Episode 1 – Role of AI & Data Analytics in eCommerce Growth

Intro & Welcome

Ladies and gentlemen, digital and e-commerce enthusiasts and e-commerce curious minds alike. Welcome to the first episode of the Commerce Connect video podcast series by Kish.

Today we begin with a widely discussed subject role of AI and data analytics in e-commerce growth that will unfold across three episodes.

will discuss the pivotal role these technological miles play in propelling the unprecedented growth of the global e-commerce business. In a sense, the synergy between AI and data analytics and e-commerce is a game-changer. Every click, every purchase, every interaction is a data point. AI and analytics transform this wealth of information into actionable insights.

Not just about selling products anymore. It’s about understanding, predicting and exceeding customer expectations, thus staying not just competitive but ahead of the curve. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I introduce our esteemed guest for today’s episode, Sadeq Abdurrasool, a true luminary in the field of Digital commerce.

Introducing Sadeq Abdurrasool

Zenul: Sadeq is a renowned digital expert and a leader in the industry. Sadeq is a chief digital officer of Homies And MD of Zurle digital solutions. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in various aspects of digital technology and his insights have been instrumental in shaping the landscape of e-commerce. Today we have the privilege of tapping into his expertise. Welcome Sadeq to Commerce Connect by Krish. We are excited to embark on this enlightening conversation with you.

Sadeq: Thank you very much Zenul. It’s my pleasure to be part of this very first and unique podcast and I wish to bring some value to the table. Thank you.

Zenul: Thank you so much Sadeq. So we hear a lot of myths surrounding AI. E-commerce has surely evolved with the integration of AI and data analytics. The impact is not just limited to marketing, though. There are several that have impacted several e-commerce operations like customer support, logistics, software engineering and more. AI and data analytics have transformed online shopping turning it into a high-tech playground where algorithms not only understand the preferences but also predict what you will love and buy as a product. futuristic shift that defines AI applications in today’s e-commerce operations. So see how has AI and data analytics evolved the entire e-commerce landscape? What are some fundamental ways AI is applied in e-commerce operations today?

Sadeq: Well, I guess we have agreed on having a simpler question but you’re arguing right now a great big chunk of question. So if we are looking nowadays about artificial intelligence, it is one of the most hot subjects in the industry.

How eCommerce has evolved with AI & Data Analytics

Nowadays, every single industry is getting expanded and disrupted by artificial intelligence. So when it comes to even understanding how likely this artificial AI can play a crucial role against e-commerce, for example, we can see that every single function that you might think of there can be a possibility of an AI playing that role.

So if you are trying to get thinking about even on the personalization on the steroids, you will find out that even to the minimum level of understanding analyzing the personas and capturing some information starting from your purchase history from capturing the cookies, understanding the patterns of the the consumer themselves to the level of understanding their social activity through social media or even through their personal We have heard a lot especially the mark about the omni channel.

So even here when it comes for the personalization we will find out that there is a possibility there’s a huge chance that by understanding the actual the real needs the motivators the drivers the challengers of my consumers I’ll be able to serve them better through having sort of a better AI that’s on one hand on the other hand we have seen the simplest implementation nowadays at least for that area which is the smart chatbots many websites many applications they have sourced developing sort of a natural language processing post that acts not only your online agent that helps you but also it’s I will call your online assistance in finding out the right products.

I remember previously I was shopping one of the American websites looking for HDMI for my PlayStation and I I have found out that popup it’s like keep linking for me and once I have clicked it’s it was like telling us telling me are you looking for GMI cable we can help you by.

NLP Bots & AI in Product Discovery

Answering a few questions about what is the purpose of this cable so I chose it for gaming purposes so it was like quite advising by telling me if you are a hippie gamer consider buying a 60 Hz cable. If you want to know more why there’s like some short change. So just imagine this very short journey of a 1-minute conversation with just this chatbot.

It gives me the feeling of even the chatbots now by embarking some AI with them. It will be quite advising and helpful for the users. Think about every single area such as analyzing the traffic, understanding the transactions, the traction, analyzing the campaigns, on boarding sellers, vendors, every single area there can be a possibility of having an AI within their streamline operations.

Zenul: Absolutely. so the examples that you have shared for sure are quite enlightening because they give us some real life examples on how AI is helping seeding the consumer journey into sales. So tick this AI and data analytics that leads to a heap of insights and the real magic actually happens when businesses turn these actions into actions for growth.

As you mentioned a lot of data is being captured in terms of the web behavior and a lot of actions again being captured by AI then you know these insights if they are turned into actions they would be actually leading for growth. So for instance at kish we have helped companies implement AI and advanced data analytics that enable them to streamline this complex customer segmentation based on their behaviors and journeys and then delivering intelligent and personalized campaigns based on those that help them grow their orders by around 35 to 40% in the recent DCM campaign and holidays.

can you share with us some more examples where this implementation of AI and data analytics has led to significant growth specifically for the e-commerce businesses?

AI in Streamlined Operations & Consumer Journey

Sadeq: Okay, awesome. Well I will try to find out an example which is not closed to that region so at least it doesn’t sounds like a marketing girl promoting that. Okay, I do recall a company it’s called the sneakers and go I guess it’s either Australian or European company.

they have shared one case study that they have done that over two years most of their marketing campaigns it wasn’t clicking and it wasn’t bringing any promising or it wasn’t achieving or performing the targets and they have found out that it’s sort of inconsistent over the time even their customers are they are feeling there’s a complex in the journeys and so so what they have done is they have partnered up with one of the companies and they have implemented a whole AI suit within the system which from entering the websites until before you sleep at the night there is a process surrounding you by pushing you to find out your best sneakers and shoes and that was basically by revising all the traffic for the past 6 months by understanding where does the customers exit from the website which product they tends to stay longer which which colors even see it’s quite it sounds simple but even which colors shall I promote or present or display my products in they have found out it was for me didn’t click much but they they tend to say the brown sneakers tend to make people feels it’s more luxurious because the black it’s like quite neutral so most of the products was showcased in brown color they have changed even one of the suggestion from.

Real-World Case Study — Analytics & Product Display Optimization

This AI is sweet to change call to actions to call to benefits. Can you imagine that even to court has been replaced by something it’s just I’m recalling it’s like getting a better choice instead of adding a course. So overall in the time span of 3 months, they have found out that the conversion rate has been over 20%. The retention, the lifetime value, and even the average order value of everything at least had a search of more than 10 to 15%. So now if we are trying to get out what is the benefit that the AI added here, I wouldn’t say it helps in having a better performance but at least I would say it retains your customers because the time that you are spending in bringing your customer, that’s an actual cost of money

Zenul: I’ll take it absolutely. That’s a very notable example, yes um and you know a true value being driven on how the insights from the AI helped you know make some changes into the site that could have a remarkable overall impact into their business. there’s another aspect towards AI-driven personalization wherein the product recommendations are very personalized as per the consumer’s behavior preferences and their purchase journey.

In this system, the overall AI system then accurately predicts individual preferences based on the products and other pages that have been visited on an e-commerce site and then based on those the results are shown to the user that makes a very personalized experience all together on the e-commerce site.

So these also overall we have seen that it increases overall customer experience and it fosters the kinds of royalty that the consumer brand or the e-commerce brand is more caring for the consumer and showing us not something which is something that they have to offer but what’s something that I am wanting to look out for in the e-commerce side.

So having said that Sadeq talking about AI’s contribution of enhancing the overall customer experience from personalized recommendations to customer service in any specific AI applications that have proven to increase the overall customer loyalty as we know that some acquisition at a higher cost then you know retaining them and having repeat purchases is the way that the e-commerce businesses would like to go forward.

Sadeq: Well, if we are going to demonstrate on the huge and bigger landscape, everybody is trying to claim that they are customer-centric and in fact at least from my point of view, what makes the difference nowadays is not being customer-centric but being a centric because there shall be some sort of balance between what you are providing to your customers against what

ROI & Business Impact of AI in eCommerce

you are gaining as a business. And although this Neil I have been against it for quite a long time and I had a lot a lot of debates with many of the industry experts and digitally you as a fresh as you are an e-commerce leaders also in the implementations and the institution probably you are advocate also your own philosophy but when it comes for an AI I have found out that implementing AI it should be evolved around this value that you are presenting for both the business and the customers.

It doesn’t make any sense that you are going to your customers and you are telling them hey guys instead of chatting with Jack or David or with Maria over the chatbot over the chat window now we are having a port customer I don’t care I’m chatting with whom is it both is it actual person I’m caring about getting served and answered by the time that I want that I want and getting the answers that I want with the availability that Because e-commerce it means you are available 24 by 7 you don’t have time and many of the businesses nowadays you will find even the customer service are having a limited availability perhaps even they are having a specific working hours how about if I have for example I’m looking for a product or I want to check my orders at midnight where’s your custom service so here for me personally and again for me personally as a customer as it matters for me what you technology you are bringing on the people.

Is it actual people? Is it see nowadays many of the companies they have even used the

Value-Centric vs Customer-Centric Approach

AI begins to act as an actual human. They have even given them a name. So you are chatting with the chatbot. But again this is the black mystery of the AI. It should act as a human.

So by saying so you’ll find out many companies I will call it they had what I call the understanding fatigue okay between between understanding the decision that they should take against the values that they should there must be some sort of balance and this is where many of the areas or many of the functionalities it’s not about the technology because technology is just a tool but it’s all about the balance that you will for the end users.

Zenul: Absolutely. Very truly said. it’s not about all the benefits that the tools and the technology is bringing in but also it might bring in a complexity and it’s all up to the e-commerce owners and the brands on how to be utilizing this technology in the very right manner to ultimately deliver the value to the customers.

Absolutely, thank you. Thank you Sad for sharing valuable insights. they are truly astonishing in the rapidly evolving integration of AI and data analytics with e-commerce has kept it has truly transformed has opened doors to hyperpersonalized recommendations that we call now streamlining operations predicting demands and optimizing decision-m the integration of AI and data analytics not only shapes the present but also propels the commerce.

AI in Customer Service — Bots vs Humans

Into a future defined by innovation and customer-centric strategies, a heartfelt thank you to our distinguished speaker Sadeq for sharing your valuable insights to gra for your engaging perspectives inspiring our audience and fostering a deeper understanding of the site.

Sadeq: Thank you very much. It was my pleasure. Thank you.

Zenul: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. In the next episode, let us take a deeper dive with SAD on the other side of this revolutionary technology. We’ll discuss limitations, challenges and its innovative solutions coupled with data security, privacy and ethics in AI. See you in a while. Till then, stay safe, stay healthy, stay blessed.