The technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are considered having an important role to play in the development and growth of a business. The best examples of AI usage in the world of business are observed in the field of e-commerce business. The e-commerce business is booming by every passing day as many businesspersons generate sufficient revenue through online retailing and business services. Many e-commerce businesses have gone global thanks to the technological advances of today and the best feature of these advanced technologies is the Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Artificial Intelligence:
The term artificial intelligence was first time used by the famous computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he introduced the idea of developing such computers that act like humans. This innovative idea of McCarthy brought revolution into the field of computer sciences and he was known as the founding father of AI. Though AI is still evolving with the passage of time but it has introduced some its features that are used in different fields of technology:
· AI is used in computer games where the computer is programmed to play the games against the human challengers.
· AI is also used to program the computers in making decisions for real-life circumstances such the use of expert systems in assisting the doctors to diagnose the medical conditions of the patients.
· AI is also used to program the computers understand the human languages such as Google translator.
· Another use of AI is in developing neural networks or systems to stimulate the intelligence by reproducing such physical connections occurring in animal brains.
· The best example of AI application is the production of robotics which is programmed to see, hear or react to other sensory stimuli.
E-commerce basically consults the purchasing and selling of goods or services through electronic mediums like the internet. The service of e-commerce for the first time was introduced in the 1960s through an electronic data interchange (EDI) on value-added networks (VANs).With the gradual development in the maximized availability of internet access and with the arrival of famous online sellers in the 1990s and early 2000s the e-commerce services began to expand worldwide. The current best online retailer Amazon.com started its journey in 1995 as a book-shipping business from Jeff Bezo's garage.
AI and E-Commerce
There are various opportunities for the businesses with the changing market trends as they can improve their connectivity and increase their market in the online world. As in the year of 2013 it was recorded that the global e-commerce sales had reached $1.2 trillion and the U.S. mobile sales were recorded to reach $38 billion. It was also observed that more than 40 percent of the internet users i.e. 1 billion people, made the purchasing online. With every passing day the numbers of online selling and buying as well as use of online services keep on increasing. Artificial Intelligence has also been used to increase the e-commerce business and improve its services.
Trend Forecasting
AI collects and analyzes the considerable quantities of trend and sales information, convert this information into understandable data with easy access within effective time so the e-commerce players can retort to the latest trends in this fast-moving and technologically advanced marketplace.
Sentiment Analysis
AI is also used to analyze the sentiments of the customers by analyzing their online reviews which are often multi-faceted as quality, price, service etc., to help the online retailers understand the sentiments of the customers and accordingly use these insights into their business trends and plans.
Supply Chain Management
Artificial Intelligence is also applied in e-commerce for predictive analytics to help the retailers in understanding the consumer demands so they can effectively manage the overall supply chain process also including the sourcing, fulfillment, inventory management, delivery and returns.
Automated Product Tagging
The AI applications of image recognition and computer vision technique are used in automatic product tagging, the new added items to the inventories are automatically tagged using the relevant visual characteristics and product categories, which streamlines and increase the new product uploads.
Predictive Pricing
Artificial Intelligence is also used in analyzing the latest pricing trends related to sales information to decide the right prices at the right for maximum revenue and profit generating.
Visual Search
The application of AI in reading the product catalogues and developing the visually similar results provide a picture perfect way to the customers to get motivated by the real world objects and then find the desired product online.
Product Recommendations
AI also working as a highly-intelligent virtual stylist analyzes and understands the product qualities, user's buying patterns and the performance of different products on the sites and offers relevant and personalized product recommendations to the buyers.