What Lies Ahead For e-Commerce?

E-commerce is big on execution. If all things are aligned, success should follow, provided that there’s enough traffic and time for a website to be established. There are still many things that remain uncertain for e-commerce, yet some things are for sure.

Personalization and customer experience will be better in the near future as it will be crucial for winning and keeping the customer in the seasons to come. In this time and age, consumers have little time to spare for irrelevant information. Thus, businesses that deal with customer experience transformation can hold the hearts and minds of customers. Products and information will assist SMEs in standing out from the crowd online and keep customers wanting for more as they provide personalized services.

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Delivery drones are making their way into reality, thanks to continuous testing and improvement. This is perhaps the most exciting development in e-commerce; drones will be sent out from distribution centers and fly directly to the provided delivery address, with a promise of significantly lower cost and logistical inconvenience than the industry’s current status.

Pop-up shops bridge the gap between online and offline retailing. This kind of shopping experience can provide customers with the chance to connect with a company’s brand in a physical manner while helping the business have an impact on corners of the market that might otherwise have been impossible through online channels. E-commerce is improving by the minute, with businesses and customers on the lookout for the latest development with regard to their shopping experience.

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Abhishek Gattani is a senior director at Walmart Labs and, as head or search, spearheaded the launch of the company’s search engine and e-commerce platform, Polaris. For similar reads, visit this blog.

Chatbots Are Changing Ecommerce

What once was the stuff of sci-fi is now being deployed everywhere, epitomized by technological innovations in the realm of artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and machine learning. The best example of how these advancements are affecting ecommerce is the rise of chatbots.

Chatbots mimic how humans think and make decisions. They are automated programs fueled by machine-learning technology that work by answering questions, handling particular requests, and generally simulating people’s conversations. The key thing to remember here is that a chatbot is not a static thing: it learns, adapting to how people behave, trends in their preferences, and what and when they buy.

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Voice recognition technology is crucial to the future of chatbots. Companies pushing the possibilities of the fusion of artificial intelligence with machine learning include NeuraFlash, and even FedEx. The former’s AI chatbot uses natural language processing (NLP) for comprehending text patterns, while FedEx’s Alexa app allows customers to track their package deliveries without even typing anything. Other notable and specialized Ai bots include Mitsuku and RightClick.

That they offer more personalized one-on-one service makes chatbots more important in ecommerce sectors, especially as people continue to switch to online shopping. Companies need to match the increased volume and traffic to new customers, and chatbots may be the only way to do so very soon.

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Currently a senior director at Walmart Labs, Abhishek Gattani is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the founder of companies Cuberon, Big Refunds, and Fireball Solutions. For more on Mr. Gattani’s work, visit this webpage.

Powerful benefits of harnessing machine learning in e-commerce

Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence (AI), is a method of data analysis that’s based on the idea that systems can learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions without much human intervention. This is not another buzzword: machine learning is about making sense of digital data at a much faster rate than humans are capable of. But how do they benefit e-commerce? 

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For starters, machine learning allows for segmentation, personalization, and targeting. E-commerce websites typically suffer a great distance from their customers, compared to face to face interaction. Things like machine learning can tweak the customer experience online to drive sales and increase revenue. 

It can, for instance, be instrumental in providing product recommendations. It can tap into the customer’s specific buying habits, preferred colors or looks, and the type of budget they are playing with. In addition, these high-tech solutions can also prioritize product recommendations that are likely to have bigger sales returns. 

As search is critical to the success of e-commerce businesses, machine learning can vastly improve product search and appear in front of potential customers. Search results became more meaningful and geared toward who really need them. 

It also assists in price optimization and fraud protection. In the former, the technology can change prices to account for factors such as competitors’ offer, demand, time of day, and kind of customer. In the latter, it can process huge volumes of data at rapid speed to prevent fraudulent transactions before happening. 

The robots have arrived, and they’re no longer the stuff of science fiction. It’s important to analyze whether machine learning could become your company’s “now” and serve as a huge asset to e-commerce campaigns and initiatives, rather than pursuing costly and resource-intensive manual processes. 

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Abhishek Gattani is the head of search at Walmart Labs, where he spearheaded the launch of Walmart’s 'Polaris' search engine and e-commerce platform. For similar reads, visit this page.

Machine Matters: The Impact Of Ai On e-Commerce

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not sci-fi; it is a reality shaping many businesses and industries today. It powers the most impressive innovations in recent decades, and it is ruling information technology. E-commerce and retail are not exempt from its benefits. In fact, marketing, digital or traditional, has become so dependent on it to the extent that competition among brands has just turned up the pressure. 

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Still not convinced of the ubiquity of AI? You can turn to your home gadgets. Smart TVs, refrigerators, watches, and other devices compile the data they collect so that the internet can interpret the behaviors and habits of potential consumers. Much of AI relies on the Internet of Things, and marketers use data from such to optimize the performance of their platforms. Online retailers, then, can count on AI to point them to the direction of a potential online client at the speed of a click.    

The speed with which AI compiles and interprets data also defines market offerings. Its very large database will be the basis for improvements in and developments of products and services. Brands purveying the same goods can leverage analytics to differentiate themselves. Of course, all these will occur on platforms such as visited websites and social media. In many cases, AI can even penetrate chat apps through chatbots and gather data on market preferences and behaviors from there. 

Online retailers then should be aware of the wave of AI integration occurring in retail at the moment. Speed has become the name of the game, and it needs to be integrated into websites and other platforms where purchases and product selections occur. It is telling that today’s e-commerce websites cannot be powered by basic Web Dev, but an AI website builder. 

Moreover, the biggest tech companies such as Facebook and IBM are pouring money into AI and counting their dollars by its smarts. 

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Abhishek Gattani is the head of search at Walmart Labs and the founder and CEO of Cuberon. He spearheaded the launch of Walmart’s “Polaris” search engine, which currently powers many of the company’s e-commerce products globally.  For more updates on the world of e-commerce, visit this page.

What Makes An Online Business Popular? Tips On Site Creation

Creating a website for a business isn’t as simple as one thinks. First, it has to be user-friendly. One of the most important factors for achieving this is that it can be easily found through any of the existing search engines out there. Here are a few more tips on how to attract more people to a business via a website.

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Make it easy for guests to navigate and search.

If the website is selling products, the list of items should be easy to find. The same goes with services. Businesses with a lot of items to sell can use dropdown menus to save space. Search bars should usually be on the top right for easy access.

Have a lot of information for items.

Aside from the usual explanations on items or services being provided, websites should also inform people just how many items are still available, or if they’re sold out. Other important info includes discounts if they’re bought in bulk, or if there’s a promo going on and which items are included.

Do not complicate the checkout process.

One thing online shoppers despise is a complicated checkout process. This is the part that concludes the visit, and should be short and sweet. One of the best ways to ensure this is to have all the pertinent info such as items, billing, shipping, and confirmation all in a single page.

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A senior director and the head of research in Walmart Labs, Abhishek Gattani spearheaded the launch of the company’s search engine and e-commerce platform, Polaris. The platform now powers Walmart’s e-commerce products, which includes Walmart.com, store search, mobile web, and mobile apps. To know more about Mr. Gattani and his accomplishments in e-commerce, go to this blog.

The increasing role of social media in e-commerce

There’s no denying the crucial role social media now plays in any business, especially those venturing into online platforms. Today, the average person spends almost two hours browsing social media sites every day, and the number of customers buying online in the U.S. will reach 217 million by the end of 2017. 

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Advertisements on paper and on the storefront are simply not enough in the digital age. The reputation and success of any business depend largely on their standing in social media. Sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are now being used to increase online presence and to offer quality customer services faster and more efficiently. 

Projected successful brands are those that are able to maximize their reach and effectiveness in paid social media advertising. It’s not enough to pay ads on Google shopping and the like; brands driven by e-commerce are investing more in paid social media accounts to better reach their target audience. This is because a social media ad is easier to both set up and track. 

Another important development to note is that customers are starting to prefer private messaging. In a study done by Venturebeat.com, it was found out that 49.4 percent of customers would rather contact a business through a 24/7 messaging service than through the phone. Snapchat, IG, and Facebook Messenger now provide great engagement options for both startups and big businesses.

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Abhishek Gattani is a senior director at Walmart Labs. He was instrumental in the launch of the company’s search engine and e-commerce platform, Polaris. For more reads on e-commerce, visit this blog.

Enhancing e-Commerce With Chatbots

Last 2016, the total global revenue that artificial intelligence (AI) brought in reached $643.7 million. By 2025, that amount is seen to increase to $36.8 billion as developers continue to enhance the capabilities and efficiency of this technology.

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E-commerce businesses can also benefit from AI through chatbots.

A chatbot is an automated program designed to be able to converse with people through a mix of natural language processing, machine learning, and human operators. The technology has actually been present for a number of years now, a notable example of which is Siri.

Because of consumer behaviors, businesses who have embraced the e-commerce platform should consider adopting a chatbot technology. Many customers prefer receiving responses to their inquiries within a short time. And traffic to e-commerce websites is quickly surging by the day. Chatbots can become an indispensable tool due to these.

And the good news is that consumers are becoming more open to transacting with chatbots. According to Ubisend, 20 percent of consumers would consider buying goods and services after talking with a chatbot. Reaching target audiences, giving efficient customer service, endorsing products and services, and driving sales can be that much easier for e-commerce brands through a chatbot.

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Abhishek Gattani, an alumnus of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and founder of companies Cuberon, Big Refunds, and Fireball Solutions, is currently the head of search at Walmart Labs. He was instrumental in the launch of the company’s search engine and e-commerce platform, Polaris. Learn more about him by visiting this LinkedIn page.