AI Marketing: The Future of Retail

By Apac CIO Outlook | Tuesday, January 09, 2018

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact on the retail sector in interpreting big data to be used as a marketing tool. Digital marketers need to leverage AI to generate a comprehensive understanding of the target audience to boost campaign performance and return on investment. Through machine learning platforms, AI utilizes big data or large data sets to identify customer trends. Such platforms can identify insightful concepts and themes with the help of algorithms in a quick and efficient manner. “These platforms are able to understand open form content like social media, natural language, and email responses,” explains Lisa Manthei, marketing communications manager, Emarsys. This ensures that customized messages are sent to the concerned person at a specific time and channel.

In marketing, AI is leveraged to gain insights into consumer search engine patterns and help marketers identify critical areas to focus on. Marketers can deliver smarter advertisements, tailored to a brand’s target audience. Advertisement content can be based on a customer’s keyword searches, social profile, and other online data. Further, the target audiences can be separated by common attributes and interests to deliver content at an individual consumer level for both existing and potential clients. Additionally, AI’s role in marketing extends to customer service and retention. For instance, chatbots provides direct-to-consumer channels in a more efficient and effective manner due to learning algorithms, while at the same time reducing the strain on human resources.