[[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article","articleBody":"In today\u2019s competitive markets, B2B companies must constantly look for ways to go above and beyond what their peers have to offer. Many are using AI in B2B e-commerce to leap ahead.\nIn fact, AI is fast becoming critical for business survival. Ritu Jyoti, program vice president, \u00a0artificial intelligence at IDC, says, \u201ccompanies will adopt AI \u2014 not just because they can, but because they must.\u201d\nAccording to IDC, global spending on AI is predicted to\u00a0double within the next four years, growing from $50.1 billion in 2020 to a forecasted $110 billion in 2024.\nAI in e-commerce: Solving tough problems\nWholesale distributors and other B2B organizations are increasingly using intelligent technology to interpret data at scale and identify real solutions to business problems in order to support customer loyalty and revenue growth.\nLeveraging machine learning, AI can help analytically, practically, or even creatively, in contrast to the mechanical feeling of traditional automation.\n \nBest examples of B2B e-commerce: Companies winning the game\n B2B buyers have changed. How are companies keeping up? Here are five brands that provide shining examples of B2B e-commerce. \nB2B organizations have rich sources of data around their products, their customers, and the interaction between them. Tapping into those sources, machine learning technologies can adapt to new situations as they are encountered, learning from the data in real-time to make a positive impact on the business, in a way no human can.\nUsing AI in e-commerce can help solve complex business challenges with greater ease and speed by allowing companies to:\nEnhance customer experiences\nMake better business decisions\nReduce costs and increase efficiency\nAccelerate time to value\nFour use cases for AI in B2B e-commerce\nTo better understand the positive impact AI can make on B2B companies, let\u2019s dive into four common use cases.\n1. Save the sale\nToo often, a customer may find their desired product or products out of stock and then drop off without making a purchase.\u00a0This results in an unhappy customer and lost sales \u2013 often to a competitor.\nWith the help of product data, product context, interactions, and user context, AI can offer timely and smart offers to save the sale when the original item is out of stock or perhaps not the right fit for the customer.\u00a0This dynamic and continuous prevention of loss of sale across all products enhances the user experience and increases revenue.\n2. Intelligent comparison\nSixty-five percent of buyers prefer to do their research without talking to sales reps.\u00a0In fact, the ability to compare the price and features of products is among the top five reasons customers buy online rather than in-person.\u00a0This can actually hurt a distributor without the right technology, as poor comparison capabilities are one of the main sources of frustration for B2B shoppers.\n \n3 ways to improve B2B e-commerce: It\u2019s all about CX\n Improve B2B e-commerce by focusing on the customer experience and making it easier for your customers to do business with you. \nIn this situation, AI can shine by pulling data from many sources such as product data and context, interactions, user context, and firmographics to provide intelligent comparison options.\nInstead of the buyer going through hundreds of specs for thousands of products, AI can easily automate time-consuming comparison tasks and provide timely insight to build a convincing case for them to purchase.\n3. Smart replenishment\nModern B2B customers expect self-service when it comes to their orders and repeat buyers have become increasingly reliant on B2C-centric capabilities such as quick-order forms and automatic replacement.\nHere, AI leverages data around interactions, user context, and firmographics to allow for smart replenishment of products.\u00a0 This can provide order forecasting based on collective wisdom and buyers\u2019 context across various segments of customers for stock replenishment, improving customer loyalty and reduce churn.\n4. Category management\nThis is a common problem area for B2B buyers, as commerce category managers are constantly challenged with understanding what products should be exposed on the home page and how product sales velocity and margin are trending.\nWith the help of product context and interaction data, AI can help category managers across hundreds of categories and attributes to balance the performance of products, thereby increasing demand, profit, and more.\nThe future of B2B e-commerce is AI\nThese use cases provide powerful proof of the benefits of AI in B2B e-commerce. For companies that haven\u2019t started on the path of implementing AI to support their B2B e-commerce strategy, now is the time.\nWith the support of artificial intelligence (AI), leading wholesale distributors are expanding beyond traditional industry boundaries and accelerating their journey to become proactive, insight-driven companies.\nIt\u2019s a brave new world. Are you ready?","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pirzadeh-150x150.png"},"name":"Dr. Heidar (Amir) Pirzadeh","sameAs":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/pirzadeh\/","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/heidar-pirzadeh\/"},"dateModified":"2021-12-29T05:24:48+00:00","datePublished":"2021-02-05T06:51:44+00:00","description":"AI in B2B e-commerce is helping companies boost customer experience and improve efficiency. Here are 4 ways AI is helping B2B e-commerce.","headline":"The future is here: 4 ways AI improves B2B e-commerce","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/FCEE128_HB-1200x630.jpg","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/","name":"The future is here: 4 ways AI improves B2B e-commerce","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Organization","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","width":"500","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},{"@type":["Article"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article","@context":{"@vocab":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","kg":"http:\/\/g.co\/kg"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/","publisher":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"}],"author":[{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_author_Person","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_author_Person_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn-bijap.nitrocdn.com\/AuMaQmessFRMSicXmZsEecJFLEquAyoT\/assets\/static\/optimized\/rev-b3d386d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pirzadeh-150x150.png"}],"sameAs":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/pirzadeh\/","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/heidar-pirzadeh\/\nhttps:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/heidar-pirzadeh\/","name":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/heidar-pirzadeh\/\nhttps:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/heidar-pirzadeh\/"}],"subjectOf":[{"@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_subjectOf_FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity0","name":"AI in e-commerce: Solving tough problems","acceptedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity0_acceptedAnswer_Answer","text":"Wholesale distributors and other B2B organizations<\/a> are increasingly using intelligent technology to interpret data at scale and identify real solutions to business problems in order to support customer loyalty and revenue growth.Leveraging machine learning, AI can help analytically, practically, or even creatively, in contrast to the mechanical feeling of traditional automation.B2B organizations have rich sources of data around their products, their customers, and the interaction between them. Tapping into those sources, machine learning technologies can adapt to new situations as they are encountered, learning from the data in real-time to make a positive impact on the business, in a way no human can.Using AI in e-commerce<\/a> can help solve complex business challenges with greater ease and speed by allowing companies to: Enhance customer experiences<\/li> Make better business decisions<\/li> Reduce costs and increase efficiency<\/li> Accelerate time to value<\/li> "}]},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity1","name":"Four use cases for AI in B2B e-commerce","acceptedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity1_acceptedAnswer_Answer","text":"To better understand the positive impact AI can make on B2B companies, let\u2019s dive into four common use cases.1. Save the sale<\/strong>Too often, a customer may find their desired product or products out of stock and then drop off without making a purchase. This results in an unhappy customer and lost sales \u2013 often to a competitor.With the help of product data, product context, interactions, and user context, AI can offer timely and smart offers to save the sale when the original item is out of stock or perhaps not the right fit for the customer. This dynamic and continuous prevention of loss of sale across all products enhances the user experience and increases revenue.2. Intelligent comparison<\/strong>Sixty-five percent of buyers prefer to do their research without talking to sales reps. In fact, the ability to compare the price and features of products is among the top five reasons customers buy online rather than in-person. This can actually hurt a distributor without the right technology, as poor comparison capabilities are one of the main sources of frustration for B2B shoppers.In this situation, AI can shine by pulling data from many sources such as product data and context, interactions, user context, and firmographics to provide intelligent comparison options.Instead of the buyer going through hundreds of specs for thousands of products, AI can easily automate time-consuming comparison tasks and provide timely insight to build a convincing case for them to purchase.3. Smart replenishment<\/strong>Modern B2B customers expect self-service when it comes to their orders and repeat buyers have become increasingly reliant on B2C-centric capabilities such as quick-order forms and automatic replacement.Here, AI leverages data around interactions, user context, and firmographics<\/a> to allow for smart replenishment of products. This can provide order forecasting based on collective wisdom and buyers\u2019 context across various segments of customers for stock replenishment, improving customer loyalty and reduce churn.4. Category management<\/strong>This is a common problem area for B2B buyers<\/a>, as commerce category managers are constantly challenged with understanding what products should be exposed on the home page and how product sales velocity and margin are trending.With the help of product context and interaction data, AI can help category managers across hundreds of categories and attributes to balance the performance of products, thereby increasing demand, profit, and more."}]},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity2","name":"The future of B2B e-commerce is AI","acceptedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity2_acceptedAnswer_Answer","text":"These use cases provide powerful proof of the benefits of AI in B2B e-commerce<\/a>. For companies that haven\u2019t started on the path of implementing AI to support their B2B e-commerce strategy, now is the time.With the support of artificial intelligence (AI), leading wholesale distributors are expanding beyond traditional industry boundaries and accelerating their journey to become proactive, insight-driven companies."}]}]}],"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/#Article_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/FCEE128_HB-1200x630.jpg","width":"1200","height":"630"}],"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/02\/05\/ai-in-b2b-e-commerce\/","articleBody":" In today\u2019s competitive markets, B2B companies must constantly look for ways to go above and beyond what their peers have to offer. Many are using AI in B2B e-commerce to leap ahead. In fact, AI is fast becoming critical for business survival. Ritu Jyoti, program vice president, artificial intelligence at IDC, says, \u201ccompanies will adopt AI \u2014 not just because they can, but because they must.\u201d According to IDC, global spending on AI is predicted to double within the next four years, growing from $50.1 billion in 2020 to a forecasted $110 billion in 2024. AI in e-commerce: Solving tough problems Wholesale distributors and other B2B organizations are increasingly using intelligent technology to interpret data at scale and identify real solutions to business problems in order to support customer loyalty and revenue growth. Leveraging machine learning, AI can help analytically, practically, or even creatively, in contrast to the mechanical feeling of traditional automation. Best examples of B2B e-commerce: Companies winning the game B2B buyers have changed. How are companies keeping up? Here are five brands that provide shining examples of B2B e-commerce. B2B organizations have rich sources of data around their products, their customers, and the interaction between them. Tapping into those sources, machine learning technologies can adapt to new situations as they are encountered, learning from the data in real-time to make a positive impact on the business, in a way no human can. Using AI in e-commerce can help solve complex business challenges with greater ease and speed by allowing companies to: Enhance customer experiences Make better business decisions Reduce costs and increase efficiency Accelerate time to value Four use cases for AI in B2B e-commerce To better understand the positive impact AI can make on B2B companies, let\u2019s dive into four common use cases. 1. Save the sale Too often, a customer may find their desired product or products out of stock and then drop off without making a purchase. This results in an unhappy customer and lost sales \u2013 often to a competitor. With the help of product data, product context, interactions, and user context, AI can offer timely and smart offers to save the sale when the original item is out of stock or perhaps not the right fit for the customer. This dynamic and continuous prevention of loss of sale across all products enhances the user experience and increases revenue. 2. Intelligent comparison Sixty-five percent of buyers prefer to do their research without talking to sales reps. In fact, the ability to compare the price and features of products is among the top five reasons customers buy online rather than in-person. This can actually hurt a distributor without the right technology, as poor comparison capabilities are one of the main sources of frustration for B2B shoppers. 3 ways to improve B2B e-commerce: It\u2019s all about CX Improve B2B e-commerce by focusing on the customer experience and making it easier for your customers to do business with you. In this situation, AI can shine by pulling data from many sources such as product data and context, interactions, user context, and firmographics to provide intelligent comparison options. Instead of the buyer going through hundreds of specs for thousands of products, AI can easily automate time-consuming comparison tasks and provide timely insight to build a convincing case for them to purchase. 3. Smart replenishment Modern B2B customers expect self-service when it comes to their orders and repeat buyers have become increasingly reliant on B2C-centric capabilities such as quick-order forms and automatic replacement. Here, AI leverages data around interactions, user context, and firmographics to allow for smart replenishment of products. This can provide order forecasting based on collective wisdom and buyers\u2019 context across various segments of customers for stock replenishment, improving customer loyalty and reduce churn. 4. Category management This is a common problem area for B2B buyers, as commerce category managers are constantly challenged with understanding what products should be exposed on the home page and how product sales velocity and margin are trending. With the help of product context and interaction data, AI can help category managers across hundreds of categories and attributes to balance the performance of products, thereby increasing demand, profit, and more. The future of B2B e-commerce is AI These use cases provide powerful proof of the benefits of AI in B2B e-commerce. For companies that haven\u2019t started on the path of implementing AI to support their B2B e-commerce strategy, now is the time. With the support of artificial intelligence (AI), leading wholesale distributors are expanding beyond traditional industry boundaries and accelerating their journey to become proactive, insight-driven companies. It\u2019s a brave new world. Are you ready? 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