The customer is no longer searching. The customer tells us what he wants.
For over thirty years, the digital customer journey has been built around search, menus and product catalogs. Now, a fundamental shift is taking place. A recent Reuters article describes how grocery chain Pick'n Pay has launched an AI assistant that lets customers tell you what they want, while artificial intelligence builds the shopping cart. It may be one of the clearest examples of how the future of e-commerce is moving from product search to needs-based advice – and why this will also be important for Norwegian small and medium-sized businesses.
"I'll have a conversation with you; it will be all on my terms. Your product is going to have to be visually beautiful, technically perfect, and distinctive. And it has to be available where I shop at a price I'm willing to pay."
"Now, if it is all of those things, you gain the permission, in the one minute the consumer deals with your brand, to devote about 10 seconds to the issue of values. And if you miss any step along the way, you are talking to yourself, which is a terribly sad place to be."
Jeff Swartz - President and Chief Executive Officer, Timberland - Fast Company , August 2008
For more than thirty years, we have built websites, online stores and digital services around one fundamental idea:
The customer is searching.
The customer then clicks through categories, filters the results, compares products, and adds them to the shopping cart. The entire digital customer journey has been built around this model.
But now something is about to change.
Not gradually.
Fundamentally.
The digital customer journey has taken a new direction
For many years, the customer journey has looked something like this:
Customer → Search → Filter → Compare → Shopping Cart → Payment
Now we see the beginning of a new model:
Customer → Tells what he wants → AI builds the shopping cart →
Customer approves → Payment
The difference may seem small.
In reality, it is enormous.
The customer is not necessarily looking for products anymore. The customer describes a need.
“The customer is no longer searching for products. The customer is describing a need.”
A real-life example
When I retired, I was going to invest in a new laptop that would be my work tool for many years to come.
The needs were quite specific.
I was going to be working with Photoshop and Lightroom. I wanted a powerful processor, plenty of memory, a good screen, a docking station, and a solution that would last for many years. At the same time, I had a specific budget.
Previously, this process would have involved many hours of searching.
I had to visit a number of online stores, read tests, compare specifications, and try to figure out which products matched.
This time I did something different.
I described my needs.
From there, the dialogue developed. We discussed different options, weighed the pros and cons, looked at the monitor, docking station, and accessories, before landing on a comprehensive solution that suited my needs exactly.
I didn't just buy a PC.
I got help making a decision.
It is precisely this change that we are now seeing in more and more industries.
From search engine to advisor
The first online stores were about making products available online.
Then came the search engines.
Then came filtering, product reviews, recommendations, and personalization.
Now we are moving towards something new.
Artificial intelligence becomes a digital advisor.
Instead of searching through hundreds of products, the customer can say:
"I need a gift for a ten-year-old boy who likes technology. The budget is 500 kroner."
or:
"I'm going to cook a vegetarian dinner for four people. One of the guests is gluten intolerant."
The customer does not need to know what products exist.
The customer describes the situation.
Artificial intelligence does the rest.
"The most important task will not be finding products. It will be understanding the customer."
What does this mean for small and medium-sized businesses?
Many businesses still associate artificial intelligence with text production, images or chatbots.
There are useful tools.
But the really big change is happening somewhere else.
It occurs in the meeting between the business and the customer.
When the customer tells you what he or she wants, the business must be able to provide good answers.
A short product description is no longer enough.
The business must have knowledge.
It must be able to explain.
Guide.
Compare.
Recommend.
The better the business knows its products, services and customers, the better artificial intelligence can help.
The invisible capital becomes visible
Throughout the digital evolution, one thing has remained constant.
Technology alone rarely creates lasting competitive advantages.
People do that.
Competence.
Experience.
Customer insights.
Trust.
Artificial intelligence does not change this.
It makes it more important than ever.
Businesses that invest in good technical articles, clear product descriptions, guides, frequently asked questions, videos, and other quality information also build a knowledge base that artificial intelligence can use.
This means that content is not just something customers read.
It will be the fuel that makes artificial intelligence smarter.
"The most important AI investment may not be a new technology. It is the knowledge on which the technology will be built."
The digital customer journey of the future
We are probably at the beginning of the biggest change in digital commerce since the first online stores were launched.
Not because artificial intelligence is taking over trading.
But because it makes it easier for people to make good choices.
The businesses that are most successful in the coming years will probably not be those with the most products or the most advanced technology.
They become the ones who know their customers best.
And who has built up the most important resource of all:
Knowledge.
It is precisely this knowledge – the invisible capital – that is now becoming increasingly visible as artificial intelligence becomes a natural part of the customer journey.
Do you want to understand the technology behind the development?
This article is about how artificial intelligence is changing e-commerce and customer experiences. If you want to understand how the technology actually works, you can read our series "AI-Kompis", where we explain artificial intelligence step by step - in a language that everyone can understand.
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