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Before we get into the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and where it is set to take digital commerce, I think we should begin by unpacking a definition of digital commerce – what does it mean? It can be defined as the process of selling and buying products and/or services using digital channels. It includes the people, processes and technologies necessary to execute the offering of product, promotions, pricing, analytics, customer acquisition plus retention, and customer experience at all touchpoints throughout the buying journey. This definition can be applied to all sectors of business irrelevant of area of operations, so it includes banking, retail, automotive, etc. Sector is irrelevant in a world of digital transformation at the speed of COVID – all businesses seek digital channels to market their goods. Today, digital channels have been expanded to relate to digital transformation that is inclusive of people, processes and technologies used throughout the customer buying excursion.

Companies that do not invest in digital technologies and reinvent will have to retire some of their businesses, an industry expert said. "Businesses that rely too heavily on manual work and resisted in investing in technology over the years, especially digital commerce, will be badly hit. If they haven't awakened yet to the call and continue as is, their survival is going to be a big challenge," Arup Roy, Research Vice-President at Gartner, said at the virtual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo India. Organisations that were digitally sound in a pre-pandemic world could contain the impact on their business, he said and added that the pandemic situation was a wake-up call for many organisations to relook and revive their IT strategies and increase their spending on IT in 2021. "We have seen much of disruptions this year but the good news is that the businesses have responded quite well. The credit goes to the technology and CIOs offices. CIOs are leading their organisations through increasing turmoil," he said.

Both Moltin and Elastic Path are leaders in the headless commerce ecosystem. Together, the headless commerce industry leaders would provide unmatched business user experience and technical agility to accelerate digital customer experience innovation. Headless Commerce platform is an independent architecture that independently exists and operates as a link between the front-end and back-end of an e-commerce application. The links can be established using APIs, experience management platforms, and tools such as Heroku and Mulesoft. Modern Content Management Systems (CMS) have a limited layer of headless features– meaning, front-end and back-end retain their reciprocal properties during the dynamic/ live applications and A/B testing.

Both Moltin and Elastic Path are leaders in the headless commerce ecosystem. Together, the headless commerce industry leaders would provide unmatched business user experience and technical agility to accelerate digital customer experience innovation. Headless Commerce platform is an independent architecture that independently exists and operates as a link between the front-end and back-end of an e-commerce application. The links can be established using APIs, experience management platforms, and tools such as Heroku and Mulesoft. Modern Content Management Systems (CMS) have a limited layer of headless features– meaning, front-end and back-end retain their reciprocal properties during the dynamic/ live applications and A/B testing.

The rise of cashless and cardless retail transactions suggests consumers are growing comfortable with paying for products from accounts linked to portable devices. How quickly these commerce modalities go mainstream is an open question, but Mastercard is leaving nothing to chance. The global payment network is not only preparing for digital commerce ruled by recommendation systems fueled by machine learning systems but also war-gaming for the arrival of 5G, as well as the proliferation of IoT and AI, says Jorn Lambert, Mastercard's executive vice president of digital solutions. Get the latest insights with our CIO Daily newsletter. This short- and long-term view sketches out a vision of payments revolutionized by machine-to-machine commerce and hyperpersonalized transactions, a reality Lambert expects will become mainstream in the next three to five years.

Much has changed since the first products were sold online in the 1990s. Early instances of e-commerce focused on the transaction, with little emphasis on improving fulfillment, customer service or loyalty. Then, organizations began to hone commerce operations in response to customer desires, offering features like inventory visibility, product reviews and package tracking. Now, organizations focus on more strategic initiatives that will give them competitive advantage in the future, such as providing a unified experience throughout the customer's journey and establishing a trusted relationship with the customer. Sandy Shen, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, says digital commerce is getting more intelligent and personal.

A survey by research firm Gartner found that the use of AI in digital commerce companies is usually considered a success, with 70% of the organisations claiming very, or extremely successful, implementation of the technology. A total of 307 digital commerce organisations were surveyed for the study. These companies are currently using or piloting the technology to understand the adoption, value, success and challenges of AI in digital commerce. Organisations participated in this study were from the US, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and China. Among the respondents, three-quarters said that they are seeing double-digit improvements in the outcomes they measure.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital commerce is generally considered a success, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. About 70 percent of digital commerce organizations surveyed report that their AI projects are very or extremely successful. Gartner conducted a survey* of 307 digital commerce organizations that are currently using or piloting AI to understand the adoption, value, success and challenges of AI in digital commerce. Respondents included organizations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India and China. Three-quarters of respondents said they are seeing double-digit improvements in the outcomes they measure.

Alphabet is broken out into its core Google business and a number of other subsidiaries, which it deems "Other Bets." The majority of Google's business comes from advertising revenues, which the company generates through its search engine as well as a number of other Google-affiliated and partnership websites. Outside of search and advertising, Google generates revenue from products including cloud and enterprise, consumer hardware, mapping, and YouTube. In addition to Google, Alphabet encompasses a host of other subsidiaries called "Other Bets." These companies are more experimental in nature, and as a result are not material to Alphabet's bottom line.