AI is a new important and pretty effective tool for your e-commerce business. AI has transformed and improved the business models of many brands. Artificial intelligence now it’s a necessity for your e-commerce business and not just a trend.
Here are some useful tips you need to know about artificial intelligence and e-commerce
Visual Search Engine
Visual search engine allowing the user to search for products with a single click. The visual representation of the products is more appealing and attractive to the customers.
The customers can now view the size, design, and color of the products they like. This helps to improve the customer experience.
Personal Recommendations
Artificial Intelligence can provide product recommendations to buyers. It tracks the searches made by the users to understand consumer behavior. This helps to improve the reviews and ratings of your e-commerce site.
The e-commerce owners use recommendations to provide the best solution to the customers. Also, recommendations can increase your sales.
Voice Assistance
Artificial Intelligence can provide more interactive and useful solutions to customers. It provides real-time voice assistance to the users. This can improve effectively the user experience.
This makes it easy for users to interact with service providers. There are many popular virtual assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. The virtual assistant can easily process the native language and can understand the messages of the customers.
Virtual assistants have transformed the purchasing process of customers.
Leads and Sales
One of the most effective and amazing tips of AI is that it can generate sales for your e-commerce site. It extracts the data of the consumers and tracks the purchasing patterns of the buyers.
AI has made these tasks quite easy. AI can help you to generate leads and increase sales.
Chatbot – The Little Helper
Chatbots can answer the queries and questions of the customers in real-time. The chatbot is your little helper and it works for free 24 hours per day!
Big companies like Microsoft and Google are using and improving artificial intelligence. Also, these companies are making huge investments in AI ventures. They know that AI is the best solution for the future of the online world.
Many stats show that by 2021, 88% of the consumer interaction will be done without the involvement of humans.
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By the year 2021, worldwide retail e-commerce sales will reach $4.9 trillion.
Consumers spent $601.75 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2019, which is up 14.9% in 2018.
Global B2B e-commerce sales are predicted to reach over $6.6 trillion by 2020.
According to Harvard Business School, 95% of purchase decisions are made in the subconscious.
By the year 2035, about 95% of shopping will be facilitated by e-Commerce.
Total e-commerce spending per customer in a calendar year, on average, is estimated to be $1,800 in the USA and $1,600 in the UK.
The world of e-commerce is growing fast and is expected to hit 4.48 trillion US dollars in 2021.
84% of people will not make a purchase online, if they are dealing with an unsecure website.
Shopping online is preferred across generations, as 51% of all Americans, 67% of USA millennials, and 56% of USA Gen Xers prefer shopping online to shopping in-store.
In the USA, the total offline sales are 10X bigger than online.
The online shopping business in the USA is growing 3X faster than offline.
E-commerce Platforms Stats
There are as many as 820,000 stores hosted with Shopify.
Sellfy, an e-commerce platform to sell digital products, has 20,000 active stores open.
More than 17,000 creators chose Podia for selling online courses, digital downloads and memberships.
Over 40,000 creators are selling their digital products using Gumroad.
WordPress powered e-commerce platform WooCommerce claims to host an absolutely majority of stores online, with 840,000 stores.
Customer Service Stats
90% of shoppers claim that they have stopped buying from online stores after they have experienced poor customer service.
Around 80% of people consult ratings and reviews before making a purchase.
Almost 59% of Americans think that customer service they get through social media has made it easier to get their issues resolved and questions answered.
Live chat has the highest satisfaction levels 85% for customers, compared to 61% for email and 44% for the phone.
If you want to expand your e-commerce business and increase your sales, online marketplaces are a must. You can increase retail sales as much as 200% — simply by listing on new channels like Sears, Newegg, and Best Buy.
You need to first identify the best online marketplaces for your brand. Here are the best platforms to increase your sales.
Every online marketplace has its unique requirements, product categories, listing fees, and audiences. So if you want to be sure you’re making the right decision, research is necessary.
You’ll want to understand the different strategies for selling on marketplaces, which ones hold the most promise for your products, and what you need to do to succeed.
What Is an Online Marketplace?
An online marketplace is an e-commerce site that offers many different products from many different sellers. Some of the most well-known marketplaces include:
Amazon,
eBay,
Walmart,
Etsy,
Alibaba.com, and
Google Express.
There are also niche online marketplaces like Bonanza, Fruugo and Hollar, fashion-focused marketplaces such as Zalando and Fullbeauty, bargain-focused marketplaces such as Tophatter and Tanga, and the list goes on.
There are now over 100 online marketplaces you could potentially leverage to reach customers doing their online shopping — both within the United States and overseas like Japan and Europe, with trillions of dollars in revenue potential just waiting to be tapped.
But remember: you don’t need to go after them all at once. You just need to determine which channels are the best fit for your brand.
The Biggest Benefits of Selling on Online Marketplaces
With the ever-increasing popularity of e-commerce marketplaces and online sales, these channels are constantly coming up with new ways to keep customers happy. That’s great news for your business.
It means most marketplaces will go to great lengths to make it as easy as possible for brands and retailers to market, sell, and fulfill. Why? Because the easier it is for you to use the platform, the better the experience will be for shoppers — and the more likely they’ll be to keep coming back for more.
There are 3 advantages you need to know.
1. Fast launch times.
If you’re new to selling online, marketplaces can be an excellent way to generate revenue and build your brand as you work to drive traffic to a new e-commerce website. Once approved as a third-party seller on marketplaces, you simply upload your product feed and start selling.
Do you already have an established online store? Here’s another trick: Some brands use “where to buy” widgets to send visitors from their websites directly to marketplace product pages, where consumers can add items to shopping carts without being immediately exposed to competitors.
2. Established programs.
All of the biggest and most established online marketplaces have programs in place to help you easily navigate the waters of marketing, selling and fulfilling.
For example, sellers on Amazon, eBay, and Google have access to Amazon Advertising, eBay Promotions Manager, and Google Shopping Actions. Each of these digital marketing programs is packed with tools to help you get products in front of all the right customers, at just the right times.
Similar options are available to help sellers meet consumer expectations for fast, free deliveries. With programs such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and eBay Global Shipping, for instance, you can opt to have the marketplace warehouse, pick, pack and ship inventory on your behalf.
3. Large customer bases.
As you may have guessed, many online marketplaces have enormous built-in audiences of consumers who regularly shop these sites. Just think: between Amazon, eBay, and Walmart alone, you’re looking at close to 500 million active monthly visitors.
Also, many of those consumers start with marketplaces when they want to purchase products. They don’t even bother with Google or retail websites. 56% of all product searches now begin (and often end) on Amazon.
Business Strategies for Selling on Marketplaces
Contrary to popular belief, selling on marketplaces doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Sure, there are ways to deeply embed your business within the world of marketplaces. But if you’d rather take your time and test out different options, there are equally effective ways to do that, too.
Here are two different approaches to consider:
1. Starting a new business on marketplaces.
If your small business is looking for a fast, easy way to get products in front of shoppers, selling on e-commerce marketplaces is an excellent place to start.
While your choices may be slightly more limited compared to those of established brands and retailers, plenty of options are available to consider.
For example, invite-only marketplaces such as Walmart and Target + will want to see a history of on-time deliveries and positive feedback before accepting you as a third-party seller.
But others will let you set up a seller account right away, including Amazon and eBay. Once you begin to build up positive reviews and ratings on those platforms, you can apply to sell on additional marketplaces as well.
2. Expanding your online store to marketplaces.
Even if you already have a thriving online store, uploading your products to select e-commerce marketplaces is an excellent way to expand your reach.
Also, consumers expect multiple options for buying the same product.
This is especially notable with Amazon. An estimated 44% of Amazon shoppers say they always check prices on Amazon before purchasing on another site. More than half goes to the marketplace to read full product descriptions, and 60% visit it specifically to look at product reviews.
And that’s just on Amazon. Many consumers will also consult with other marketplaces to compare prices and buying options. By expanding your online store to these platforms, you can help shoppers find the information and offer they need to buy where, when and how they want to.