The world of retail shopping has undergone a complete transformation in the last two decades. An increasing number of retail customers are now preferring to make complete their purchases online, and retailers are also gearing up to cash in on this trend. With the online retail industry touted to cross $5.4 trillion soon, it is evident that millions of new customers will join the eCommerce bandwagon and offer incredible opportunities for retailers.
Apart from the actual transaction, both pre-sale and after-sale customer servicing activities are now also being powered through the latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). With over 90% of retail enterprises being ready and willing to train their employees to work with AI, the future of conversational AI and retail will certainly be deeply intertwined. But what is the need for conversational AI? What is its importance for the retail industry? Let’s discuss this latest technology and its implications for businesses.
How Conversational AI Improves Retail Output
Tasks such as placing orders, returning orders, tracking packages, or raising issues can be efficiently handled through AI-powered chatbots. This is the reason that experts predict 200% growth in retail sales from conversational AI. Let’s explore the different ways in which companies are leveraging conversational AI in retail:
- Round-the-clock support: – Intense competition in the retail space means that customer care teams must be ready 24×7 to tackle all customer requests. As it is not possible to deploy actual human teams around the clock, companies are using conversational AI to handle any tickets raised beyond standard working hours. AI-powered chatbots can lead self-service interactions to reduce the need for support representatives. These chatbots continuously learn and become better with every transaction.
- Expedite repetitive tasks: – Standard tasks like tracking a package or asking for a return can be efficiently managed by Conversational AI-powered chatbots. This helps reduce the pressure on the customer support execs, who can then focus on tasks that are not suitable for automation. AI leverages previous data and upgrades the algorithms to enable conversational chatbots to handle customer queries as per the specified limitations.
- Save time and money: – Conversational AI has been powering chatbots that have helped businesses save more than $11 billion annually. For small to mid-sized corporations, these savings can be the difference between success and failure. By reducing the need for support executives for routine tasks, AI-powered chatbots help companies ensure optimal utilization of their resources. As the pressure on executives is reduced, they are better focused on their primary task of ensuring excellent customer experiences.
- Data Aggregation and Analysis: – Conversational AI-powered chatbots also help with data aggregation and data analysis efforts. These chatbots act as touchpoints for customers in multiple instances where they collect as much data as possible. After running a careful analysis, management can then use the insights drawn from the data for informed decision-making.
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Leading Conversational AI Platforms
Mentioned here are some of the leading conversational AI platforms that can be used by retail enterprises to power their customer experiences: –
- SAP Conversational AI: – SAP conversational AI is an extremely powerful platform that helps with the seamless integration of AI-powered chatbots with businesses. Equipped with NLP technology, these chatbots can chat with customers just like a normal human instead of using standard robot-like responses.
- KAI: – It is a leading conversational AI platform that is dedicated to the financial services and banking sector. This AI-powered chatbot is able to answer most customer queries in quick time. This chatbot comes equipped with financial skills and knowledge and works as a virtual assistant for customers.
- Kore.ai: – It is a prominent conversational AI platform that is dedicated to enterprises that value customer service as a key function. This platform enables companies to design, test, create and deploy AI-powered chatbots for enhanced consumer satisfaction and better employee experiences. This technology can be deployed for enterprises across domains.
How are companies using conversational AI?
Here are a few prominent examples that highlight various ways in which corporations are using conversational AI: –
- Watson Assistant: – It is one of the leading conversational AI-powered chatbots that has an impeccable record of completing simple transactions, connecting customers with reps, and answering basic questions. This chatbot has helped companies reduce their customer handling times by up to 10%.
- Automat.ai: – It is a leading conversational AI platform with amazing NLP skills that helps it understand every customer perfectly. The in-built product recommendation engine delivers personalized suggestions to power superior shopping experiences.
Intelligent chatbots powered by the latest AI algorithms are touted to play a crucial role in boosting the efficiency of customer support interactions. Conversational AI for retail enterprises can help with streamlining processes, handling mundane tasks, getting rid of unproductive tasks, and enabling executives and customers to have meaningful interactions.
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