The latest report by Euromonitor International revealed that Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies that are quick to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technology are likely to see a boost in revenue from honing their ability to deliver a better customer experience.
The research company said in the report that nearly three quarters of global consumers are using AI to help in everyday tasks such as drafting correspondence, and many of them also expect companies to tap the same technology to help in their purchases.
It was also stated that in China, 56.2% of consumers said they used voice assistants this year while making purchases.
More than half of the professionals interviewed in the study said their companies plan to invest in generative AI over the next five years, likely giving a boost to AI companies such as ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
Mainland Chinese companies have also jumped on the AI bandwagon with the likes of Alibaba Group Holding and search-engine giant Baidu launching their own AI offerings based on large language models. Alibaba owns the Post.
The report stated, “Generative AI solutions support the innovation process, which could accelerate go-to-market strategies. Content creation and ideation can be achieved at speed for faster delivery.”
“Businesses that leverage the capabilities of this technology can synthesise user data to guide new product development. Plus integrating customer inputs will help companies customise marketing campaigns, merchandise and services at scale,” it added.
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According to Euromonitor’s global survey, companies expect AI to improve customer experience by creating more intelligent shopping suggestions based on consumer data (49%), creating more targeted marketing campaigns (44%), building customer-service chatbots (44%), optimising product images and copy (43%) and assisting with travel planning and shopping (42%).
China-based travel booking platform Trip.com is one company that has seen direct benefits from AI, thanks to its AI travel assistant, known as TripGenie.
Launched in July, the personalised travel assistant has “doubled conversion rates and increased user retention through improved user engagement and overall service efficiency”, according to the report.
The generative AI market will be worth US$1.3 trillion by 2032, compared with US$40 billion in 2022, according to another report released earlier in June by Bloomberg Intelligence.
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“The revenue stream of the overall AI market experienced significant growth as the demand from FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] companies surged since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022,” said Herbert Yum, research manager at Euromonitor.
“After the first wave, other companies were taking a conservative approach to see if there was a successful case they could replicate in their business model. Therefore, we would expect a second wave of revenue growth in 2024 and 2025,” he said.
Besides generative AI, high labour costs and demand for automation will drive the development of other AI-based solutions, such as in robotics, advanced data analytics and lean supply chain management, the report said.
“Therefore, the outlook of the AI industry is bright over the forecast period,” Yum added.
(Source – SCMP)
