applications has only recently been regulated. In this context, consumers' first concern when engaging with conversational tools is to have their data protected.AI is very likely to remain at the core of e-commerce innovations – with customer experience being the most affected area - considering that retail is one of the sectors investing the most in artificial intelligence (AI) worldwide.
