How Can an AI-Powered E-commerce Platform Help D2C Brands in Driving Revenue and Improving Efficiencies This BFCM?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are perhaps the biggest retail events in the annals of online shopping. If the numbers by Deloitte are to be believed, the average spends during BFCM last year were $430.

The writing is on the wall: customers' online retail experience is improving by the day, making them want to shop more. At the heart of it, orchestrating excellent customer experiences while shopping is artificial intelligence.

By way of intelligent product recommendations and aiding customers throughout their shopping journey, artificial intelligence is a big help for eCommerce. It helps brands sell more.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday events are when customers go on a shopping spree. Retailers must be prepared to provide them with the best shopping experience they've had so far.

Let’s see how artificial intelligence can help D2C brands drive revenue and improve efficiency during the biggest shopping festival of the year.

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Change Your Game This BFCM with the Power of AI

The retail sector is no stranger to the gifts of technology. In fact, it is retail that has benefitted the most from the digital transformation and artificial intelligence:

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Managing Big Data

Digital transformation has converted everything into collectable data. The retail industry gathers multiple types of data by the million bytes every single day:

• Consumer shopping behaviour
• The websites a consumer has visited
• The competitor products a consumer is viewing
• When a consumer is shopping the most, and what they are shopping for

A lot of such data is available for retail brands to gather online. Artificial intelligence helps companies make sense of this data by condensing it into actionable insights.

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Analytics, Prediction, Forecasting

Another important way in which artificial intelligence can change the game for a retail brand is through analytics.

Gathering big data isn’t enough – companies need to be able to do something with it. Analysis of this data helps them understand how best to poise their brand for maximum sales.

Artificial Intelligence also helps with the prediction of trending items that fly off the shelves so that inventory can be stocked up accordingly. This is really helpful for the BFCM season.

In addition to predictions, AI also helps forecast the demand for goods to maintain optimum inventory levels.

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3 Simple Ways in Which AI Boosts BFCM Revenues

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the times in a retailer’s business growth that can help the brand slingshot into high profitability practically overnight.

In addition to providing data management and predictive capabilities to online retailers, artificial intelligence helps the industry boost revenues in the three major ways discussed below.

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1. Personalize the Shopping Experience

In a case study published by Adthena, fashion retailer River Island was able to boost its sales by 82% during Black Friday year-on-year using artificial intelligence. One of the capabilities it offered was personalizing customers' shopping experiences.

As a matter of fact, customers shop more if they see things they would want to purchase but don’t know they want to yet. For example, if you shop for a pack of instant coffee, the AI algorithm would recommend products like coffee mugs, coffee-table books, and 3-in-1 mixes or other blends by the same brand for you to consider adding to your cart.

This helps increase the average order value. When applied to Black Friday and paired with irresistible deals, these personalized recommendations go a long way in boosting revenues.

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2. Convert Indecisive Shoppers

When shopping for gifts, customers have the habit of changing their minds frequently. The indecisiveness is part and parcel of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales; customers want to wait for the best offers or spend time comparing. In order to convert these consumers to paying and loyal customers, AI can help immensely.

By stitching together a seamless, cross-channel, multichannel customer journey, the AI engines can reduce customer churn and cart abandonment by a great deal. By making the shopping experience seamless and personalized, your brand is taking away the consumer’s chance to walk out of the door.

Include personalized, relevant recommendations at each touchpoint, enable as many payment options and methods as possible, allow shopping through social media or instant messaging, etc.

Artificial Intelligence has the capability to bring everything together and choreograph a cohesive, connected customer journey and convert as many leads as possible.

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3. Remarketing and Customer Retention

Artificial Intelligence has extremely advantageous applications in retargeting churned customers.

During Black Friday, it is easy to lose customers to competing brands owing to a high volume of attractive deals. In this scenario, artificial intelligence uses customer profiling and preference, targeting customers that abandoned their carts.

AI-enabled tools help retailers send personalized remarketing emails to churned customers with customized offers and discounts to help brands get them back. AI also helps deliver highly well-knit experiences to customers to enhance retention and promote brand loyalty.

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Wrapping Up

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be the biggest sales events of the year. However, in the digital age, if a retailer isn't backed with AI-powered tools, capitalizing on this shopper volume may prove to be extremely challenging.

Enable your eCommerce business with the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and boost your sales, revenues, and operational efficiencies during BFCM.