GenAI is rapidly creating waves in the world of retail and this is evident in India’s retail ecosystem. In this exclusive Q&A, Mayur Datar, Chief Data Scientist at Flipkart, reveals how GenAI is revolutionizing the shopping experience for Flipkart customers and empowering sellers. He uncovers why GenAI is not just important but necessary to adapt and thrive in the dynamic world of Indian e-commerce.
GenAI, a cutting-edge technology powered by artificial intelligence, has revolutionized the e-commerce landscape for customers in India. In a nation known for its diverse culture, bustling markets, and burgeoning online shopping ecosystem, GenAI has emerged as a game-changer.
Imagine browsing through an e-commerce platform, and as you explore various products, GenAI works silently in the background, personalizing your shopping experience like never before. It understands your preferences and your affinity for certain product varieties, taking into account various learnings from your shopping journey.
At Flipkart, we have been leveraging Generative AI to improve experiences for our customers and sellers by implementing various AI-led innovations. In this Q&A, Mayur Datar, Chief Data Scientist at Flipkart, reveals why GenAI is not simply important, but also necessary to adapt and thrive in the dynamic world of Indian e-commerce.
How is GenAI employed to elevate the shopping experience for Flipkart customers?
Our customers are always at the core of our efforts. With GenAI we have not only redefined how e-commerce operates in India but also elevated the overall shopping experience for our customers. With its ability to understand and cater to the unique needs and preferences of the Indian market, GenAI has become an indispensable tool, making online shopping more convenient, engaging, and rewarding than ever before. Relying on our steadfast Customer First ethos, we are leveraging GenAI to revolutionize our homepage and enhance their shopping experience through chat-led commerce.
Soon, we aim to introduce an AI-powered E2E (End-to-End) assistant, to not only boost user engagement but also optimize conversion rates through personalized recommendations and assistance. We are also using several GenAI capabilities like intent understanding, summarization, question answering, image synthesis, and audio synthesis to enhance our customer experience.
We have also built an AI fashion designer based on a stable diffusion model that will create new designs. It auto-generates products that are fresh in Flipkart’s catalog through various combinations of attributes. With the right visibility, they are perceived to have the potential to be high-selling designs. We have now started testing thousands of these designs very actively with our seller base.
Additionally, we are also leveraging GenAI tools to improve internal productivity and efficiency.
So the benefit here is three-pronged. With GenAI, our sellers are able to leverage new insights that enable them to plan inventory and redesign products as per consumer demand, and our customers benefit from fresh natural engaging experiences as well as a large variety of products tailored to their unique preferences.
How is GenAI bringing precision to Flipkart’s offerings to customers?
With deeper integration of Generative AI, we are reimagining product recommendations based on customers’ preferences and behaviors. Flipkart has also developed chat-driven interactions for both customers and sellers and created internal tools to boost productivity and efficiency.
This year, on the Flipkart app, we launched a cutting-edge GenAI-powered chat assistant by Flipkart, revolutionizing the way consumers shop. ‘Flippi’ acts as a knowledgeable assistant, guiding users through personalized product recommendations based on individual tastes, budgets, and preferences. Whether customers seek fashion advice, budget-friendly options, or age-appropriate choices, ‘Flippi’ provides expert insights, enhancing the online shopping experience. Currently in English, ‘Flippi’ will soon offer multilingual support, ensuring accessibility for a wider audience and making online shopping decisions easier for millions of users.
We have fine-tuned and deployed Large Language Models (LLMs) in-house for several tasks like summarization, aspect extraction as well as precise and context-aware search and recommendations. We have enhanced our search capabilities using semantic search technology by changing our information-driven technique to a more semantic-based search experience, powered by large-language models. With this, we aim to make the discovery of products seamless and intuitive. The feature has been rolled out up to 60% already and has received positive reactions. We’re also delving into image-led discovery, enabling visual and multi-modal search, which we believe will reshape how users discover products.
GenAI is pivotal in elevating our core shopping experience. Our primary goal here is to provide users with an effortless path to find precisely what they seek.
What does the future of tech look like with GenAI for a company like Flipkart?
Flipkart has already invested in GenAI and we are exploring and developing more AI-based tools in the next 3-4 years. Generative AI has emerged as a promising technology trend over the past six to 12 months and we believe this trend is set to grow and change the way India shops. So it’s not just important for us, it’s a necessity that we stay on top of this trend, further unlock the potential of AI, and adapt it in the best possible way for India-specific retail challenges.
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