An AI multiagent shopping system where system is fed with various product details. The system allows user to register and enter his details about a particular product. The system records all the details provided by user and checks for various items matching his search. The system comes up with a list of items best suited for user needs. The system also suggests other related items that the user may like. The system suggests these items which are likely to be bought by the user based on his previous requirements. The system handles multiple users at a time and provides accurate results.[1]

Figure 1. The AI Shopping system in online

Figure 1 shows Artificial intelligence allows for quicker decision making, providing profound and detailed insights when retailers need them the most. To add, machine learning (as one of the AI applications) helps to identify the customers’ typical shopping patterns to make personalized offerings.[2]

The Large Retail Chains

• AI-based Shelf Monitoring – AI solutions like ShelfWatch can be used to ensure that shelves are replenished on time and the most basic OOS losses don’t take place. Having a product in-store inventory and a customer not being able to buy it due to delays or mistakes in restocking is the most basic problem retailers should start addressing with AI.
• Forecasting – New, more accurate AI-based forecasting methods can predict demand for various products depending on weather, holidays, government policies, locality, and other variables that influence sales. Better forecasting avoids not just OOS due to stock shortage but also improves the bottom line by avoiding overstocking.

The Small Retailers

• Payment Infrastructure – POS systems and credit card machines are a big cost for many mom-and-pop stores as well. An AI + cloud enabled POS system could make such technology ubiquitous.
• Self-Checkout – While RFID-based self-checkout systems are being tried on by supermarket retailers so that shoppers spend time shopping and not in a billing queue, for relatively small retailers, such expenses are not possible. AI will bridge the gap as a combination of cloud and image recognition can be used for self-checkouts.

The Supply Chain Players

• Automatic Warehouses - Image Recognition and Robotics can automate and speed up the working of warehouses. They can perform automatic sifting according to requirements of individual stores and creating delivery parcels ready to be picked up.

The Customers

• Better Products: AI can be used to analyse product usage to create more ergonomic and useful versions of products. A short explainer video can be found here.
• Better Prices: AI can process product purchase data and optimize production/retail inventories to make sure customers get the best prices. The pricing, design processes are still chiefly intuition-based and there are experts that design product/marketing campaigns. The more purchase/customer usage/customer behaviour data is available and processed by AI, the more effective these campaigns are going to become.[3]

AI in the future of online shopping: Striking a balance

COVID accelerated consumer acceptance of new ways to shop. This is just the start of using AI and ML in retail. As consumers start to use and enjoy the features already on the market, they will start to expect these features to work together.

For example, a home renovator might want to change the color of their walls and carpeting. Being able to visualize the change in a fully augmented reality view helps them make better decisions based how the products do or don’t complement one another. Switching over to apparel, a retailer might want customers to virtually try on an entire outfit to better cross sell and reduce returns.[4]

References:

1. https://nevonprojects.com/ai-multi-agent-shopping-system/
2. https://chisw.com/ai-in-retail/
3. https://www.indianretailer.com/article/technology/digital-trends/ai-is-the-future-of-retail.a6927/
4. https://www.the-future-of-commerce.com/2021/07/01/future-of-online-shopping-ai-and-machine-learning/

Cite this article:

Thanusri swetha J (2021), AI Shopping System, Anatechmaz, pp. 33