Note the similarities between this business model and an online supermarket (online retailers). Discounting other factors, such as distribution logistics and differences in regulations, the fundamentals are the same: a commoditised online offering with no'human touch' at the point of sale. Even consumer demographics are similar – young, tech-savvy professionals, looking for cheaper, easy-to-use and anytime/anywhere self-service options. Online supermarkets use extensive segmentation analysis and branding to acquire and retain customers. A seamless integration of data, analytics and technology enables a personalised shopping experience.

Inc. surprised some with one of its next-gen commerce announcements. Amazon Go, which promises to eliminate the checkout altogether, generated headlines in mainstream media and prompted some to contemplate the potential demise of retail as we know it. Lost in all this hype is the fact that the brick-and-mortar apocalypse is no more likely today than it was before Amazon's recent endeavor. Of course, Amazon, which is the world's largest internet retailer, has set the standard for commerce reinvention with fast delivery, near-invisible payments and other perks tied to its Amazon Prime membership platform . Amazon has outpaced the rapid growth of digital commerce in the retail industry globally, increasing its own market share from 12% in 2011 to 19% in 2016, according to the latest data from Euromonitor International.

If artificial intelligence has its way, discounting could disappear, thanks to software that tells retailers exactly what and how many products to buy, and when to put them on sale to sell them at full price. Online shopping could become a conversation, where the shopper describes the dress of their dreams, and, in seconds, an AI-powered search engine tracks down the closest match. Designers, merchandisers and buyers could all work alongside AI, to predict what customers want to wear, before they even know themselves. In the last few years, a trifecta of cheap, ubiquitous, powerful computing; big data; and the development of deep learning have triggered a revolution in artificial intelligence. The computing devices that now fill our everyday lives generate large data sets, which "deep learning" algorithms analyse to find trends, make predictions and perform specific tasks, such as identifying specific objects in an image.

Whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) is something you've just come across or it's something you've been monitoring for a while, there's no denying that it's starting to influence many industries. And one place that it's really starting to change things is e-commerce. Our friends over at RedStag Fulfillment put together the compelling infographic below where you'll find some interesting stats and facts about how AI is growing in e-commerce and how it's changing the way things are done. From personalizing the shopping experience for customers to creating personal buying assistants, AI is something retailers can't ignore. It also takes a look at some examples of how leading online stores have used AI to enrich the customer buying experience.

British consumers are expected to spend £280 each on gifts over the weeks leading up to Christmas. More than half of these purchases will take place online. Almost a third of people will rely on online reviews to make their buying decisions, although recommendations from friends and family are still the main source of persuasion. Online shopping is estimated to rise by 24% by the end of this year. However, as consumers are looking for more sensory and immersive shopping experiences, the pressure is on for online retailers to find new ways to excite customers and keep them satisfied – and artificial intelligence (AI) is the new technology they will use. It is allowing businesses to analyse customer behaviour, predict consumer wants and offer tailored customer experiences.

Tomorrow's retail stores want to take a page from their online rivals by embracing advanced technology -- everything from helpful robots to interactive mirrors to shelves embedded with sensors. The goal: Use these real-world store features to lure shoppers back from the internet, and maybe even nudge them to spend more in the process. Amazon's new experimental grocery store in Seattle, opening in early 2017, will let shoppers buy goods without needing to stop at a checkout line. Sensors track items as shoppers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf. The shopper's Amazon account gets automatically charged.

Web retailers have plenty of data on their customers. Some of these online technologies can even track shoppers from site to site to lure them back with what's known as retargeting ads -- promos targeted to what that shopper has looked at before, but didn't actually buy. Smart shelves with sensors promise the same kind of in-depth consumer behaviour analytics at retail stores. At a Kroger store in Cold Spring, Ohio, shelves currently show digitized price tags and information about the products. The next step is to tie that to individual shoppers.

We're beginning to see a trend here at CES. A ton of companies are either injecting their tech with a dose of Alexa or building their own Amazon Echo competitors from scratch. SmartBeings falls into the later category, but its WooHoo device packs a lot more punch than the online retailer's smart speaker. WooHoo can do some of the things Echo handles, but it's also equipped with both facial and voice recognition, Android-powered software and a 7-inch touchscreen. If you can imagine a version of Echo with a rotating camera that helps complete tasks when a specific person walks in a room, you'll get the idea here.

Tomorrow's retail stores want to take a page from their online rivals by embracing advanced technology -- everything from helpful robots to interactive mirrors to shelves embedded with sensors. The goal: Use these real-world store features to lure shoppers back from the internet, and maybe even nudge them to spend more in the process. Amazon's new experimental grocery store in Seattle, opening in early 2017, will let shoppers buy goods without needing to stop at a checkout line. Sensors track items as shoppers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf. The shopper's Amazon account gets automatically charged.

The "willing suspension of disbelief" is the idea that the audience (readers, viewers, content consumers) is willing to suspend judgment about the implausibility of the narrative for the quality of the audience's own enjoyment. We do it all the time. Two-dimensional video on our screens is smaller than life and flat and not in real time, but we ignore those facts and immerse ourselves in the stories as if they were real. We have also learned the "conventions" of each medium. While we watch a movie or a video, we don't yell to the characters on the screen "Duck!" or "Look out!" when something is about to happen to them.