Conversational AI eCommerce: The Future of Retail is Here

The retail landscape has changed significantly in the last few years due to increased demand for self-service options, the digitization of shopping, shifts in consumer buying behavior, and increased competition between online and brick-and-mortar operations. Consumers today want to engage with your brand 24/7, have generally low attention spans, prefer to shop mobile-first, and tend to use peer recommendations, and online research methods before making purchases. Customer service teams are thus spread thin trying to answer product questions, performing exchanges, helping customers find the nearest store, and providing order tracking information. Kore.ai retail bots are transforming the way companies handle customer inquiries by providing comprehensive and consistent service anytime, anywhere. Our eCommerce chatbots platform can even be integrated with virtually any IVR system.

To stay competitive and top-of-mind, it’s imperative that brands utilize conversational AI for consumer goods and keep their customers up-to-date on the latest releases, the newest collections, and the hottest trends. Conversational AI in retail is helping to redefine and replace traditional marketing methods. Instead of sending promotional emails and nurturing customers through pre-defined flows, brands can use chatbots to promote products in real time in a way that is more trendy, casual, and conversational. Our bots provide personalized shopping experiences and make it easier than ever for customers to find and purchase your products with conversational AI for eCommerce.

Retailers are increasingly using Kore.ai retail virtual assistants to process orders across digital channels. Customers can, for example, easily order products by chatting with a retail virtual assistant bot and entering personal details like name, telephone number, billing address, and payment method. Customers can then complete the checkout process directly within the app or channel of their choice or be redirected to a dedicated checkout page. Our bots can even be used to send personalized promotions and offers based on past purchases and customer requests.

Kore.ai’s retail virtual assistants help customers keep track of their purchases and shipped orders by reducing the number of steps needed to get this information. A customer can, for example, simply chat with a virtual assistant and learn the status of a purchase in a matter of seconds or use the bot to find the nearest store by entering their zip code or address.

Growing demand for self-service and drastic changes in the habits of consumers, particularly the rise in mobile shopping, have forced retailers to constantly re-think and re-imagine the online and offline customer experience. Kore.ai retail AI shopping assistants can easily be embedded into every customer touch-point as shopping assistants – ensuring customers always have access to the most up-to-date information and that they have streamlined, branded experiences both in-store and online. Our shopping assistant chatbots can both drive traffic to stores, such as through the use of push notifications and coupons, and drive more sales when in the store through self-service customer support, item location assistance, along with right-time, right-fit offers at the point of sale.

The holiday season is vital for many online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Some retailers estimate that they make as much as 30% of their yearly sales during this period alone. Online sales bots built with Kore.ai help customers more easily find the items they are looking for, compare prices, and make the best purchasing decision. They can also be used to deliver highly targeted seasonal offers and to educate customers on current and upcoming holiday promotions.