HC3152 - Evaluating AI Strategies for E-Commerce Sales & Experience

This paper examines the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on E-Commerce, particularly focusing on its impact on sales and user experience. It begins by highlighting the growth of e-commerce and its effect on the global economy, using Ali Express as a case study. The report identifies challenges faced by e-commerce businesses, such as lack of personal touch and customer loyalty issues, and explores how AI solutions like chatbots and AI-driven CRM can mitigate these problems. Furthermore, it suggests additional AI applications for Ali Express, including advanced visual search engines, voice assistance, and virtual reality, to further enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of AI adoption for overcoming current challenges and maintaining a competitive edge in the e-commerce landscape.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 1
ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCE
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 2
Abstract.
This paper discusses the issues regarding the use of Artificial intelligence in the world and more
specifically in E-Commerce. The paper begins by clearly outlining the impact of e-commerce on
the whole worlds’ economic stature. The paper then goes ahead and gives examples of the most
popular e-commerce businesses. The businesses are analyzed along with the use of artificial
intelligence in their model structure based on a sample company (Ali-Express). The businesses
are assessed based on the challenges and how Ali Express has incorporated the use of Artificial
intelligence in their business model and the impact that its has had on the overall performance of
the business. The paper then gives a precise recommendation on the ways the use of Artificial
intelligence is important and how its implementation will help reduce the challenges that the
company is currently experiencing along with other Advanced technological systems.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 3
Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
How E-Commerce has helped...................................................................................................3
Current status of Ali Express....................................................................................................4
Problems facing E-commerce...................................................................................................4
Artificial Intelligence in E-Commerce.........................................................................................4
HOW Ali-express is using E-commerce...................................................................................5
Chatbots......................................................................................................................................5
AI Customer relationship Management..................................................................................5
HOW Ali-express can Further use AI......................................................................................6
Advanced Visual Search Engine...........................................................................................6
Voice Assistance......................................................................................................................6
Virtual Reality........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................................7

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 4
Introduction
Technology has altered the whole landscape of business worldwide. The alteration is due
to the wide geographic area that the use of the internet has created. This has propelled most
companies to tailor their operations towards the use of the internet. This, therefore, created E-
Commerce. It is estimated that 35% of businesses worldwide have opted for E-commerce.
Online shopping has increased the rate of revenue that is associated with the use of the internet in
business. Revenue growth is evidenced by the ever-growing nature of transactions and
businesses in operation through the internet. It is estimated that in the year 2017 $2.3 Trillion
worth of sales were made through the e-commerce sites. The rise of e-commerce business was so
rapid that every significant company was forced to adopt the model or else face closure (Laudon
&Traver, 2016). This propelled most of the firms to come up with e-commerce platforms. Some
of the most well-known e-commerce platforms include Woolworths, Target, eBay, Amazon, Ali
express. The paper focuses on Ali express as an example of just how the e-commerce business is
operating.
Ali Express is one of the retailer companies that have, in recent years, dominated the e-
commerce space. This is enabled by their ease in adopting new technology. With the company
dealing with the retail of general merchandise such as households, office equipment, and even
clothes. Being owned by Alibaba Group, Ali Express was founded /launched in the year 2010
and to be more specific on 26th April (Du & Li 2013). The online shopping company came up as
a need to connect businesses solely by using the already present online access via the internet. In
a span of fewer than ten years, the company has since expanded to not only cater for business to

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 5
business transactions but also business to consumer and consumer to consumer. With this, the
business has grown from being local-based (In China) to being international (Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd, 2019). It is worth noting down that at the moment Ali Express only caters for
international customers who want to buy from the local Chinese businesses (Talayco, & Ekici,
2013).
How E-Commerce has helped.
Information technology had changed the selling and buying processes of goods for
businesses and customers. It has changed the selling and communication channels, product
development and marketing transforming and giving businesses and customers new experiences.
Since the rise of the internet, the world has become a global village. This means that everyone in
the world is connected. The Ecommerce businesses have combined the presence of a worldwide
connection path to the demand for goods and services in different places, to come up with their
business model. This has enabled the business to get higher margins as they can reach a more
comprehensive coverage.
In addition to that, currently, most consumers have access to gadgets such as
Smartphones, computers, and laptops. This, plus the presence of the same internet connection
which provides access to the e-commerce websites, has dramatically benefited individuals as
they no longer have to the physical stores, make long queues to purchase a product. The
consumers are relieved off all that as they can do shopping across different platforms with just
the touch of a button.
Furthermore, e-commerce has brought about a personalized shopping experience.
Customers are getting precisely what they want through personalized digital marketing. Such
marketing tools include advertising, location-based advertising, potential persona and remarking

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 6
and targeted marketing. As a result, once an individual goes online in search of a particular
product or service, they get exactly what they are looking for or even better.
Current status of Ali Express.
With the company being formed less than a decade ago, the company has succeeded in
that it is considered as one of the most profitable companies worldwide. Based on statistics
carried out in Russia, Ali express was the most popular website in the country, while in Brazil it
was ranked as the 10th most visited website. This goes to show that the company has had great
success in different parts of the globe due to it's swift, Advanced, and modern ways of operation.
The fact that the company, alongside other e-commerce businesses, have braved the challenge of
going global by the user of the Internet as the path for connection is quite commendable. It is the
use of this emerging technology platforms that are the vital driving force behind this Trillion-
dollar industry.
Problems facing E-commerce
As much as the E-commerce sector is very vibrant and ever-growing, the industry faces
challenges that are derived from their business operation structures. It is essential to understand
that consumers no longer walk to stores to make their purchases leading to a rise of digitalized
companies. There has been a drastic increase in sales of about $342.96 Billion in 2015 and 600
billion in 2019. Some of these challenges include the lack of a personal touch in the shopping
experience between the client and the seller. A visitor goes to an e-commerce website where they
sign up with their details whether accurate or not. Invalid information such as phone numbers

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 7
and addresses can contribute to losses to the company especially during deliveries. Another
challenge is delivering omnichannel customer experience. Customers can reach a store through
so many channels such as social media sites and websites, and if the business is not well suited
for such, they will lose business opportunities. Another challenge is shopping cart abandonment,
and even big companies leak their sales here. Maintaining client loyalty is another struggle for
both big and small companies. There is very little interaction between the client and the seller;
therefore, no one knows the other and therefore no trust among the two. The lack of an efficient
platform to track the purchases made by customers which would, in turn, translate to predicting
customer behavior.
Artificial Intelligence in E-Commerce.
At the moment, some of the emerging technologies include Artificial intelligence, Big
Rata, and even robotics (DATA, and INTELLIGENCE, 2016). In an industry such as the e-
commerce which is always known to be keen to adopt new technologies, it is interesting how
different companies are researching on these emerging trends and trying to figure out a means of
incorporating the same technological systems to their systems. With the adoption of these
technologies in other sectors, such as the banking industry and health care. It remained to be seen
exactly how the same would be incorporated in another industry and more specifically, the e-
commerce sector.
HOW Ali-express is using E-commerce
Being one of the market leaders in the e-commerce sector, Ali Express has managed to
stay ahead in terms of research and development. This is evidenced by the implementation of
various Artificial intelligence products and functionalities. This is all aimed at creating and

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 8
enhancing user experience and in addition to that, ensuring that the company stays ahead of
competitors in the e-commerce market (Sila, 2013). Some of the ways that Ali-Express has
utilized the use of Artificial intelligence include Use of Chatbots and Customer relationship
management.
Chatbots.
This is the most common use of Artificial intelligence in any Ecommerce business. It is
because for any e-commerce business to succeed, there have to be an efficient means that ensures
all customers have well tailor-made communications with customers. Consequently, it is aimed
at ensuring that customers have 24hour communication, which translates to better customer
support. The chatbots are programmed in a way that they have the ability to answer questions
that customers raise and assist them accordingly. With this in the systems of Ali-Express, the
company can communicate with its prospective customers by ensuring that they can get tailor-
made services at all times across the different continents and in different languages. This ensures
that the company can have more customers.
AI Customer relationship Management.
In any given business, the interactions with the customers are always vital. That is the
reason why most companies invest heavily in the establishment of a good relationship with
customers. This means that it is crucial for any company to ensure that their customers are well
catered for in terms of having tailor-made products and having assistance in any step of their

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 9
purchase. Ali Express has used Artificial intelligence to ensure that their customers can get
suggestions for the products that they are looking for. Ultimately, this means that the customers
are able to compare prices of different products, in addition to examining the various suppliers
and their rates of purchase (Dartnall, 2013).
How Ali-express can Further use AI.
Technological advancements and more specifically, Artificial intelligence has led to the
creation of very many different opportunities for businesses (Barr & Feigenbaum, 2014).
Artificial Intelligence is used to mimic the way a human brain functions and learns through
experience, making it possible for it to understand a wrong and right situation and further
individual patterns. It is important to note that the more data the machines are given, the more
accurate and smarter they become. With the substantial computer resources and access to online
data from the hundreds of thousands consumers Ali express has,it is well-positioned to introduce
practical, real-world AI applications into everyday use. These opportunities are dependent on a
firm's ability to use its resources and their expertise to tailor-make them to ensure customers
have the best experiences at all times. Some of these AI tools include:
Advanced Visual Search Engine
This is whereby the Ecommerce customer can create a search easily by only getting a
picture for a product that they are seeing. This means that even if the products name is unknown
to the customer, by taking a picture of the product, the website can identify the name of the
product and give the exact details of it as per the request by the client (Mitchell & Carbonell,
2013). These details include the brand names, the manufacturer, the price, and even the model of
a particular product. This will be beneficial to the customer as they will be able to get details of
the product even if they don't know quite much about it.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 10
Voice Assistance
This is whereby the website of Ali-Express is supposed to incorporate the use of voice
recognition and assistance in the sale and purchase of different products. The fact that the
company runs in so many countries means that different sellers use different languages in their
product specifications (Gasser & Huhns, 2014). The use of Voice assistants in different
languages is critical for the e-commerce platform because the users will be able to connect with
others easily as well as making it easier for the online shopper experience.
Virtual Reality
This is another aspect of Artificial Intelligence that is strongly common up and needs to
be exploited. Virtual reality is whereby, through the use of virtual reality, gadgets are employed
to enhance people’s experiences in the shopping/e-commerce sector. The aspects that entail the
usability of any technological system include the appearance, ease inaccessibility, and the
general user interface (Wagner, 2009). It is safe to say that in this aspect of Virtual reality,
browsers are a class above the standard browsers. This is because these browsers have easy
content exploration that is enhanced by the effects such as 3D object rendering images,
automation which involves the use of voice command and in general its ability to find finer
details in things with the help of better visual appearance (Tsai, 2018). For an average user, the
ability to immediately learn all the techniques involved in using augmented reality browsers may
be somehow difficult. However, once an individual is exposed to the browsers and gets to learn
how to use them, it becomes way easy. This is because the concept is just the same as the other
standard browsers; however, the only improvements are supposed to create a more actual
perception of what the individual was using the other browsers for.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 11
Conclusion and recommendations.
Artificial Intelligence is quite an interesting topic as it can be incorporated in all our day
to day lives. No matter the sector that one is in, Artificial intelligence is vital in the creation and
the maintenance of quality customer services experience. At the moment, most businesses in the
world are implementing the use of Artificial intelligence, especially in the assessment of
customer behavior and trends. This means that with Artificial intelligence, the business can know
precisely how frequent customers can access their sites, what products they purchase, and what
other products are they likely to obtain as supplementary products.
The case study in this paper, which is Ali-Express, has incorporated some of this in their
systems, and it has worked well for them. For a company which is ranked as one of the very best
E-Commerce sites worldwide, with presence in more than 100 countries across the different
continents, the incorporation of this seems like a bargain. However, the fact that the company is
still facing severe competition in its businesses leads to the need for the business to innovate and
strategize more.Further, the business should try and incorporate newer AI technologies in their
systems. This will help them increase productivity and customer support which will then lead to
increased sales.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 12
List of References
Barr, A. and Feigenbaum, E.A. eds., 2014. The handbook of artificial intelligence (Vol. 2).
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Barr, A. and Feigenbaum, E.A. eds., 2014. The handbook of artificial intelligence (Vol. 2).
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Dartnall, T. ed., 2013. Artificial intelligence and creativity: An interdisciplinary
approach (Vol.17). Springer Science & Business Media.
DATA and INTELLIGENCE, A., 2016. Change and anomaly detection framework for Internet
of
Things data streams.
Gasser, R., and Huhns, M.N., 2014. Distributed artificial intelligence (Vol. 2). Morgan
Kaufmann.
Nilsson, N.J., 2014. Principles of artificial intelligence. Morgan Kaufmann.
Mitchell, R.and Carbonell, T.M., 2013. An artificial intelligence approach. Berlin: Springer.
Russell, S.J., and Norvig, P., 2016. Artificial intelligence: a modern approach. Malaysia;
Pearson
Education Limited
Tsai, C. H., &Huang, J. Y. (2018). Augmented reality display based on user behavior. Computer
Standards & Interfaces, 55, 171-181.