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智慧零售時代的人工智慧

 

Appier 首席人工智慧科學家孫民

數位轉型並非新的概念,過去這幾年,各行各業也都面臨著科技變革步調越來越快的壓力。2020年蔓延全球的新冠疫情迫使企業加快轉型的腳步,讓企業紛紛轉向數位優先(Digital-first)的經營模式。

零售業是一個亟需因應疫情變化而調整與消費者互動方式的產業,許多零售業都緊跟轉型的步伐。過去七十多年,零售業歷幾個階段的轉型,從百貨公司的興起到超級市場的發展,批量生產實現後又帶動了像7-11這類連鎖便利商店的普及。而在亞馬遜(Amazon)或阿里巴巴(Alibaba)這些電商企業推動之下,我們現在正處於零售業的第四波變革,這個階段的變革重點在於科技的應用,不只要更好地滿足並預測消費者需求,還必須使零售業每一階段的供應鏈更加有效率。可以預見的是,未來,越來越多的數據將被應用於零售業的三大核心元素,那就是店家(或網站)、商品與顧客。

人工智慧是驅動數據發揮作用的關鍵,它可以比人類更快速且更有效率地發掘數據的規律與洞察,因為人工智慧能以人類無法手動完成的方式,對海量數據進行極度廣泛的觀察。你能夠為人工智慧設定一個特定目標,例如分析顧客消費旅程的複雜性。人工智慧不只有分析數字與文字資料的能力,還能處理所謂的「感知」數據,例如蒐集並分析客戶瀏覽商品時的視覺線索。

人工智慧是一種通用技術,可以在整個零售業的不同階段加以應用,而數位行銷是其中一項零售業應用人工智慧的領域,因為數位行銷必須仰賴大量的數據蒐集與分析才能產出更精確的結果。對零售業的行銷人員來說,他們首要關注的目標是 獲取用戶(Acquisition)──人工智慧可以蒐集線上與線下數據獲得更全觀的用戶輪廓,並且找出對特定產品擁有較高瀏覽意圖的人群。

其次是互動參與(Engagement)──有效的互動指的是在對的時間、用對的方式、將對的資訊提供給對的消費者。對人們來說,這是一個極其艱鉅的任務,因為單靠人力只能利用有限的渠道去接觸少量的受眾群體;而人工智慧可以透過分析既有的可用資訊後,自動分析出最適合接觸消費者的時間點與渠道。

接著則是要將互動參與(Engagement)良好的受眾成功轉換為顧客(Conversion)。對此,人工智慧可以對線上瀏覽行為進行實時分析並定義猶豫客,讓零售業者只需要提供優惠或折扣給最有可能因此產生轉換的對象。透過提供優惠給真正需要的消費者,實現更好的行銷預算分配,同時提升銷售表現。

最後,零售業者可以檢視那些以前曾經購買過商品或服務,但是現在不再參與互動或呈現休眠狀態的消費者。人工智慧可以協助辨識這些對象,並透過可用的數據為行銷人員提供線索(Data Insights and Prediction),讓他們知道掌握哪種類型的訊息或誘因有助於喚回消費者,藉此幫助業者重新與這些對象建立互動關係。

除了數位行銷,人工智慧還能以許多不同方式簡化整個零售鏈。它可以分析製程中所產出的數據,例如品管相關資料;或者可以提升倉儲機器人的效能,讓機器人在撿貨時更有效率並減少人力;也可以分析消費者購物旅程,幫助業者規劃資源;還可以透過有效使用聊天機器人提升消費體驗與售前∕售後服務。

以時尚連鎖品牌Zara為例,Zara利用機器人進行自助結帳,減少服務台排隊的客戶。而傢俱零售商 West Elm 與平價服飾品牌 Uniqlo 則是透過人工智慧分析使用者對產品類型喜好或臉部表情等數據資料,向顧客推薦其可能偏好的商品。此外,美國連鎖藥局 Walgreens 利用人工智慧追蹤抗病毒藥物、止咳藥、與感冒藥的銷售情況,偵測季節性流感的傳播狀況;不只有助藥商控管存貨,也能作為當地社區預防流感的參考依據。最後是自然語言處理(NLP, Natural Language Processing)技術的進步,現今的人工智慧技術相較於之前更能模擬真人回覆,這意味著在不久的將來跨多種語言的自動化客服將有長足的進步,使品牌商與零售業者能以更有效的方式服務顧客,從而提升顧客滿意度。

數據與人工智慧還能幫助業者規劃線上至線下的不同消費者情境。人工智慧已在強化學習的領域獲得重大突破,能夠對資源做更好的分配。這項優勢在管理和因應快速變化的全球疫情態勢尤其重要。強化學習著眼於在既定環境與情勢下,應該採取哪些行動以獲得正向回饋。對企業而言,這項突破可以改善涉及到人力、存貨、車輛、倉儲等需要資源分配的領域,幫助具有物流需求,像是需要配送或運輸商品的企業(例如電商、美食外送業者等等),不僅僅是依賴當下模式與過往經驗做出資源配置決策,還能附加上強化學習的優勢,更好地預測未來資源分配的情形,確保為接下來預期發生的情境做最佳準備(例如在交通繁忙情況下預先派發更多司機、在需求量大的時期提早備貨等等)。

數據資料將會是智慧零售時代最具影響力的關鍵,而且影響層面將貫串資源分配、物流配送、使用者體驗、到顧客服務。我們已經見證了智慧零售的影響力,零售業者也在 2020 年意識到轉向數位優先經營的急迫性。可以預期零售業者在未來將持續引領先進技術的應用,不只要因應疫情適應新常態,還要讓消費行為更加有趣、更身歷其境、且更有效率。

強力徵求
Machine Learning Scientist
Task of the role

  1. Use machine learning and analytical techniques to build prediction model for advertising/enterprise solutions.
  2. Experience in analyzing and extracting valuable information from large amounts of business data
  3. Design, develop and test advanced models for predictive consumer behavior
  4. Co-operate with software engineering teams to drive real-time model implementations and new feature creations
  5. Design efficient, scalable, automated processes for large scale data analyses, model development, model validation and model implementation
  6. Research and evaluate pioneering machine learning and statistical model

Backend Engineer
Task of the role

  1. Develop and operate scalable, reliable and maintainable service-based software and related components.
  2. Cowork with team members to design system architecture, choose proper technologies and plan development.
  3. Design & develop server-side architecture & function logic of new services
  4. Design and maintain database schemas for new services
  5. Ensures the scalability of the system
  6. Ensure the high performance of responsiveness to requests from the front-end
  7. Integrate the front-end modules built by your coworkers into new services
  8. Responsible for laying the foundation for the platform as well as proposing solutions to ease software development, monitoring of software, etc.
  9. Profiling and performance tuning of critical components
  10. Deploy system to production and monitor service health
  11. Participate in idea brainstorming and contribute ideas to technology, algorithms and products

Frontend Engineer
Task of the role

  1. Design & develop front-end architecture & interactive user interfaces
  2. Integrate the back-end modules built by your coworkers into new services
  3. Ensures the flexibility of front-end architecture
  4. Ensure the high performance of responsiveness
  5. Build reusable code and libraries for future use
  6. Build unit tests and test automation
  7. Perform code reviews to ensure existing code stay high-quality, fast, and flexible
  8. Handle and resolve issues escalated from the production operational environment
  9. Participate in idea brainstorming and contribute ideas to technology, algorithms and products

其他職缺更多職缺資訊,請見Appier網站
● iOS Engineer
● Android Engineer
● QA Engineer
● Product Manager

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