AI has long worked its way into the world of ecommerce. Smart search engines, top picks for customers based on previous views and purchases, human-like chatbots, and other innovations are now an integral part of the online shopping experience. And as AI algorithms evolve and refine by day and the digital transformation is gaining momentum driven by the pandemic, we believe 2022 will be the year ecommerce will see even more advanced solutions.
Let’s take a look at the 3 main AI trends that will be driving commerce in 2022 and beyond.
Personalized Customer Experience
Today, personalization matters more than ever. According to McKinsey’s Next in Personalization 2021 Report, 71% of customers expect businesses to offer personalized experiences, and 76% feel disappointed when this doesn’t happen.
And the main credit for that goes to streaming services and social media that have changed the game for the customer experience in the last decade. Only Netflix has raised the bar high by offering personalized content suggestions based on user viewing history.
And thanks to AI in 2022 the ecommerce industry will also experience a push towards personalization. Forward-thinking retailers will be exploiting the power of advanced data analysis to keep ever-demanding customers coming back and increase revenue.
Take Amazon, for example. The company applies artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics to create highly personalized experiences for its customers — individual product recommendations and customized, daily updated homepage content for each user. And all these personalization efforts drive as much as 35% of the company’s sales.
As a market giant and true ecommerce digital pioneer, Amazon sets trends for the whole industry and inspires other retailers to refine the shopping experience using the latest technology. We predict that as AI evolves 2022 will see more remarkable advancements in ecommerce personalization, especially considering the growing interest in metaverse and Amazon’s plans to invest heavily in employing talented technology researchers.
Automated Customer Service
Today’s customers don’t want to wait — they want everything right away. 90% of customers rate “immediate” response to their customer service question as important or very important, and 60% expect to get it in 10 minutes or less, says a Hubspot survey. Therefore fast, and better yet, real-time customer service is one of the keys to success.
Forbes predicts that automation in customer service will be the biggest 2022 AI trend, including in the ecommerce industry. AI-powered software can track customer history, route tickets to the right department based on their content, and escalate them when necessary using NLP, NLU, and sentiment analysis. This will help free up service agents for more urgent, higher-priority issues that require human intelligence. As a result, according to Forbes experts, we’ll see agents finally get rewarded handsomely for their thankless work, and companies fight for talent.
Conversational AI
According to Forbes, in 2022 and beyond commerce will be conversational. Websites will no longer be the only way to shop online. As customers are increasingly gravitating towards more interaction with businesses, Instagram will become the major ecommerce platform offering both real-time communication and on-the-spot, in-app purchases. And brand-customer interactions will be handled not only by human agents but also by conversational AI.
Conversational AI is technologies like chatbots or virtual assistants that use machine learning and NLP to recognize speech, text messages, and imitate human-like communication with users. It’s just the thing for ecommerce companies that seek to automate support and personalize the customer experience.
Moreover, implementing a smart chatbot is also a great way to boost sales. Statistics show that in 2021 the use of chatbots increased retailer sales by an average of 67%. So there’s every reason to believe that the ties between ecommerce and conversational AI will be getting even stronger in 2022 and beyond.
Your AI Journey to the Future of Ecommerce
At Softarex, we can’t wait to see 2022 AI advancements in the ecommerce industry: more personalized customer experience, faster, automated service, and improved communication with brands.
We believe it’s just about time for your business to jump aboard for AI digital transformation! And our team is here to make your journey as smooth and stress-free as possible.
We collaborate with companies across industries and locations and offer Full-Cycle Software Development and Data Science Engineering services. Feel free to contact us if you need assistance with building a digital transformation strategy or consider developing a custom software solution for your business. Our consultants will get in touch with you shortly to discuss your needs and help you get off on the right foot.
