
Machine learning has become an integral part of the ecommerce industry. It is a powerful tool that helps businesses make more optimal decisions and improve their overall performance. It already has a plethora of implementations, from demand forecasting and inventory management, through dynamic pricing and personalized ad targeting, to chat bots or picture generators. Nevertheless, in this blog post, I will explain two of the most common implementations of machine learning in ecommerce, specifically forecasting demand and pricing strategies.
Forecasting demand is a crucial aspect of ecommerce, as it allows to predict future sales and adjust the inventory accordingly. Machine learning algorithms can analyze large amounts of historical data to identify patterns and trends that would be difficult for humans to spot, which can then be used to make accurate predictions about future demand. For example, retailers can use time series forecasting models or regression models, which take into account historical data collected, market trends, and consumer behavior to predict how many units of a particular product will be sold in the future, which they can also use to help with inventory management. Although the accuracy depends on the amount and quality of data collected, this can help avoid stockouts, which can lead to lost sales, or overstocking, which can result in wasted resources. Additionally, retailers can use machine learning to forecast demand for new products, which can help them make more informed decisions about when to introduce new items and how much inventory to stock.
Pricing is a critical component of any retail business, as it directly impacts customer behavior and ultimately affects a retailer’s bottom line. Traditionally, retailers have relied on manual methods, their experience, and gut instincts to set prices, but these methods can be time-consuming and prone to error. Since experience is a component there, you can improve it by having more data, and thus this is another area where machine learning can make a significant impact. By analyzing data on competitor prices, consumer behavior or demand spikes, retailers can use machine learning to optimize their pricing strategies and maximize their profits. For example, retailers can use dynamic pricing algorithms, or data-driven pricing strategies, which adjust prices in real-time based on factors such as supply and demand, to ensure that prices are always competitive and to maximize revenue, a strategy that Amazon is using since 2013. Additionally, retailers can use machine learning to analyze customer reviews, ratings and feedbacks to determine which products are most popular and adjust their pricing accordingly.
To sum up, machine learning is a powerful tool that helps ecommerce businesses improve their overall performance. By analyzing vast amounts of data available to them, with the ever-increasing data collection practice, machine learning is becoming an essential tool to gain an edge and stay competitive in the ecommerce industry, and as the technology continues to evolve, it is only likely that in the coming years, we will see even more innovative applications of machine learning.
Sources:
https://mobidev.biz/blog/machine-learning-methods-demand-forecasting-retail
https://tryolabs.com/blog/price-optimization-machine-learning
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705091401309X
https://www.prefixbox.com/blog/machine-learning-for-ecommerce/