One of the largest players in the global sphere of e-commerce, eBay has concluded that its investments in artificial intelligence make customers happier.
Last Tuesday, November 7, this company published a report on the financial results of its activities for the third quarter of the current year. The firm, talking about the performance of its business for the period from July to September, noted that investing in artificial intelligence contributed to improving the perception of eBay’s capabilities in sphere delivery by customers.
Jamie Iannone, CEO of the company, says that the brand he heads has implemented a new machine learning model to calculate the estimated delivery date from the United States and some international markets. According to him, the use of advanced technology has made it possible to increase the level of accuracy in this direction of activity. Customers have already been able to evaluate the benefits of one of the applying scenarios of machine intelligence, in which they are provided with more accurate estimates of delivery. In the United States, the result of this use case of artificial intelligence has already been recorded in the form of a reduction in the average delivery estimate by about 1½ days for all domestic listings.
In this case, the improvement of the consumer experience is largely ensured by transparency, which in practical terms means that customers receive accurate information about when their products will be delivered. This factor significantly strengthens trust. Also, in this case, the level of concern of buyers about the movement of the goods they purchase decreases. Another important circumstance is that consumers, who have reliable access to delivery information, are less likely to contact the support service to obtain information about the status of the order.
eBay also uses artificial intelligence technologies concerning products that are entitled to a guarantee of authenticity. This variant of applying machine intelligence allowed to average reduction in the time of placing listings in the United States by about two days.
As part of another scenario for using artificial intelligence, eBay has implemented an image-based listing placement tool. As part of this solution, sellers can take pictures or upload photos through the company’s app. Then artificial intelligence automatically fills in detailed information about the characteristics of the product. With just one image, machine intelligence can generate a title and create a detailed product description. Artificial intelligence in the process of forming the listing text indicates data such as the date of release of the product, its category and subcategory, average prices, and shipping costs.
The tool for compiling a list based on images has already passed the beta testing procedure for employees. The company plans to launch the process of large-scale use of this technological solution by consumers in the coming months. The media notes that in this case, machine intelligence helps to overcome the obstacles that, in a sense, novice sellers traditionally face.
Artificial intelligence optimizes a significant amount of data that is needed to create a competitive list. The company noted that its proposed technological solution provides sellers with access to a simplified way to generate an array of information with comprehensive product data.
Experts note that before the process of active dissemination of artificial intelligence as a tool for solving problems in sphere commerce, there was a kind of compromise between detailed and accurate lists and speeding up and simplifying the creation of such materials. Applying AI allows eBay to achieve both goals.
According to the results of the third quarter of this year, the company recorded revenue of $2.5 billion. This indicator is 5% higher than the result for the same period in 2022. According to the results of the third quarter, the total volume of turnover on the company’s platform was fixed at the level of $18 billion. This indicator showed an increase of 2% compared to the result for the same period last year.
The company’s GAAP profit for the third quarter was $1.3 billion. eBay’s net profit excluding GAAP is $545 million.
As we have reported earlier, eBay Acquires Certilogo to Boost Brand Authentication.
