Summary
The eCommerce industry is constantly evolving and increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into its operations and development.
According to recent estimates, AI will manage 95% of all customer interactions by 2025.
Following the pandemic, many companies have agreed to implement AI-enabled warehouse solutions to raise warehouse performance.
Read this article to discover why AI is a warehouse gamechanger for e-commerce firms.
Written for:
- Warehouse Automation Manager:
To oversee and implement security operations, ensure effective and safe warehouse equipment utilization.
- Operations Specialist:
Can look over the business operations, handles the organizational workflow, and shape up the day-to-day warehouse activities.
- Business Strategist:
establish an internal standard to accomplish the annual goals, guides the workforce. Initiates strategic and cost leadership design for the organization’s advancement.
Growth of eCommerce with artificial intelligence – an introduction
Today, artificial intelligence is becoming the prior technology for almost all the vertical, especially for the warehouse, distribution centers, and logistics industries. The noteworthy reason to choose AI-based technology is to perform all the operations by itself once trained with comprehensive datasets. With a better understanding of AI’s capabilities, major corporations have started to use AI-models to automate their work areas.
At present, online eCommerce has transformed exponentially by utilizing a customer-centric approach to cater the consumer a high-level user experience, customer satisfaction, and a positive reputation. Several businesses have opted to combine eCommerce and artificial intelligence (AI) to boost efficiency and cut costs by recognizing this strategy’s value.
How is AI revamping the eCommerce warehouse industry?
The deployment of AI permits the warehouse verticals to become increasingly agile and market-oriented. We can strengthen the last-mile optimization by enabling AI into the warehouse and logistics sectors. According to the recent pool, the online purchase rate would increase by up to 65 percent in the coming years. To customize the shopping wiser the eCommerce organizations are working to give personalized offers to the customers who purchase the same brand multiple times.
Here are three primary AI applications that improve the eCommerce shopping experience:
Chatbots
A computer program built to develop a conversation with people through text message on an instant messaging platform, typically on the internet. These chatbots primarily use NLP (natural language processing) and advanced machine learning algorithms to understand and respond to the conversation.
Online eCommerce merchants use chatbots to provide consumers with round-the-clock assistance via their websites. Customers may use their language to place orders and search for related products. Implementing AI-enabled chatbots is to communicate with customers and provide them with relevant answers to their queries.
The following are some of the most significant advantages of allowing chatbots on the website:
- Improved customer experience and interaction
- Ability to comprehend customers’ expectations and requirements based on search analytics
- Can generate potential customers
- Improves your company by streamlining a seamless client journey
- It takes up a lot of time and resources.
Product recommendation powered by AI:Â By developing personalized product recommendations based on customers’ search and purchase behavior, we can uplift eCommerce sales. Some of the benefits of using AI-powered product recommendations are:
- High-level sales and customer retention
- The tailored shopping experience for customers
- Customized business email campaigns
- Can uplift the number of returning customers
AI-enabled inventory management:
Inventory management is an integral part of the supply chain management system, and this includes handling various processes right from receiving the order request from the customers to delivering the product to the customers’ doorstep. We can promptly generate real-time order request data, dimensional information, and in-stock product details by allowing AI in the eCommerce warehouse.
Top 3 AI-enabled automation solutions that could revolutionize eCommerce warehouses
For eCommerce verticals, warehouse automation is a must-have requirement. Some features, such as same-day and one-day delivery, have sparked a massive buzz among customers, resulting in a daily influx of large online order requests. To ensure a seamless transition, the warehouse must install AI-powered technologies that are ideal for the company.
The robust gains of adopting AI-enabled warehouse automation include:
- Expanded precision
- Boosts operational efficiency
- Reduced risk of human injury
- Quick stocking and retrieval
- Lessens labor costs
Automated dimensioning systems:
Size plays a decisive role in the warehouse industry. By estimating the exact size information, we can optimize the warehouse for future-readiness. The AI-enabled automated dimensioning systems installed in the warehouse measure the dimensional information of varied size and shape products.
These automated dimensioners are classified into parcel and pallet dimensioners. The parcel dimensioners help measure dimensional details of parcels, cartons, individual boxes. The pallet dimensioner, also known as the freight dimensioner, calculates the dimensional data and DIM weight of large-sized parcels, containers, and pallets in less than a second. With this dimensioning technology, we can synchronize other devices such as label printers, barcode scanners, weighing scales, and WMS/ERP software applications.
The markable perks of placing AI-enabled automated dimensioning systems include:
- Shortened hand-operated errors
- boosted productivity
- broadened precision and accuracy
- Can optimize warehouse space
- Enhanced future capacity planning
- Increased slotting and cartonization
- Reduces pointless shipping costs
Autonomous mobile robots and automated guided vehicles:
Autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and automated guided vehicles (AGV) are the two AI-enabled technology introduced in the warehouse industry to lessen various hand-operated operations. The AGV helps lift and move large items from one location to another, and it navigates by following wires or the long marked lines. Autonomous mobile robots are AI-enabled intelligent robots that can navigate the warehouse and perform various tasks without human intervention.
Drone technology:
Drones are AI-enabled flying robots deployed in warehouses to perform tasks like moving packages to different locations inside the warehouse, anomaly detection, roof, and floor inspection. Furthermore, this drone technology is capable of handling many inventory records at once. Increased reliability and performance, enhanced return on investments, lowers the risk of labor accidents and produces accurate inventory records are just a few of the advantages of deploying AI-enabled drone technology.
Conclusion
In the coming days, AI-powered systems would change warehouses and fulfillment centers’ architecture. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now poised to alter the game once more.eCommerce has always been a disruptor in the marketplace. It first shook the brick-and-mortar industry, pushing physical stores to reconsider their business models. Then, on the back of technological advancements like eWallets and smartphone applications, eCommerce companies attempted to reinvent the game to keep customers interested and satisfied.
vMeasure – An AI-based automated dimensioning system
vMeasure automated dimensioning solution built from scratch to replace the conventional dimensioning method. These automated dimensioners effectively calibrate the dimensional data like length, breadth, height, and width of various shape products in less than two seconds. Besides, we can sync-up other types of equipment like weighing scales, barcode scanners, label printers, and WMS and ERP software.
