Although Artificial Intelligence is a revolution that has disrupted life and work only in recent years, man has always needed inspiration, think of the Iliad's proem "Sing to me, O Diva".
Minding us on stage at the 19th edition of the NetComm Forum is Gianluca Greco, among other positionsPresident of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence.
As usual, this year from May 8 to 9, power2Cloud participated in Milan at NetComm at Allianz MiCo, the leading event dedicated to eCommerce and Digital retail,a well-established event that is set to celebrate its 20th edition in 2025 (April 15-16).
30,000 attendance, 350 speakers, over 300 sponsoring and exhibiting companies, 3 plenary conferences and over 200 sessions. Numbers aside, the NetComm Forum never disappoints! It remains a must-attend event for industry insiders to network, gather market trends and analysis, and meet key industry players.
Among them many of our partners with Google Cloud leading the way, followed by eCommerce platforms (BigCommerce and Shopify always at the forefront), logistics, payments (PayPal, Scalapay, Klarna) and more.
Business transforming with eCommerce: the Walmart case
What emerged at the NetComm Forum 2024?
Thanks to eCommerce, business is changing its skin and relying on new services while continuing to innovate, for all the case of Walmart, which overseas continues to lead the way.
At the NFT in New York we had already reported on the delivery of groceries by drones, but there's more, because thanks to the new InHome service now every consumer can restock their refrigerator with missing products while away. Walmart sends an attendant inside the home, deposits the groceries, while everything is controlled via smartphone.
Compared to the unstoppable Amazon, the world's largest physical retailer catches up, making eCommerce a major part of its revenue and, on the strength of its widespread distribution, expands its vertical by adding a network of polyclinics to its existing outlets. Yes, you got that right!
Google: anticipating needs to develop products at the speed of consumer preferences
If the driver of innovation in digital retail is consumers, how to be able to anticipate their needs?
Surely the search bar of an eCommerce is the most important resource, but it is also true that it often does not meet consumers' expectations and thus is abandoned quickly.
Loyalty has to be won you know, but you have to work on the consistency (also) of the research experience. The data shared by Jacopo Allegrini, Director, Sales, Retail, Google, speak clearly.
"73% of consumers expect brands to know their preferences and help them meet their products. While 72% of consumers are less loyal to a brand if searching for a product on the site is difficult."
The challenges do not end there, but retailers have technological opportunities that they can use to improve themselves and to improve their internal processes as well.
With Gemini AI, for example, with no technical skills and completely conversational language with Artificial Intelligence, they can create content, ads, code, images with ease.
"Even this jingle," Allegrini explained, "making its way onto the stage, was made in a very short time with just the right prompt and that was without any copyright issues."
AI and ethical data strategy also to give confidence to consumers
To get a clear picture on investment we can add that in 2024, in the USA, big tech engaged in AI will invest over $200 billion, ten times the expected investment in China. And in Italy?Euro 300 million has been invested in AI in 2023, about one-third as much as in Spain.
But it is not only these numbers that should give us pause.
Because while it is true that "no data no AI" it is important to emphasize and urge ethical data strategy, reiterated Shalini Kurapati, Researcher and Lecturer, Polytechnic University of Turin and CEO Clearbox AI.
"Privacy is not just about GDPR, but also confidence to consumers who are concerned about how their data will be used."
In addition, it is good to think of AI as a comparison to be nurtured and enriched so as not to reinforce stereotypes. When we ask AI for the image of a CEO, it cannot go unmentioned that they do not appear among blond-haired, blue-eyed Indian or Chinese Westerners, for example.
The issues on the table are many, and the context to be considered is much broader than the relevant vertical, because theeCommerce world has become an important variant of geopolitics.
Roberto Liscia, President of the of the NetComm, in the plenary room thus holds to reiterate the three focuses of this new global context: "strategic finance, political geoblocks, and the ability to do innovation to create competitive systems."
Zalando Assistant and Trend Spotter: how to inspire consumers
While we need to consider broader contexts we need to keep pace with technology adoption because the first to change are consumers.
How do they search for what they want? It was told by Riccardo Vola, General Manager Italy and Spain Zalando,who showed a customer journey that meets these new needs.
Thanks to Zalando Assistant pushes consumers beyond searching for a specific product. Customers ask for recommendations or look for products for specific occasions. I can even ask what "shoes to pair with blue jeans" bypassing a traditional search that is usually more limited and all in 4 messages.
While Zalando's Trend Spotter is able to showcase emerging fashion trends on the website in seven European fashion capitals (Milan, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Antwerp). A project that is set to expand.
There is thus talk of new voice interfaces as a time for conversation and exchange, but also of trend data drives and the ability to track the most popular items of the moment in a specific city.
The opportunities are many, because inspiration and product suggestion on eCommerce can balance the assortment and offer different experiences to bring consumers more frequently online, but also to create longer-lasting engagement between site pages.
If this already looks like the future, Riccardo Vola assures that the next goal is to gain credibility in fashion through real-time data to share with brands, discover more styles in more fashion capitals, and communicate together content, unique stories of engagement for the community.
Added value through personalization, data and AI, Carrefour teaches
"In the retail of the future, we must continue to have the courage to experiment with frontier technologies and look beyond the corporate boundaries," encourages Valentina Pontiggia, Director of the B2C eCommerce Observatory, Digital Innovation in Retail and Digital&Sustainable Politecnico di Milano. To be inspired, but not to emulate slavishly is the suggestion of Roberto Liscia.
What could be better, then, than listening to companies among the leading players in the market tell their stories?
Alessandra Grendele, Head of E-commerce Marketing & Digital Transformation Carrefour Italy, together with Alberto Frasin Google Customer Solutions Italy, explained how they optimized the company's core processes with Google. Marketing, finance, operations, supply chain and, of course, eCommerce, which as a digital channel best lends itself to this path, were involved.
Personalization of promotions and Maia, a virtual assistant as Santa's elf
"In our data platform," Grendele enthusiastically began, "we have collected more than 2 billion pieces of data in recent years, this has given us the ability to analyze and learn about consumer habits to personalize the relationship and thus also the promotions, so we can go out to meet customers in a targeted and non-intrusive way. The data show the impact this choice has had.
Also Maia, Carrefour's virtual assistant, who was transformed into an elf during the holiday season, was especially appreciated, doling out shopping tips, special menus, as well as gifts and more.
This is how the magic of generative intelligence is concretely positioned by helping to create a unique customer experience. 100,000 views and 20,000 customers engaged, really quite an achievement!"
In addition to technology, the values conveyed by the community remain sacred and build shared success. One case in point was that of Veralab, which with ScalaPay told stories of successes and initiatives born for and with its followers, again on the NetComm Forum 2024 stage.
In this horizon of opportunity that makes some feel more behind, some more eager to pick up the pace right away, everything can be built, even with the right tools. Let's start doing it now.