Council Post: What's Next For AI And E-Commerce?

Online shopping has accelerated with a notable 30% increase in digital sales in the U.S.; this means that previously nascent or hard-to-sell-in technologies are now being considered by major retailers. Artificial intelligence is one of these technologies that is seeing more rapid integration, with $7.3 billion projected to be spent by retailers in 2022. And, last month's Google release of new AI-powered e-commerce tools highlights how far down the channel AI adoption has become. As a serial tech entrepreneur currently operating in the next-gen AI space, I'm seeing that AI is no longer relegated to product recommendation engines but is quickly becoming the backbone of retail. The pandemic exposed failures within third-party (3P) warehousing and last-mile delivery operations, many of these related to shipping errors, complex deliveries and faulty projections on timing.