AI technology injects new momentum into e-commerce

BEIJING - "Unbelievable! I thought she was a real person!" A visitor exclaimed in amazement after finding out that the livestreamer selling beauty products on a large screen was a digital person.

The digital livestreamer named Yanxi has completed over 400,000 hours of livestreaming for more than 5,000 brands, attracting at least 100 million views, said a staff member at the booth of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which runs from Sept 12 to 16 in Beijing.

With the help of Yanxi, merchants can set up an e-commerce livestreaming room within just two hours, at a cost only one-tenth of that required for a human livestreamer, providing consumers with 24/7 services.

JD.com also launched an AI-generated content (AIGC) platform, which assists merchants in making product images, marketing copy, and short product videos with a simple click. This innovation helps increase efficiency by more than 90 percent.

It is evident at the CIFTIS that AI, with its diverse array of products, is bringing new vitality and momentum to e-commerce.

Alibaba.com, a Chinese cross-border e-commerce giant, announced at the CIFTIS the launch of comprehensive AI application in foreign trade. Every step of cross-border trade, including procurement, search, product launch, reception, logistics, is now connected to AI technology.

When a product is sold in different countries and regions on Alibaba.com, the priorities of the display models and prices provided to sellers are different, said Jiang Lin, head of capital brand of Alibaba.com.

The platform helps merchants gain a better understanding of the markets in different countries and regions through big data and AI analysis, Jiang said.

Last year, Alibaba.com launched an AI business assistant that's now utilized by over 30,000 small and medium-sized enterprises. It can automatically generate a full set of product information such as title, keywords, price and pictures according to a product image or several keywords, reducing the time for sellers to publish goods from 60 minutes to around 60 seconds.

Lyu Hongwei, co-founder of Hebei Hangfa Technology Co Ltd., said that the company's tedious and repetitive work like publishing goods has been handed over to the AI business assistant.

China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.22 trillion yuan ($172 billion) in the first half of 2024, an increase of 10.5 percent, according to an analysis report on China's e-commerce regional development big data released at CIFTIS.

The digital trade services in the era of AI is expected to provide one-stop export services for enterprises, thereby creating new growth points for service trade, said Liu Guangjun, head of the Chinese merchants division of Alibaba.com.

As digital technology continues to advance, it will further promote the development of global service trade in the future, said Long Guoqiang, deputy head of the Development Research Center of the State Council, at the CIFTIS.