AI Is Re-Shaping E-Commerce. Here’s How To Use It To Free Your Time And Focus On Growth

It’s not easy to be an e-commerce entrepreneur today. “This economy is becoming more difficult, especially for Amazon selling,” says Gary Huang, a veteran e-commerce entrepreneur and founder of the 7 Figure Seller Summit, a free online event from June 10-12, 2024. “It’s the markets maturing. It’s not as much of a land grab as it was before. Sales growth rates are flat this year.”

Enter AI. Many people who run e-commerce businesses, or want to start one, are dabbling in AI to leave behind low-value, repetitive work and improve profitability at a time of heightened competition. The global e-commerce market is expected to grow from $5.8 trillion to more than $8 trillion by 2027, according to market research firm Statista. As Shopify put it in a recent report on e-commerce trends, “Being agile has never been more important.”

But using AI is not as easy as it sounds, given the abundance of new tools to sort through, the flood of information coming from all sides, and the learning curve, notes Huang

So how do you put AI to work for you? Here are some ideas Huang shared on how you can use it.

Smarter pricing: Many sellers are afraid to raise their prices because they feel that they’ll lose their rank or competitors will undercut them, says Huang. AI can help. For instance, Prophecy, an AI-powered tool, can help you optimize your pricing on Amazon. “Think of it like Uber surge pricing, based on the demand for the product,” explains Huang. “It will find the optimal price for you, whether your goal is improved profitability or a higher ranking.”

More efficient market research: One AI-powered tool, Helium 10, lets you study a competitor’s listing and use the “review insights” feature to get ideas on how to compete. “Let’s say they have 1,000 reviews, ” says Huang. “The old way, you would have to manually go through 20 pages of reviews looking for two-star, three-star and four-star reviews and look for what customers are complaining about. That’s how you can find opportunities to improve products. Now you can use those tools to download the reviews and upload them into chatGPT. chatGPT can quickly tell you the biggest problems with your competitor’s listing.”

Better split-testing: This allows you to compare two options, such as two versions of an ad or web page, to see what customers like best. Intellivy, an AI-powered market research tool, lets you split-test your product, images and copywriting, against your competitors in front of a real shopping audience. “Think of it as a focus group that’s done online, ” says Huang. “They can get real data on what some customers think about your product, what they like, and what is preventing them from buying.” You can also use it to evaluate dozens of customer polls. “It can instantly tell you what the biggest trends and product weaknesses are,” he says.

DIY product design: This is a multi-step process, and Huang hasn’t found a product that tackles them all. However, after doing your market research, you can use Midjourney with GPT-4 to do mockups, says Huang. Say you want to design a monster truck toy. “One quick hack for a layperson to use it is to do what I call a reverse prompt with chatGPT,” says Huang. “So with the monster truck analogy, you can take your competitor’s listing of the monster truck, and then you can upload it into GPT-4 and say, “I want to create a prompt in Midjourney to generate an even better kids’ monster truck toy splashing through water to demonstrate its waterproof-ability and make it attractive to kids and their parents.” You can take the prompt that results and put it into MidJourney to get the desired result, says Huang.

Improved profitability: Storing goods for a long time in a warehouse can cost you a lot. “Amazon doesn’t like their fulfillment centers used as a storage warehouse,” says Huang. ” So smart sellers use good inventory management systems, often tied to their ecommerce software, reducing tedious tasks. “AI is a great way for sellers to do more with less to save time and to become more productive,” says Huang. “I’m not saying that AI can replace humans 100% But the trend is AI has become a tool you can use with your team. It can save time if you know how to use it properly.”