During a 2024 survey, it was found that customer service and support were the leading application of artificial intelligence in ecommerce marketing, named by 37 percent of responding ecommerce marketers from Australia, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States. Data analysis and image generation ranked second, both mention by 36 percent of respondents.

In 2023, close to six out of ten global industry decision-makers had already integrated generative artificial intelligence to generate product recommendations utilized by associates in physical stores. Meanwhile, 39 percent were in the process of evaluating its adoption. Moreover, 55 percent employed generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop conversational digital shopping assistants, 52 percent utilized it for constructing virtual models for product pages, and 51 percent applied it to curate personalized product bundles.

AI-driven personalization Utilizing artificial intelligence to craft personalized shopping experiences has become a cornerstone strategy for e-commerce retailers. In 2023, nine of ten businesses surveyed worldwide employed AI-driven personalization to fuel growth. To measure the success of AI in personalization, companies primarily look at the accuracy and speed of real-time data alongside metrics like customer retention and repeat purchases. As AI technologies advance, the potential for increasingly refined and impactful personalization within e-commerce will expand even further.

The consumer experience AI helps e-commerce businesses understand and respond to consumers' preferences, needs, and behaviors. One crucial area of online shopping where people anticipate AI improvements is price comparison, as indicated by half of the participants in a 2023 survey. Consequently, consumers are eager to uncover relevant promotions, offers, and products. However, the swift pace of these advancements also breeds skepticism among online shoppers, especially among older demographics, many of whom express discomfort with this technology's use for personalization.

An October 2020 survey revealed that 70 percent of e-commerce decision makers in North America and Europe believed AI would help their business with personalization in 2021. Additionally, 54 percent of the executives surveyed hoped AI would help with their site search. Just four percent of respondents did not think AI would help their company.

In 2023, 42 percent of consumers familiar with generative AI in online shopping used chatbots to resolve post-purchase queries. Other popular uses of generative AI in e-commerce included tailored loyalty programs, automated summaries of product reviews, user-generated social media posts, and real-time query responses from chatbots.

In 2023, e-commerce professionals from European companies believed artificial intelligence (AI) could support their businesses for various activities. 56 percent of them saw great potential in the collection and analysis of customer data and behavior. Dynamic pricing followed with 48 percent of answers, while personalization ranked third at 47 percent.

As a new technology in the field of e-commerce, French online retailers are implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) measures into their businesses to improve their online activites in 2019. In order to do so, the most important use of AI for the automation and robotization of online measures was the automation of responses to the consumers, stated as paramount by 25 percent of retailers. The robotization of shipments was also considered as important by 54 percent of respondents.

According to a survey conducted in Australia from June to July 2023, around 15 percent of businesses surveyed selling partially or wholly online said they use artificial intelligence (AI) to draft web content and to provide product recommendations to customers. Several businesses reported currently not using AI technologies to support their e-commerce activities, but around 43 percent of these businesses indicated they would be open to using AI in the future.

In the United States, one in three business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations fully included AI-based technologies in their e-commerce operations, a 2023 survey showed. Another 47 percent of professionals answered their companies are experimenting with artificial intelligence tools.

A 2024 survey conducted in Sweden showed some positive effects among businesses that have already implemented the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Around 31 percent of businesses perceived more effective marketing by utilizing AI, while about 30 percent believed that it led to cost savings. Similarly, approximately 27 percent noticed that internal processes got more efficient.

The statistic depicts the opinion French e-commerce merchants have regarding new emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), as an evolutionary business aspect in 2019. It appears that none of the respondents found the new technology to be useless. Even so, almost 67 percent of the businesses perceived them as essential or very useful (18.5 percent). Almost 15 percent found them to be useful.

In the United Kingdom (UK), a survey conducted in 2023 shows that almost 50 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations are experimenting AI-based technologies in their e-commerce operations. Around a quarter of professionals answered their companies have already fully implemented this technology, and about 20 percent are still evaluating its usage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) usage in Australian online shopping is growing, with around three in 10 businesses across the country having already implemented AI technologies in their e-commerce operations, according to a 2023 survey. Only six percent of Australian e-commerce businesses expressed no intentions to use AI in their operations, with the remaining businesses in the evaluation or experimentation stages.   

Is Australia’s e-commerce market thriving?

While Australians love to shop in-store, the country’s e-commerce market is slowly but surely expanding. Forecasts show that the share of revenue from digital channels in Australia will continue to increase in the coming years as more consumers turn to online channels to make purchases. In 2024, Australia’s e-commerce landscape is set to enter a new era due to several innovations in the digital shopping world, including the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual and augmented reality (VR) technologies, the expansion of social commerce, advanced payment solutions, and data-driven personalization. 

Embracing AI in Australian online shopping

The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize shopping experiences has become increasingly evident in recent years. In turn, an increasing number of Australian e-commerce organizations have begun optimizing their daily operations using AI. According to a 2023 survey conducted in Australia, around 15 percent of businesses selling partially or wholly online had started using AI to draft web content such as product descriptions, web copy, and social media posts and provide personalized product recommendations to their customers. These are just a few of the applications of AI in e-commerce, with marketing and customer experience professionals in Australia and New Zealand recognizing generative AI’s potential to optimize future online shopping interactions by identifying new audiences and customer journeys.

In 2023, one in two B2B e-commerce companies with annual revenue over 100 million U.S. dollars used artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize prices of products or services. Another 45 percent of them used AI tools to automate product recommendations. Site search on B2B e-commerce sites was the third-most common use of artificial intelligence and machine learning among big B2B organizations.

In Germany, a survey conducted in 2023 shows that almost 50 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations are experimenting AI-based technologies in their e-commerce operations. Around 30 percent of professionals answered their companies have already fully implemented artificial intelligence tools, and less than 20 percent are still evaluating its usage.

According to a 2023 survey conducted in Thailand, 22 percent of the respondents stated that they used artificial intelligence (AI) for customer services such as a chatbot in their e-commerce businesses. Additionally, another 20 percent utilized AI for developing business models.

In Canada, a survey shows that around 40 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations are experimenting AI-based technologies in their e-commerce operations. About 30 percent of professionals answered their companies have already fully implemented the artificial intelligence tools, while a little over a quarter of companies are still evaluating its usage.

As of September 2024, more than 42 percent of respondents in China who used large AI models said that in the e-commerce segment, they were most looking forward to the application of large AI models for smart e-commerce services. Overall, around 36 percent of respondents were expecting large AI model utilization in the e-commerce field.

In 2024, three out of four consumers familiar with the use of generative AI for online shopping expressed concerns about bias in these models leading to embarrassing results. Other key concerns included the impersonation of individuals to provide false testimonials or reviews, and the potential use of deep fakes to create content, among other issues.

The statistic shows the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in product and service development among e-commerce enterprises in Thailand in 2018, broken down by purpose. In that year, around 69.23 percent of e-commerce enterprises used AI for implementing chat bots and handling customer relationship management.

In Brazil, a survey shows that almost 60 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations are experimenting AI-based technologies in their e-commerce operations. Around 20 percent of professionals answered their companies have already fully implemented the artificial intelligence tools, while a quarter of companies are still evaluating its usage.