Retailers already know: the five most anticipated days of the year are coming and to make Black Friday the 13th month of 2024, it will not only take advance in the preparation of their sites against the slowness, the absence of a good history of landing pages and trend searches made last minute.We are facing a Black Friday that promises to be a game changer, in terms of effective application of artificial intelligence by companies. In a recent event, directors of Google Brazil stated that the use of AI to optimize processes has everything to leverage this year's edition, including.
Let's think about some possibilities of using technology and how they can benefit sellers and their businesses, thinking about the entire customer journey within e-commerce. There are several steps that the consumer goes through until they reach the checkout, and how companies optimize each of them makes a difference in the short and long term, considering that the great interest of brands is loyalty. AI is a tool that can facilitate this journey from end to end, as we will see below.
Real-time demand forecast
Using the tool can avoid one of the problems that most afflict retailers in times of high demand: lack of inventory.With AI, demand forecasting happens in real time, ensuring the replenishment of products.
According to a McKinsey study, AI-based demand forecasting can reduce inventory costs by 10% to 40%. Brands like Walmart already report saving billions of dollars by optimizing their supply chains with technology.
Greater personalization in the offers
Trend research is also a crucial aspect on Black Friday, which requires SEO to pay close attention to consumer habits to anticipate demand.It is from this that the company is able to prepare its inventory strategically for the period. This move is not new for retailers that every year keep an eye on what is on the rise.
However, when we talk about generative AI, it allows us to analyze large amounts of customer data, such as purchase history, surveys and demographic information, creating highly personalized offers, based on browsing habits, and suggesting much more accurate results.
Fast landing page generation and instant pricing
To increase conversion and lead generation, the creation of landing pages is also a fundamental element. And good returns are proportional to the volume of pages created.With AI, it is possible to optimize this creation process automatically, generating a huge number of pages in a short time. And to optimize competitiveness, AI also allows prices to adjust instantly.
Efficiency in customer support and fraud protection
In addition to possible logistical bottlenecks and other issues I exposed above, one of the great challenges of Black Friday is definitely managing orders and providing efficient customer support. Reports of overloaded and stressed teams that result in problems in the consumer buying journey are common, which ends up frustrated and often giving up the product.
The good news is that AI chatbots handle bulk requests much more quickly, ensuring a higher level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.And you, the retailer, should remember that great service and efficient problem-solving channel will bear fruit beyond November.
Another constant headache for both buyers and sellers is the fraud attempts that only increase in the country. On Black Friday 2023, they added up to R$ 10 million, according to Clearsale data. And although AI has been an instrument for scams, it can also offer protection against them. Generative AI algorithms are able to preserve the revenue of retailers, by identifying risk situations and deviations of patterns in transactions that suggest profiles or counterfeit products, thus preventing the occurrence of fraud.
Automated checkout and shorter waiting time
Finally, we arrived at the checkout. Many customers abandon carts because of the slow queues at the payment stage. Data from a survey conducted by Salescycle in 2021 revealed that more than 80% of users abandon the online cart. Investing in automated checkout systems can solve this problem, speeding up the purchase process and reducing waiting time.
In short, betting on AI improves real-time decisions for sellers, simplifies product search, personalizes experiences and speeds up checkout for buyers. And remember to take lessons this year, because AI is a path of no return. We can expect an application of technology in Black Friday 2025 even faster, which will raise competitiveness among retailers to another level.