What do you know about artificial intelligence and AI technology

What online retailers value when making an ecommerce platforms comparison

Brian Warmoth — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 22:58:03 +0000

All online retailers bring their own needs and budgets when building their ecommerce sites. But what matters most in 2024 when merchants sit down to make an ecommerce platforms comparison? New survey data in Digital Commerce 360’s 2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report reveals some priorities among merchants right now.

Notably, more than half of the online retailers that Digital Commerce 360 surveyed intend to spend more on technology in 2024. In the current inflationary environment, higher costs should not come as a surprise. However, costs are also under pressure — and there are clear technology- and objective-driven concerns taking precedence.

Online retailers expect to spend more on tech in 2024

In the report’s survey of online merchants, Digital Commerce 360 asked participants directly about emerging technologies. While more than half of respondents had no plans to invest in virtual reality, voice commerce, or internet of things, one category showed up as something 33% of respondents were already using and 29% were considering for more investment. That was artificial intelligence.

An ecommerce platforms comparison by pricing, features and more

The 2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report also digs into which platforms the top online retailers in North America are using. That includes numbers for annual web-based sales and clients on our Top 1000 list. But it also includes an ecommerce platforms comparison with information on pricing, niches served, and volumes of sales flowing through each via their customers on the Top 1000 list. In addition, each platform profile breaks down current and upcoming features that Adobe, Salesforce, Shopify, Oracle and others are deploying.

Ecommerce platform use cases and a guide to choosing the best fit

Among the trends seen in these profiles, a majority of platforms in the top 10 are rolling out new AI-enabled enhancements. These cater to use cases in search, inventory management, customer service and other areas. The report goes a step further, though, and delves into who’s getting it right and which uses for AI retailers find more useful. Then it delivers a handy walkthrough with tips for any online retailer trying to choose an ecommerce platform in today’s environment.

All of these details and more can be found in the full, downloadable 2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report, available now.

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Staples to use robots from RightHand Robotics in efforts to speed up delivery times

Brian Warmoth — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 20:21:38 +0000

Staples and RightHand Robotics announced a new multiyear agreement that will see RightHand’s RightPick robots deployed across the floors of Staples fulfillment centers. The robots, which fit into larger fulfillment automation plans at the office supplies giant, will perform item handling with an underlying goal of shortening delivery times.

The robots will run on artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software, also provided by RightHand.

Staples ranks No. 14 in the Top 1000. The Top 1000 database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers by web sales.

Staples robots deployed for picking

RightHand Robotics RightPick system in use at a Staples fulfillment center. (Image credit: RightHand Robotics)

“We have always valued automation, and we see it as the future of ecommerce picking,” said Amit Kalra, chief supply chain officer at Staples, in a released statement. “After evaluating other solutions, the RightPick system met our high performance and reliability standards, picking items with different shapes, packaging, sizes, and weight.”

In a video explaining fulfillment center priorities more broadly, a Staples representative describes the modernized workflow as follows: “Once a customer order is received, our software determines the best way to get the order through the system — a partnership of the robotics and workers. These automated systems handle the manual work while workers review every customer order for quality assurance.”

Subsequently, orders are carried to shipping areas to go out to customers. In the resulting process, the company spokesperson says that “Staples technology combined with our exceptional warehouse team is the future of logistics.”

How RightHand’s robots work

RightHand Robotics RightPick robot in operation. (Image credit: RightHand Robotics)

“Our RightPick system sets a new standard in the flexibility, autonomy, and reliability of warehouse robotics,” Brian Owen, CEO of RightHand Robotics said in the companies’ press release. “We’re thrilled that Staples recognized the benefits of using our technology to further enhance their automation strategy. It’s great to team up with an established industry leader to optimize their fulfillment operations.”

The RightPick system includes hardware, sensors and software designed to prevent damage during the picking process. In addition, RightPick indicates that they ensure certain performance and safety standards. According to the two companies, RightHand Robotics “nearly doubled the range of items” that its stations can accommodate, bringing the number of necessary human interventions down by 80% since the work with Staples began.

Ultimately, Staples hopes to leverage the technology to enable next-day delivery to “over 98% of the U.S.”

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Marketplace technology firm Mirakl reports surging sales

Paul Demery — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 20:55:57 +0000

Mirakl, the B2B and retail e-marketplace technology provider, says its Marketplace Platform reached profitability last year for the first time since the company’s launch in 2012.

Adrien Nussenbaum, co-CEO, Mirakl

2023 marked a “year of maturity for Mirakl,” says Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and co-CEO. “Not only did we significantly increase our annual recurring revenue … but we are now financially self-sustaining.”

Nussenbaum adds that Mirakl powers ecommerce operations for more than 450 enterprises. They include B2B companies Airbus Helicopters, pharmaceuticals distributor Cencora (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen), Mitsubishi Electric, restaurant supplier Parts Town and Toyota Material Handling. Among its retailer clients, Mirakl counts Macy’s, Best Buy, Kroger and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Mirakl-powered B2B marketplace sales

Mirakl says the gross merchandise volume on the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, which client companies use for first-party and third-party ecommerce sales and drop-shipping, grew 50% year over year in 2023 to $8.6 billion.

In addition, Mirakl generated a 20% increase in annual revenue to nearly $160 million.

Nussenbaum says Mirakl has been expanding and upgrading its digital commerce and marketing products and services in several areas to help online sellers meet rising expectations of personalized and helpful online buying journeys.

For example, Mirakl introduced last year a program for integrating AI technology across several Mirakl technology platforms:

Mirakl Marketplace.
Catalog platform for onboarding sellers’ product information.
Target2Sell content personalization.
Target2Sell content personalization.
Mirakl Ads online advertising program for promoting products on e-marketplace pages.

Mirakl says that, through a feature developed on generative AI, Mirakl customers “can enhance the data quality and completeness of product catalogs, boost search engine rankings, and increase conversions automatically by optimizing product titles, descriptions and attributes.”

It adds that Mirakl has also developed AI-powered language translations to help online sellers “expand their business into new territories.”

In addition, Mirakl launched in 2023 the Mirakl Payout for online payment transactions and a global arrangement with marketing and communications firm Havas Group.

In a sign of what it expects more robust growth to come, Mirakl said it achieved a record $1 billion in monthly GMV in November. And it noted that more than 30 Mirakl-powered marketplaces surpassed the $100 million GMV mark last year, including several that surpassed $500 million.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s MSC Industrial report.

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Used vehicle B2B marketplace Openlane finds a new use for AI

Mark Brohan — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:56:54 +0000

A B2B marketplace for dealers of used vehicles thinks selecting and purchasing vehicles needs more transparency. To make that happen, Openlane, Inc., a digital marketplace for wholesale used vehicles, is rolling out Visual Boost AI.

Visual Boost AI is an artificial intelligence application that supplements vehicle inspection data. It does so by prominently highlighting detected exterior damage directly on photos within condition reports.

AI for evaluating used vehicles in its marketplace

The goal, the marketplace says, is making experiences faster and easier for interested buyers. Use cases include accurately locating and assessing potential defects before making purchase decisions.

Visual Boost AI combines artificial intelligence and computer vision technology. As a result, Openland claims it can provide a virtual overlay of any exterior damage detected.

The overlays feature hot pink highlights that pinpoint detected damage, including hail, paint peel, detached panels, broken lights, rust, scratches, dents, and cracks.

“Buyers can toggle the overlays on or off within the condition report for each vehicle they review and interpret the data captured in the vehicle description and make smarter, more profitable bidding and buying decisions,” says Openlane executive vice president and president of North American marketplaces James Coyle. “With one click, dealers can toggle the overlays and effectively get a second set of eyes to help them see anything they might have missed — like seeing the car in-person, from the convenience of your screen.”

How Openlane says the AI application will be used

The AI tool was built using applications and services from Click-In. Visual Boost AI automatically generates AI-detected damage overlays for eight standard condition images showing the vehicle at successive 45-degree angles, which the vehicle inspector can validate and reconcile, the marketplace says.

Openlane is a public B2B marketplace company. For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported total marketplace revenue increased 8% to $316.6 million from $293.9 million in the prior year.

The marketplace, based in Carmel, Indiana, says it sold approximately 1.3 million vehicles in 2022. That same year, it generated revenue of over $1.5 billion and a total gross profit of $685 million.

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3 ways AI transforms the ecommerce customs declaration process

Emily Newton — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:00:18 +0000

Emily Newton

A smooth customs process is essential for getting ecommerce goods to their destinations in the expected time frames. However, standard customs forms are extremely detailed, with dozens of fields to fill. People are increasingly interested in how artificial intelligence (AI) could streamline things.

1. Completing Customs Forms More Efficiently

Even conscientious people make errors when providing information on customs documents. That might mean they put details into the wrong fields, use the wrong tariff codes to classify ecommerce documents, or make other mistakes, ultimately extending the time frames for parcels reaching their destinations or resulting in the packages getting returned to the senders.

Many optical character recognition tools have AI features to improve their functionality. People can use these options to pull data from electronic paperwork automatically and use it for customs forms.

Phlo Systems is a digital forwarder based in the United Kingdom working on a chatbot to fill out customs forms. Training is underway and responses have about an 80% accuracy rate, showing the solution’s potential. As of November 2023, the company’s CEO and founder expected to complete customs forms with the tool in three to six months.

Although AI can shorten the time necessary to complete customs forms, humans should always supervise the process and double-check the results. Well-trained algorithms are not perfect, so computing power and human oversight are an excellent combination to assist those dealing with exported products.

2. Linking Customer Purchases to Customs Form Data

Businesses may also expand the functionality of existing ChatGPT tools that bring AI to ecommerce, making them improve customs documents, too. Technology ecommerce brand Newegg released a customer-facing ChatGPT tool in July 2023 that suggests products for people wanting to build computers based on details they input about budget, performance requirements and other specifics.

The tool compiles all the options into a list people can review before checking out at the site. It is easy to imagine an accompanying AI product Newegg team members could use to populate customs forms based on what a customer ultimately purchases from the suggested list. Then, the items are more likely to be classified and described correctly on the customs forms. Tariff classifications determine duty rates and taxes on imports, making their accuracy critical.

Ecommerce leaders could also use AI to track trends that enable more accurate customs data. Perhaps a large percentage of overseas shoppers purchase a specific in-demand item and nothing else. AI might accelerate the process by automatically populating the product-specific customs form fields in such cases. Then, there is less to do because people only need to check the information that varies with each customer.

3. Stopping False Declarations and Counterfeit Goods

Possibilities also exist for customs agents to use AI tools to highlight abnormalities associated with illegal goods or items declared incorrectly. Artificial intelligence excels at processing large quantities of information and catching things humans would miss. Many banks use it to monitor for fraudulent transactions because it can detect those instances more accurately than people

If people make false declarations on customs documents, they typically do that to reduce their import tax and duty-related obligations. Many border patrol agents use artificial intelligence to assess which shipping containers to open for further inspection.

Some ships reach ports bearing 24,000 containers, making it impossible to inspect them all. However, the customs officials working at a Belgian port rely on predictive AI models to flag which ones to check. The algorithms make decisions based on customs declarations and data from goods previously requiring inspections.

Even so, illegal goods can slip past border agents, which may result in counterfeit products reaching ecommerce sites. More companies are responding by using or offering AI tools to combat these emerging circumstances.

One enterprise specializing in the luxury goods and sneaker markets built an artificial intelligence-driven product to compare photographs of legitimate items with those sold online. The software compares approximately 2,000 to 4,000 characteristics so consumers or retailers can feel more confident about authenticity.

Some ecommerce marketplaces could use counterfeit protection as a selling point to attract new customers. Suppose first-time visitors to a shopping website sees a banner informing them that all products above a specific monetary value receive anti-counterfeit screenings before getting shipped to recipients. Such a claim gives consumers peace of mind, particularly before buying high-value, unique or collector’s items.

Will Artificial Intelligence Improve Customs Processes?

AI for customs declarations and processing is still in the early stages, with decision-makers from many businesses still in the planning process. However, as more of them try real-world applications, artificial intelligence should make a bigger and lasting impact on paperwork and goods movement. The results could assist ecommerce companies with administrative tasks associated with import and export paperwork, plus support border patrol officials with spotting suspicious cargo or incorrectly declared products.

About the author:

Emily Newton reports on how technology disrupts industrial sectors. She’s also the editor-in-chief of Revolutionized, covering innovations in industry, construction, and more.

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Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

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Wayfair releases generative AI app for Apple Vision Pro

Mary Meisenzahl — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:39:53 +0000

Wayfair announced Tuesday that its generative artificial intelligence (AI) application Decorify is now available on the Apple Vision Pro. The launch came less than a week after Apple began selling the $3,499 augmented reality (AR) headset.

The app uses generative AI to virtually redesign different areas of the home with pieces from Wayfair’s catalog, the home furnishing retailer said.

Wayfair is No. 10 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Apple ranks No. 3.

Wayfair’s Vision Pro app

The retailer says Decorify is a way for consumers to see their living spaces redesigned. To start, users upload photos of their rooms or use stock photos. Next, they can select from decor styles, including bohemian, mid-century modern and industrial design. Decorify then redesigns a room in the corresponding style, using items Wayfair sells.

“We constantly evaluate new and existing channels and technologies to explore how we can improve the home shopping experience for our customers,” Wayfair chief technology officer Fiona Tan said in a statement. “Apple Vision Pro represents an innovative new way for shoppers to style their rooms and experience our catalog directly in their homes. We can’t wait to learn how our customers use Apple Vision Pro to explore their spaces and find their perfect item.”

Wayfair released Decorify, an app for the Apple Vision Pro.

Decorify uses spatial computing to display pieces of furniture in 3D and scaled to size, so consumers can experience a realistic sense of how the object would look in that space, Wayfair said. Within the app, users can move and reorient pieces, too.

“We have long believed spatial computing is the next evolution of computing where information is not bound by the 2D screen, and the space around you becomes an integral part of your experience,” said Shrenik Sadalgi, director of research and development. “We’re excited to continue our journey exploring and defining new techniques, interfaces and paradigms in the spatial computing era. With Wayfair Decorify for visionOS, you can capture a photo of your space, reimagine it as multiple spatial-designs, and then make it a reality — all within seconds.”

Wayfair first announced Decorify in July 2023 for use on desktop and mobile browsers. The new version will be available in the visionOS App Store.

Other Vision Pro retail apps

Wayfair joins other retailers who have introduced Vision Pro apps to facilitate virtual stores and omnichannel experiences. Among them, Lowe’s (No. 12 in the Top 1000) also introduced a home design use case for the new headset. The hardware and home improvement chain’s Style Studio app allows Vision Pro owners to choose from preset kitchen designs created by stylists, or create custom designs from their own selections of materials, fixtures and appliances.

In other categories, J. Crew (No. 85 in the Top 1000) released a virtual closet app. That experience encourages customers to style outfits on a virtual mannequin with input from stylists. E.l.f. Cosmetics (No. 951) took a slightly different approach. Vision Pro users can use its app to purchase e.l.f. products with Apple Pay and take part in paint-by-numbers activities and guided meditation.

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Amazon sales grow 14% in Q4

Mary Meisenzahl — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 15:00:45 +0000

Amazon.com Inc. beat expectations with earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023. Its net sales in the quarter grew 14% year over year to $170.0 billion. That surpassed expectations of 8% to 13% growth.

Full-year sales grew 12% to $574.8 billion in 2023, up from $514.0 billion in 2022.

Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV. Digital Commerce 360 has published the latest analysis of the industry as a whole within the 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report.

How much did Amazon make in Q4 sales?

North American sales made up the bulk of revenue in the fourth quarter, growing 13% year over year to $105.5 billion. International sales, however, grew at a faster clip. The segment increased 17% year over year to account for $40.2 billion in sales. Sales from Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew 13% to $24.2 billion.

Operating income also grew in the quarter. It reached $13.2 billion in the fourth quarter, nearly five times the $2.7 billion in operating income Amazon recorded in the year-ago period. Net income totaled $30.4 billion, up from a net loss of $2.7 billion in Q4 2022.

Amazon records a successful holiday season

“This Q4 was a record-breaking holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement. The online retailer said customers purchased more items on Amazon during the 2023 holiday season than in any previous season, culminating in a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Amazon customers ordered more than 1 billion items during the holidays, with 500 million of those orders coming from third-party sellers, it said.

During the same period, millions of new consumers signed up for an Amazon Prime Membership. Amazon has 176 million Prime members as of December 2023, according to research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). That’s the highest level ever recorded by CIRP, which has monitored Prime membership since 2013. Membership is up about 5% from 168 million in December 2022, per CIRP. Those estimates are for Amazon customers with Prime membership, not households.

Amazon fulfillment improvements

Ahead of the earnings release, Amazon announced results of fulfillment advancements in 2023 and plans to continue growing the area in 2024.

“The regionalization of our U.S. fulfillment network led to our fastest-ever delivery speeds for Prime members while also lowering our cost to serve,” Jassy said in a statement.

The ecommerce giant delivered 7 billion units by same-day or next-day delivery to Prime members in 2023. More than 4 billion of those deliveries took place in the U.S., and more than 2 billion were in Europe.

The number of items delivered on the same day or overnight grew 65% year over year in the U.S. in 2023, Amazon said. More than 70% of Prime orders in the U.K. arrived the same day or next day in the fourth quarter of 2023. Amazon celebrated its billionth same-day delivery in the U.S. in December.

“We’ve challenged every closely held belief for our fulfillment network and reevaluated every part of it, and found several areas where we believe we can lower costs while also delivering faster for customers. Our inbound fulfillment architecture and resulting inventory placement are areas of focus in 2024, and we have optimism there’s more upside for us,” Jassy told investors on Feb. 1.

Amazon will add incremental fulfillment capacity going forward, based on demand for same-day delivery sites and automation, said Brian Olsavsky, chief financial officer.

Amazon on generative AI

The company discussed its advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) across the company in its earnings presentation, too.

It announced the beta test of Rufus, a new generative AI shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalog. So far, the assistant is available to a small subset of U.S. customers to answer shopping questions and make recommendations, Amazon said. It will roll out to all U.S. customers in a few weeks.

The retailer also introduced a generative AI tool that will allow brands to produce lifestyle imagery for advertisements, it said.

Amazon also added generative AI capacity to Amazon Connect, the AWS cloud contact center, it said. Generative AI will give customer service agents suggestions on how to help customers and generate summaries of conversations, it said.

“2023 also was a very significant year of delivery and customer trial for generative AI or Gen AI in AWS,” Jassy said. “Customers are also excited about our approach to generative AI. Still relatively early days, but the revenues are accelerating rapidly across all three layers, and our approach to democratizing AI is resonating well with our customers. We have seen significant interest from our customers wanting to run generative AI applications and build large language models and foundation models, all with the privacy, reliability and security they have grown accustomed to with AWS.”

How did Amazon do financially in 2023?

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, Amazon.com Inc. reported:

Sales increased 14% to $170.0 billion, from $149.2 billion in the year-ago period.
Amazon Q4 North America sales grew 13% to $105.5 billion.
International sales grew 17% year over year to $40.2 billion.
AWS sales reached $24.2 billion, growing 13%.

For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Amazon reported:

Amazon sales grew 12% to $574.8 billion, from $514.0 billion in 2022.
Operating income reached $36.9 billion, increasing from $12.2 billion in 2022.
AWS sales grew 13% to $90.8 billion.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s Amazon earnings article.

How big is Amazon’s total ecommerce business?

Amazon.com is the largest ecommerce retail company in the world with $412.1 billion in annual web sales (excluding all marketplaces and B2B companies such as Alibaba). Amazon’s business model is multifaceted, as it is one of the world’s largest marketplaces (No. 3) with over $650 billion in total GMV and over $400 billion in third-party sales. Its AWS unit climbed over $90 billion in sales in 2023, and its advertising sector brought in another $46.9 billion the same year.\

During 2020, Amazon grew its ecommerce business by over $54 billion. That’s nearly 10 times the size of Nordstrom’s annual ecommerce revenue.

Amazon’s first-party sales (online store)

If we split out Amazon’s online store sales, removing subscription services and its third-party seller fees, Amazon would still be the largest ecommerce player in the world by over $100 billion, as China’s JD.com (second largest, excludes Alibaba) sells over $125 billion annually. Those who follow Amazon.com closely can easily see the growing sectors of the ecommerce giant’s business. Its online store is not among them anymore. In fact, Amazon’s first-party sales are the slowest growing business arm with a 3-year CAGR of only 5.5%. Meanwhile, its third-party seller fees have a 16.4% 3-year CAGR, Amazon’s advertising services have a 22.7% CAGR, and its subscription services have a 12.5% 3-year CAGR.

How big is Amazon Prime Membership revenue?

Amazon makes over $40 billion annually just from its subscription services. To put that into perspective, if Amazon sold nothing else — without a single first-party product on its site, and all it sold was subscription services — Amazon.com would rank as the third-largest online retailer in North America. That would still make it larger than Apple (No. 3 with $35 billion in 2022 web sales) and Home Depot (No. 4 with $22.4 billion in 2022 web sales). Moreover, even comparing it to the combined total revenues from Nike (No. 9), Costco (No. 6) and Chewy (No. 13), Amazon’s subscription services alone would still be greater.

How large is Amazon’s advertising business?

Amazon’s annual advertising revenue sits at $46.9 billion. This is equivalent to more than half of Walmart’s entire ecommerce operation and more than twice the size of Target’s online revenue.

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Shopify releases new features across marketing, conversion and operations

Mary Meisenzahl — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 21:53:48 +0000

Shopify released a slate of updates on Jan. 31. The ecommerce platform says the more than 100 updates will improve client experiences across conversion, channels, marketing and operations.

In North America, 45 of the Top 1000 online retailers use Shopify as their ecommerce platform. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of the largest online retailers in the region by annual web sales. In 2022, those 45 online retailers combined for more than $8.29 billion in web sales. Retail clients include Fashion Nova (No. 115), Figs Inc. (No. 173), Nine West (No. 252) and Steve Madden Ltd. (No. 262).

These are the most important updates Shopify released in its Winter ‘24 Edition.

Shopify conversion updates

Shopify said it improved how it lists products with the biggest update to its product model in more than a decade. Now, products that come in multiple variations can be purchased under a single product listing. The updated model also reduces the time and effort that go into creating new product listings, Shopify said. The product page can now automatically categorize listings by features like color and size, eliminating the need to categorize them manually. Customers can also find products based on these attributes, it said.

The checkout page also got an update, Shopify said. The platform streamlined the checkout experience, reducing three pages to just one that customers must interact with. That cut buyer completion time by an average of four seconds, it said. Shopify added 14 new APIs and 90 new apps retailers can use to customize their checkout pages. The new apps allow for features including loyalty programs, post-purchase surveys, order tracking and other customizable content.

Shopify released a new semantic search tool using artificial intelligence (AI), too. The storefront search feature uses AI to surface results consumers are more likely to buy from, rather than exactly the keywords they searched, Shopify said.

Shopify channel updates

Shopify said some of its new updates were designed to make it easy for retailers to expand into new marketplaces and social channels. One such update is point-of-sale ship from store. Retailers will be able to select a store as the fulfillment location for an order through Shopify, so staff can pack and ship the order directly from the location. In-store fulfillment can increase efficiency, reduce warehouse load, and minimize shipping costs, Shopify said.

The platform also released Markets Pro to U.S. customers. The product bundle is designed to make selling internationally easier for U.S. retailers as a hub for help on global taxes, international shipping labels, customs, and more.

New marketing releases

Shopify says Shopify Audiences will “help you find more customers, lower customer acquisition costs (CAC), and improve return on ad spend (ROAS).” The app gives retailers the ability to target consumers on social platforms like Meta, Snapchat and TikTok. Then, Shopify uses machine learning (ML) to improve advertising targeting. This edition of Shopify Audiences includes benchmarks for measuring results against similar retailers and industries, Shopify said.

The platform also announced it will rebrand Shop Cash as Shop Campaigns. The customer acquisition tool will add new estimates and analytics in this update, Shopify said.

Business operations updates

Shopify said it’s using AI on several new releases to simplify retailers’ business operations under the banner “Shopify Magic.”

Media Editor uses generative AI to create instant product images for free, Shopify said. The editor tool can create professional-looking images and enhance low-resolution files into high-quality media assets, it said.

Sidekick, meanwhile, will be “the world’s most useful AI-enabled assistant for commerce,” Shopify said. “It allows you to use AI to increase productivity, improve workflows, make smarter decisions, and spend less time on operational tasks.” The tool is in an early access rollout with select retailers. Shopify did not share when results will be available, or when other customers will get access to it. It previously demoed Sidekick answering retailer questions, such as “How do I set up a discount for my holiday sale?”

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IBM study: AI, sustainability central to improving customer experience

Abbas Haleem — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 21:52:51 +0000

More than half of consumers said they would like to use bots or virtual assistants (55%), augmented or virtual reality (55%), and artificial intelligence (AI) applications (59%) as they shop. That’s according to an IBM study of 20,000 consumers across 26 countries.

Just 9% of those consumers said they’re satisfied with their in-store shopping experiences, though that figure is slightly higher at 14% for ecommerce experiences.

Every two years, the IBM Institute for Business Value surveys global consumers about their shopping habits and preferences. For its third study, IBM surveyed 20,000 respondents in September and October 2023. It asked them to describe their digital habits, their use of AI and generative AI, their expectations for brands, and their sentiments regarding sustainability.

In North America, 18 online retailers in the Top 1000 use IBM for order management services. Those 18 retailers generated more than $90.56 billion in web sales in 2022. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of the region’s largest online retailers, ranked by their annual web sales.

IBM 2024 consumer study’s findings

“Roughly four in five consumers who haven’t yet used artificial intelligence for shopping would like to see how it can help them research products or get product information (86%), look for deals and promotions (79%) or get service, ask questions, and resolve issues (82%),” IBM said in reporting its survey results.

But that process isn’t always smooth, IBM found. Shoppers want to easily access orders, shopping carts and purchase histories every step of the way, IBM said.

“They crave more choices but less hassle, with accurate inventory data, delivery timelines, and targeted offers available in real time, at the click of a button. Most of all, they want things to just work. But they often don’t,” IBM said in its report.

It said many chatbots still lack the training, capabilities and skills they need to understand basic requests and answer customers’ questions. Because of this, just a third of consumers who have used chatbots and virtual assistants are happy with their experience, IBM found.

Benefits of implementing generative AI

Generative AI assistants can serve consumers more helpful shopping suggestions, and in natural language, IBM said. They can tap customer support emails, call transcripts, purchase history and more in real time to improve the customer experience. Similarly, generative AI can improve search functionality to then improve the customer experience, according to IBM.

Generative AI requires data collection for its large language models to be effective. In retail, that data can include what customers clicked on, where they shopped, how long they spent on certain pages, and more. It can also analyze historical sales data, market trends and other factors to predict future demand more accurately, IBM said. That would, in turn, help companies optimize production levels, reduce overstock and minimize waste.

“But consumers want to know how their information is being used (44%) and want more control over how companies use their data (40%),” IBM found. “To build trust with wary consumers — while also offering the unified experiences they want — companies must get customers’ explicit permission to track and analyze their behavior. Setting expectations up front for every interaction can make customers feel like they’re being catered to, rather than spied on.”

Sustainability continues growing as a consumer priority

Consumers “want hard data, not vague PR statements” about sustainability, IBM found. And less than half (41%) of consumers said they have sufficient information to shop sustainably. Meanwhile, nearly eight in 10 (78%) of consumers said sustainability is important to them when choosing a brand to shop from. Additionally, 61% said they’d change their shopping habits if it meant helping reduce negative environmental impacts.

That’s not just a hypothetical, the survey’s findings showed. More than two in three (67%) consumers surveyed said at least half of the products they bought in their last purchase were sustainable.

“Consumers want to see how companies measure up in the areas they most care about, such as the use of safe and natural ingredients and recycled materials — but companies aren’t providing enough information,” IBM said in its report.

Top three sustainability factors consumers care about:

Safe ingredients or materials
Natural ingredients or materials
Use of recycled materials

Top three sustainability metrics that consumer-product companies report on:

Scope 1 GHG emissions
Percent of women in the company’s workforce
Scope 2 GHG emissions

GHG refers to greenhouse gases. Scopes 1 and 2 refer to the different kinds of emissions of those gases.

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions that come from sources controlled or owned by an organization, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Examples include emissions associated with fuel combustion in boilers, furnaces or vehicles. Scope 2 emissions are indirect and associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling. According to the EPA, although scope 2 emissions physically occur at the facility where they are generated, they are accounted for in an organization’s GHG inventory because they are a result of the organization’s energy use.

Key takeaways from the IBM study:

Nearly two-thirds of Gen Zers and Millennials want to shop for products from multiple brands on a marketplace with a single checkout.
3 in 5 consumers would like to use AI applications as they shop.
73% of consumers who care about sustainability are willing to pay more for sustainable products—up from 50% in 2022.

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The post IBM study: AI, sustainability central to improving customer experience appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

An alcoholic beverage distributor’s customers embrace B2B ecommerce

Paul Demery — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:37:10 +0000

B2B customers of Republic National Distributing Co. are giving the company a reason to celebrate ecommerce.

Nick Mehall, president and CEO, Republic National Distributing Co.

“A large and growing number of our customers are now embracing B2B ecommerce as a complementary vehicle to engage with us,” says Nick Mehall, president and CEO. He notes that the distributor’s ecommerce site, eRNDC, “has demonstrated significant market adoption over the past twelve months.”

Mehall notes that 2023 sales transacted through the eRNDC ecommerce platform reached $800 million, spurred by a 32% year-over-year increase in the number of monthly active online customers.

RNDC says its online customers in 21 states can shop among 6,700 brands, using such features as AI-powered site search, product recommendations and product assortments curated for local markets.

And RNDC expects the good times to continue.

Emily Xu, senior vice president of ecommerce, Republic National Distributing Co.

“Looking ahead to 2024, we are anticipating more customers will leverage the platform to discover products and brands,” says Emily Xu, senior vice president of ecommerce. “We are also seeing more suppliers incorporate B2B platforms like eRNDC as building blocks of their commercial strategy.”

Republic National ecommerce investments pay off

Mehall says RNDC has invested in its proprietary ecommerce platform over the last few years to “meet the demands and the complexity of our industry, and our results indicate our strategy is firmly taking hold.”

He adds: “By directly providing 24/7 access and making product information easily accessible to customers and our sales reps, we are bringing brands closer to customers. By offering order dashboards, invoices, and online payments, we also free up our sales team from some of the administrative tasks and give them more time to spend with customers.”

RNDC says it is also using its ecommerce platform to better understand how different types of customers shop for products.

In the past year, the distributor analyzed shopping behavior data collected on eRNDC to learn that account customers tend to search by category, with top search terms of tequila, bourbon and champagne.

It also learned that other customers RNDC defines as “off-premise” tend to search first by brands.

Xu says RNDC expects more ecommerce improvements to come.

“With the fast development in AI and machine learning, we are very excited to partner with our sales team, our suppliers, and our customers to continue evolving our platform to be the best collaborative ecommerce platform that seamlessly connects three tiers of the beverage alcohol industry,” she says.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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