In the near future, a chat box with advanced features will be available on your favorite retailer’s website. The goal is for shoppers to feel as comfortable as they would in-store with sales representatives.
Discover new products in the retail sector GroupBy This conversational chat agent is being tested with Google. Google hosts the retail platform with its Vertex AI and Gemini Cloud.
The tests could show if people are using chats to shop differently depending on their generation. So far, more people are using social media when shopping. Arv Natarajan from GroupBy, Director of Products, says that this segment is more interested in a chat-like interface.
The testing phase is a part of a continuous upgrade to retail readiness, as retailers prepare for the holiday shopping season. This includes a lot of job shifting as the artificial intelligence replaces much of what merchants used to do manually. AI has been added to create a conversational experience for online shoppers.
Store greeters were a great asset for the in-store sales. This initial human-tohuman contact between the shopper, and the store associate, helped create a positive customer experience (CX). Online retailers can now create the same conversational experience using a platform that mimics human exchanges. This will help customers find the products they need and complete their online transactions.
Search engines and chatbots are nothing new. The pop-up asking you to type in a question or requesting help is not appealing for retail. A new shopping experience will be created with AI-powered conversations that create an instore shopping experience.
AI-powered technology can now improve CX. It maximizes revenue across all channels. Natarajan explained to E-Commerce Times how it was not just about encouraging people to purchase online, but that the omnichannel approach should be considered holistically.
Product Discovery at a Higher Level
E-commerce has been around since its inception. Search engines are the most common way for consumers to locate products. Search windows are the most popular method on retail websites. It is how people have been trained to search.
Director of Product
Natarajan observed, “But, I think that especially for younger generations, this new or existing channel, which used to be their Social Media outlet, is now more relevant for product search.”
A user may be curious about the jacket of their favorite singer and click on a photo. The search engine will then take you to the website that sells this jacket.
I believe that this type of shopping will become more important for the younger generation as they reach the point where they can buy online. Natarajan stated that retailers should stay up-to-date with the core experience and technology of ecommerce and product discovery.
Online merchandisers should be on the lookout for innovative trends, and they must consider CX in its entirety.
The search engine, for example, is crucial to both a retailer selling to consumers and a distributor selling to businesses to ensure that they are able to sell the correct products at the right moment. He said that B2B is increasingly similar to B2C, particularly as younger generations move into buying roles.
How to redirect the conversation
AI integration leads one of the most exciting trends in online commerce by creating a more conversational experience. Natarajan said that this process will require consumers to learn a new shopping style. The consumers are accustomed to searching using keywords.
The same response is given when the chat box in retail is used. If you’re looking for something like “I want to buy a dress,” or “I need a Tshirt,” then that’s what you’d say. If retailers can teach users how to use a conversational style of search, the result will be “I’m going to attend a wedding next week.” I need a gown.”
A shopper might ask this question to an employee in the store. After that, you can have a chat to discuss the details of your wedding such as its style, theme, temperature, or climate. It encourages you to give more details, like “I want a linen dress” or “I need a nightdress”.
It will be fascinating to see what these AI-to-human conversations are like during the holiday season. Natarajan stated that this method hasn’t been tested yet.
He said that the chat box is still in its early stages of adoption and has not seen the increase in engagement expected with retail product discovery.
“I think it’s because people aren’t being trained to shop in this way. When people use a bot, they mistakenly believe that it’s customer support. “Retailers are trying different user experiences but I don’t believe consumers are ready yet”, he said.
Getting customers there will take a major player in the market — like Amazon, Target, or Walmart — to train their shoppers with a new user experience that is more chat-like. Then, retailers will start to notice a general increase in sales.
Retailers could then integrate a chat feature in the main search box to keep customers engaged while viewing products without disrupting their e-commerce experiences.
The screen will update the products each time the customer enters new information during a chat interaction. Based on their interaction with the AI agent, the customer will see new products.
Holiday Marketing Beyond Innovative Search
Natarajan suggests that online retailers follow a check-list to avoid sales failures. In the run-up for holiday marketing, load-testing of infrastructure should be their top priority. Is the infrastructure stable? Is it prepared for holiday traffic? Can it handle an expected increase in traffic as soon as the holiday season begins?
Ensure that your product catalog is up-to-date and clean. A search engine that is excellent will not show the correct products when there are errors or in an outdated inventory. Verify the data is ready and updated to handle expected holiday traffic.
What are the goals of the company for the holidays. Do you have any dedicated pages, such as a clearance or sales page? Have you developed specific themes for holiday landing pages on your website?
Analyses are another important aspect. You cannot improve your performance if you do not measure it. This is why a robust platform for analytics to A/B-test and validate hypotheses, is crucial.
