AI Computer Vision For A Personalised and Profitable E-Commerce.
The e-commerce industry has experienced a substantial surge, especially in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and its growth continues unabated — whether as a strategic avenue for the growth of existing retail enterprises or as a means of establishing new businesses at lower costs. Despite this flourishing landscape, facilitating e-commerce faces challenges in comprehending customers without any physical interactions or observations, hindering the delivery of personalised shopping experiences. Complicating matters further, customers are often unable to physically try on products offered online.
In overcoming these hurdles, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision emerges as a transformative solution. This technology enables businesses to understand and cater to customers without relying on traditional in-person interactions. Through the application of AI and computer vision, personalised and enhanced shopping experiences have become a reality, addressing the above-mentioned challenges and more; guaranteeing that businesses can efficiently connect with customers and ultimately maximise their satisfaction level. That being said, here are 7 different AI and computer vision applications for e-commerce providers:
1. Product Search and Tagging:
Leveraging computer vision in conjunction with sophisticated algorithms enables the automated generation of tags or labels, and metadata for products. Through the analysis of product images and the examination of key characteristics such as product category, colour, and size, this approach contributes to the organisation of the user interface as well as the improvement of search engine optimisation, for a seamless navigation and an enhanced discoverability of products by the user.
This application paves the way for exciting possibilities, as e-commerce providers are on the verge of enabling customers to search for products by uploading images, offering a novel approach beyond traditional methods of searching by name or product category.
2. Product Recommendation:
In a traditional brick-and-mortar store, sales personnel often assist customers by recommending products that suit them or complement their intended purchases. In the realm of e-commerce, where such personalised assistance is lacking, computer vision offers innovative solutions to overcome this limitation through product recommendation. This involves suggesting items to online customers by analysing their browsing history, purchasing patterns, and shopping cart contents. The goal is to enrich their shopping experiences and encourage unplanned purchases, to ultimately boost sales revenue.
Product recommendation can even be localised, allowing e-commerce providers to factor in local trends and preferences by leveraging computer vision to analyse visual data, to allow for more context-aware and region-specific product recommendations, enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of suggestions for online customers.
3. Virtual Try-On:
To address the challenge of customers being unable to physically interact with and try on products showcased on their screens, computer vision introduces a novel method for customers to engage with and evaluate products on the e-commerce platform through virtual try-on. This innovative approach entails presenting a reflection of the customer in their natural environment, seamlessly fitting the desired product onto the customer in a realistic manner.
However, this extends beyond virtual try-ons for clothing alone. Online customers now have the ability to virtually test makeup, shoes, jewellery, eyewear, and even preview furniture items in their own living spaces. Additionally, e-commerce providers can facilitate virtual size adjustments based on customers’ body measurements and proportions, while also offering personalised recommendations for products that best suit them. The implementation of this application not only enhances user interaction but also fosters a more engaging and immersive e-commerce interface.
4. Automatic Product Onboarding:
Automatic product onboarding refers to the streamlined and automated process of integrating new products into an e-commerce platform or database. Capitalising advanced technologies such as AI and computer vision, this approach involves automatically extracting relevant information from product images and descriptions, generating appropriate tags, labels, and metadata, and seamlessly incorporating the new products into the system.
Additionally, this application proves invaluable for inspecting product authenticity and detecting potential fraud or counterfeit items during the onboarding process. Through the automation of these critical tasks, efficiency is heightened, manual errors are minimised, and the latest additions to the inventory are promptly and accurately made available for online customers.
5. Delivery Automation:
In the realm of e-commerce, computer vision serves as a cornerstone for delivery automation. This technology streamlines logistics operations by automating tasks such as sorting, packaging, and verifying packages using visual attributes. Computer vision optimises delivery routes, incorporating real-time data on traffic and weather conditions for efficient transportation. It also plays a crucial role in barcode and QR code scanning, ensuring accurate tracking of packages throughout the delivery chain.
Numerous e-commerce providers are currently in the process of testing and integrating small delivery robots powered by computer vision. These vehicles enable the autonomous delivery of products to customers, showcasing resilience in extreme weather conditions. With its role in proof of delivery and fleet management, computer vision enhances overall operational efficiency and customer satisfaction by providing a seamless and secure end-to-end delivery process in the e-commerce landscape.
The Case of Starship Technologies:
Established in 2014 by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, Starship Technologies unveiled its renowned autonomous delivery robots, ‘Starship,’ in 2015, with the aim of realising their vision to “make life both easier and more convenient for people and businesses.”
Watch how this small robot delivers products autonomously, independently navigating to its assigned location:
Since the introduction of their autonomous delivery vehicles, Starship Technologies has emerged as a global frontrunner in facilitating autonomous delivery, having sold over 5 million of their autonomous vehicles to businesses, including e-commerce providers grappling with last-mile delivery challenges.
E-commerce providers can find inspiration in this success story and consider adopting the application by integrating computer vision into their existing robots for a sustainable solution!
6. Dynamic Pricing Optimisation:
Competition drives many business decisions, particularly in pricing strategies. AI and computer vision is instrumental in dynamically adjusting product prices by utilising visual data analytics to regularly monitor competitors’ prices, thereby enhancing the competitive position of e-commerce providers in the market. Furthermore, AI and computer vision’s ability to recognize real-time image data enables e-commerce providers to promptly evaluate competitor advertisements and adapt pricing strategies accordingly.
Moreover, dynamic pricing algorithms coupled with AI and computer vision analytical capabilities can help in analysing demand patterns to identify trends in customer behaviour as well as product popularity, to help e-commerce make more informed pricing and promotional decisions. This same technology can be used to adjust prices according to other factors as well including inventory levels and seasonal changes. By capitalising on AI and computer vision, e-commerce providers can gain a comprehensive understanding of market trends, optimising discounts, and promotions based on visual data, ultimately enhancing their ability to adapt pricing strategies in real-time for maximum competitiveness and profitability.
7. Customer Behaviour Analysis:
AI and Computer Vision significantly contributes to customer behaviour analysis in e-commerce by tracking and analysing customer behavioural patterns, including their browsing habits, time spent on product pages, clicking patterns, and their cart abandonment rate. This technology is immensely beneficial in harnessing such information and converting it into actionable insights for e-commerce providers, enabling them to refine website design and elevate the overall user experience.
For example, by discerning patterns of concurrent purchases of specific product items, e-commerce providers can deploy targeted marketing strategies, like offering discounts on complementary items, effectively boosting sales. Additionally, e-commerce providers have the capability to experiment with the placement of banner advertisements or evaluate the effectiveness of pop-up advertisements, allowing them to optimise future marketing strategies.
Tuba.ai: Your Gateway To Build AI Computer Vision Applications Effortlessly
At DevisionX, we strive to empower digital transformation across industries by democratising AI computer vision, so that businesses can experience scalable revenue growth.
We are therefore offering Tuba.ai, the one-stop AI computer vision software designed to simplify your AI computer vision journey, offering comprehensive solutions through its versatile SaaS and SDK platform.
Tuba.ai serves as an end-to-end solution for the development of models through a seamless and cost-effective manner without the need for any coding experience thanks to its No-Code feature. This user-friendly platform enables an effortless execution of Computer Vision processes, facilitating swift dataset labelling, training, and model deployment.
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If you are looking to develop custom solutions, Tuba.ai also provides a Low-Code alternative, to help you create tailored applications that precisely align with your unique business requirements. Select the appropriate Software Development Kit to develop personalised and refined applications.
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Our team of experts are dedicated to tailoring AI computer vision solutions to your exact needs, ensuring a seamless integration of advanced technology into your e-commerce processes.
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