For the past few months, SEO experts have been trying to understand the impact of the mass adoption of AI tools such as AI-powered copywriters (eg Lex and ChatGPT) and how it will affect their lives. You need to rethink strategies and take into account all these advantages of AI tools, but make sure that humanized experiences prevail.
And as if that’s not enough to worry about, there’s more: Google Cloud just rolled out new features that also rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to help retail websites.
This function package is called «Discovery AI for Retail» and is designed so that e-commerce sites can offer a more personalized experience in search results and Google recommendations within their properties. The main goals of these solutions are to reduce search abandonment, improve the shopping experience and increase conversion.
I want you to notice that I mentioned «within their properties». It is so. I’m not referring to SERP results, I’m literally referring to the browsing experience that can be offered on e-commerce sites themselves.
How is this supposed to work? Let me explain everything you need to know.
Improved shopping experience
Google Cloud announced the launch of these features on January 13, noting that this suite of solutions offers a significant improvement in the shopping experience through features such as:
- Image attributes to help product search.
- Understanding user behavior through previous browsing experiences.
A very potential scenario is that consumers can find more personalized product lists that are more aligned with their real expectations than what we usually see today: product lists that are much more aligned with business needs and conveniently labeled as «best sellers» or product collections are due to seasonality, seasonal changes, etc. Something that does not always represent what the user wants to buy.
Product recommendations are also presented more dynamically, which can be much more effective and consequently increase sales opportunities. Consideration Macy’s case which already uses the solution and offers its customers more individual experiences in the online store.
Inventory control based on artificial intelligence
Another big topic that Google Cloud includes in its AI offerings is «shelf control.»
Last Friday, the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai posted on his Twitter that one of these new AI-powered features also «uses machine learning models to identify billions of products based on visual and textual characteristics, helping retailers verify their inventory on store shelves.»
On the same day, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Google Cloud has indicated that this feature should be available in the coming months. Reinforcing Pichai’s contribution, he also explained that the algorithm will be able to detect and verify the availability of packaged products still on the shelves through images captured by cameras installed in physical warehouses.
This would solve the current problem for merchants who currently have to do this manually with poor security for availability updates that are not always real-time.
