Alibaba International has announced that approximately 500,000 merchants have adopted its generative AI toolkit, branded as “Aidge,” across more than 40 ecommerce scenarios. Since its launch last November, the toolkit’s average daily application programming interface (API) calls have doubled every two months, now exceeding 50 million. Over 100 million product listings on Alibaba International’s platforms have been refined and adapted into multiple languages using AI, helping merchants expand their market reach and boost purchase conversions.
Enhancing Operational Efficiency
AI is increasingly pivotal in enhancing the operational efficiency of merchants on Alibaba International’s e-commerce platforms. The AI toolkit has been applied to over 40 e-commerce scenarios, including:
- Product Listing Refinement: Improving the quality and accuracy of product listings.
- Marketing: Enhancing marketing strategies and content.
- Customer Service: Providing instant, informed responses to customer queries.
- Design and Process Automation: Streamlining design processes and automating various tasks.
In each of these use cases, generative AI has led to significant improvements in content quality, click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction, sometimes by double digits.
Advanced AI Capabilities
Alibaba International’s AI capabilities extend beyond basic functions like translation and generating text and images. The technology is leveraged for advanced customization and solving complex problems in areas such as:
- Customer Service: AI provides 24/7 availability, delivering instant responses using data from product detail pages (Retrieval Augmented Generation, or RAG). For example, AliExpress Choice, a premium service of AliExpress, reported a 29% increase in conversion rates from pre-sales inquiries after adopting AI customer service in June 2024.
- Chargeback Defence: The Chargeback Agent generates dispute letters on behalf of merchants, using order information such as payment and logistics details. This tool has increased merchants’ chargeback defence success rate by 15% on average.
- Refund Solutions: The upcoming AI Refund Agent will offer a flexible refund solution, optimizing customer satisfaction while reducing merchant costs. It processes e-commerce transaction disputes and verifies evidence to calculate refund amounts.
Cost Reduction and Efficiency
AI also helps lower product supply costs for e-commerce merchants. For instance, Alibaba International’s virtual try-on feature allows apparel merchants to create images displaying their products on virtual models by simply uploading a clothing item’s image. This feature offers a wide selection of model styles, providing diverse product representations and a cost-effective alternative to traditional model photoshoots.
Global commerce represents a fertile ground for generative AI applications, particularly as LLMs are enhanced for greater multilingual capabilities. It is evident that small and medium-sized businesses stand to benefit the most from AI advancements, enabling them to overcome traditional barriers including the lack the access to talent and human expertise
In addition to its own platforms, Alibaba International is also working with external partners in the cross-border e-commerce space to expand the reach of AI’s benefits. “We strongly believe that in the e-commerce space, generative AI is a real catalyst to fulfill Alibaba’s mission: to make it easy to do business anywhere.
– Kaifu Zhang, Vice President, Alibaba International
