AI in retail delivers next-generation online personalization

Online retail has been around for more than 20 years -- artificial intelligence, even longer. The combination of the two, coupled with current computing power and data growth, can offer today's retailers a personalization punch that lifts sales. According to "The State of Retailing Online 2017," a survey of 74 retailers conducted by the National Retail Federation and Forrester Research, the median conversion rate for retailers in 2016 was 3%. It's easy to see how AI in retail can lead to a small change in conversion rates. Recommendations, not personalization: Many online sites feature static, quasi-personalized recommendations, such as people who looked at this product actually purchased that product listings, or results that link to similar products or the top products in a given category.