Flipkart, an e-commerce company owned by Walmart, is betting big on artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative AI applications, to improve the experience of its customer and seller ecosystems. The company is using this technology across the board in all business areas to improve efficiency, a company executive said.
“E-commerce is like having many industries under one roof… AI is being applied in every aspect of e-commerce, from the supply chain, to fraud prevention, to advertising, to improving the search experience,” says Mayur Datar, main data. scientist, Flipkart.
Datar expects that as the company builds scale, it can improve the return on investment (ROI) it gets from its AI bets.
“Nowadays the technology is expensive, the underlying models are expensive. We use a lot of internal models, but these also include training and hosting that require custom hardware like GPUs, which are expensive. However, costs are falling and this will ultimately be a positive net return on investment (ROI). Even today, the net ROI is positive in many cases,” Datar said.
He added that Flipkart uses generative AI tools to improve customer and seller experiences.
On the customer side, Datar said Flipkart is implementing generative AI use cases such as creating its own virtual assistant called Flippi. Although the “offline-style conversational shopping interface” is still in its infancy, it provides customers with additional information about products, offers, return policies, etc.
To improve search capabilities, the company is experimenting with applications such as multimodal search, which provides enhanced search capabilities through multimodal input such as text, images and voice. Work is also underway to better understand intent, allowing for better interpretation of keywords. For example, converting ‘bacho ke liye dress’ to ‘dress for children’.
Flipkart’s generative AI tools on the seller side, according to Datar, include tools such as automated catalog captures – which allow sellers to convert images of products into how they would look on a model using generative AI. The company also uses AI to automatically generate stock images and extract product features.
However, Datar said the application of AI is not just limited to the customer and vendor ecosystem. The e-commerce major is also leveraging this technology in areas such as supply chain optimization to address challenges such as network optimization, inventory placement and geocoding, and to address autosuggestion.
The company also sees great opportunities in advertising. Datar claimed that the company uses AI to estimate factors such as the likelihood of customers clicking on ads and the likelihood of those clicks turning into purchases.
“We do this on an enormous scale. Millions of estimates are made in a rapid manner throughout the day. And the model continues to update itself based on how customers respond,” he said.
However, Datar emphasized that the company is ensuring responsible implementation of AI in a way that does not harm its customers.
First print: April 25, 2024 | 6:33 PM IST