Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just transforming ecommerce. Ecommerce came about because the internet made it easy to find what you were looking for. The digital age made the physical world appear closer, so you could buy things from distant countries. Early adopters assumed ecommerce would be fueled by economics of scale and lower costs, but those weren't the main drivers: It was convenience. Websites made information freely available.

We used this book in a class which was my first academic introduction to data mining. The book's strengths are that it does a good job covering the field as it was around the 2008-2009 timeframe. Included are discussions of exploring data, classification, clustering, association analysis, cluster analysis, and anomaly detection. Additional bonus appendices cover some elements of linear algebra, dimensionality reduction, probability and statistics, regression analysis, and optimization, in case those concepts are fuzzy for the student. They're by no means thorough enough to learn the topic, merely to remind the reader of salient points they should remember.

A global survey of 4000 consumers reveals that shoppers are being left disappointed with the freshness of their grocery purchases. Set against a backdrop of declining retail profitability and significant changes in consumer lifestyles, grocery retailers are under pressure to deliver the best freshness to their customers, while also turning a profit. McKinsey reports that 40 per cent of grocery revenue is driven by fresh, which puts tremendous pressure on category managers to get it right. Yet category managers in fresh know too well the complexities of delivering the best fresh to their customers: Fresh goods are perishable, demand varies from day to day and supply chain lead-times are difficult to predict. Stock too much and you risk providing a less than satisfactory level of fresh if the stock is not sold in time, or you generate food waste.

"Artificial intelligence appears at last to be coming of age," wrote Richard Windsor, analyst at Edison Investment Research, in a recent 51-page report on the subject. Amazon took a big step in bringing artificial intelligence into the masses two years ago with the introduction of Echo. The multifunctional, voice-activated speaker system is voiced by Alexa. Ask Alexa a question and she'll try to find you an answer, with the support of AI technology. The device can also be used to manage and monitor home utilities.

Signpost is a service that lets brick-and-mortar store owners publish incentives and promotions on its website. Last summer, the New York City-based company's founder and CEO, Stuart Wall, created a new app: the A.I.-centric Mia. Through its natural language generation capability, Mia crafts messages and sends them to prospects at opportune times. It tracks and analyzes a store's calls, emails, and credit card swipes, and then makes what it decides is the right pitch. "New customers often tell me they show up because of our five-star reviews, which I hear about through Mia," says Randy Jewart, owner of Resolution Gardens, a landscaping company in Austin, and a Mia subscriber.

Blue Yonder, the business intelligence cloud computing company recently revealed that it has partnered with Microsoft Azure as its primary platform. The predictive analytics company, which has its origins at the CERN facility in Geneva, uses the cloud to calculate variables at speed, primarily aimed at allowing retailers to make decisions on what to buy, what to stock and what to make in order to ensure that when you look for something in store or online, it'll be there. "The fast-growing amount of data from customer transactions and replenishment processes makes it imperative that retailers switch to automated decisions based on data," says Jan Karstens, CTO of Blue Yonder. "The high expectations of consumers in the face of contemporary cross-channel concepts like Click & Collect, where items are ordered online and picked up in store, can only be met using machine learning." By crunching data ranging from the weather in previous years, to customer footfall, perhaps due to known factors like transport links to a particular branch, the company has been able to perfect a technique that uses machine learning to constantly improve stock availability and decrease waste.

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According to analyst Forrester, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and analytics will increase businesses' access to data, broaden the types of data that can be analysed, and raise the level of sophistication of the resulting insight. For 2017, Forrester expects investment in AI to triple. This email address is already registered. By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent. By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers.

As online shopping continues to grow, it's imperative for companies to utilize tools that can help them attract (and keep) customers. AI can do that in a multitude of ways. It can serve as a communication method to update an audience on collection releases and product availability. It can provide interactive storytelling and unique digital experiences with the help of creative algorithms. It can strengthen e-commerce by tracking users' preferences and giving them a customized shopping experience.