Amazon has been using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for over 25 years and it is deeply embedded in every business we operate. ML and generative AI are transforming every industry, and retail is no exception – changing everything from the shopping experience to fulfillment and logistics, to the tools we provide sellers to help them succeed in their stores. Today we are announcing that merchants in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK can now leverage the power of generative AI to dramatically simplify the product listing process, as well as benefit from innovations that enrich existing product listings to better resonate with customers and drive sales.
We have been using AI to support our selling partners for many years. For example, we pioneered the use of AI to make personalized product recommendations based on customer behavior data, allowing sellers to surface relevant product listings to interested customers. We also use advanced ML models to forecast demand and automate inventory management, helping our selling partners better plan their inventory and ensure popular items don’t go out of stock. Our AI-powered pricing tools give sellers insights into dynamic pricing strategies based on real-time data to help them get the most out of their pricing strategies. Recent innovations include generating premium A+ content (including rich text, images) for branded products and generating augmented reality visualizations, such as arranging furniture in a room. Our fulfillment centers around the world are working to ensure that more of the products our customers want are stocked locally in the right buildings within each region. With the help of AI, we are able to expand the product selection we keep as close to our customers as possible, stock more of the everyday items that our customers continually order and reorder, and help speed up delivery. In Europe, we will reduce the average distance each parcel travels within our middle-mile network by 25 kilometres in 2023 compared to 2022, getting products to customers faster and helping to drive sustainability.
Recognizing the transformative potential of generative AI in particular, Amazon is actively developing and rolling out a suite of AI-powered tools designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A few weeks ago, we launched a feature that allows EU and UK sellers to reap the benefits of generative AI when selling new products. These generative AI-powered tools simplify the listing creation process, allowing sellers to generate compelling product titles, descriptions, and other details by simply typing a few descriptive words or uploading a product image. Amazon suggests high-quality, well-designed product listings that are designed to attract customers to their store. This streamlines operations and allows sellers to focus on other aspects of their business. While this is still a relatively new feature, over 30,000 of Amazon's EU selling partners are already using one or more of the generative AI listing creation tools.
We are also leveraging our generative AI capabilities to analyze and enrich existing product listings, automatically adding missing information, and improving overall content quality. This not only saves sellers valuable time, but also improves customer experience by providing richer, more comprehensive product information. Amazon also uses generative AI to summarize product reviews to help customers make better purchasing decisions, helping our selling partners make more informed purchases, increasing sales and reducing returns. These are just a few examples of the many innovations we are working on that will help generative AI further unlock sellers' potential.
European SMEs recognize the value AI can bring to their business
Interestingly, a May 2024 survey of 2,500 SMEs across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK revealed that early adopters among those surveyed agreed that AI could or has already benefited their organizations by saving time/being more efficient (77%), improving content (74%), increasing profitability (72%), enhancing customer service (70%) and reaching more international customers (69%). This echoes the voices of Amazon's selling partners who are excited that generative AI can improve their business operations, increase sales and boost profitability.
The survey also found that small business owners believe that using AI could reduce the time it takes to create product descriptions from an average of eight hours to one hour, and the time it takes to update product descriptions from an average of seven hours to one hour.
Additionally, the study found that AI-generated content significantly enhances the creation of compelling product descriptions. Over one-third (33%) of SMBs feel that AI-generated content makes their products more discoverable when customers search. With acquiring new customers ranked first (32%) as the major business challenge facing SMBs, making your products more discoverable through AI-generated content can address this business challenge head on.
Finally, users who use AI regularly reported more benefits than those who are just trying out Gen AI, suggesting that using AI can bring benefits beyond expectations: For example, 85% of respondents whose organizations use AI regularly agree that AI has significantly enhanced their business, especially by improving the quality of content.
Amazon's generative AI tools are constantly learning and evolving, and we look forward to further improving these tools in the coming months to give sellers more powerful tools to streamline their operations, increase customer engagement, and drive seller growth and success.
