The eCommerce industry is booming and this is projected to continue. With such a wealth of eCommerce businesses, and competition set to become even more fierce, staying visible and relevant has never been such a challenge for online retailers. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made competing in this crowded marketplace possible — even for small eCommerce businesses. Here are ways in which AI can help eCommerce businesses.

Social listening

So much information is shared on social media through listening to what potential customers are saying. Businesses can gain insight into new markets and understand how their current products and strategies are working. Keyword or brand name tracking in social media can be performed efficiently through data mining. This data can then be condensed into actionable feedback to improve the customer experience and the brand’s reach.

Predictive marketing

Predictive marketing is a marketing technique that involves using data analytics to determine which marketing strategies and actions have the highest probability of succeeding. There are tools like Weka, KNIME, and MatLab that can be used to analyse consumer data and optimize eCommerce sites to provide targeted marketing. Each consumer sees what they want to see — how they want to see it — and when they want to see it. The more customer data gathered, the better the optimization will be for that customer. This is achieved with the aid of artificial intelligence.

Product personalization

With so many companies and products vying for attention, consumers gravitate towards those sites that are personalized to them. Personalization is taking over how we buy. By utilizing information on customers that is widely available through their online presence, businesses can provide personalised ads, make relevant recommendations, and craft specific content for them. This would not be possible without the power of AI to sift through the data.

Customer service

By next year (2020), 80 per cent of all customer interactions will be handled by AI. This is because Chatbots are fast becoming an indispensable tool in customer service as a replacement to call centres, they are significantly cheaper and more efficient. Chatbots can be integrated into shopping carts, online support, and order processes. When it comes to a chatbot, Jumia is already ahead of others. Nigeria's no 1 shopping destination has a chatbot dubbed Jumia Bot. So whether you are in a shopping mood, hungry or planning a trip, you can use the Jumia Bot. The experience is just like you are talking with a Jumia customer service agent.

Allows businesses to be localised

No matter where an eCommerce business is based, mining location-based intelligence from customer data allows them to appear local. By offering location-based offers, location-specific advertising, and predicting locational trends, local customers can raise the efforts of businesses in their own towns. This extra level of personalization significantly impacts the utility of a site for users by prioritising offerings that appear unique to their area.

Efficient data analysis

No human team has the capacity or time to accurately and thoroughly record, analyze, and digest the volume of data available from potential customers all over the world. eCommerce businesses that rely on user-driven feedback are falling behind those that use AI to gather and use information.