Retail Chronicles Issue 4 (1 to 15 October)

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The best part is that the app almost
always understands what the buyer
wants, and the order fulfillment is
perfect, with an occasional exception of
someone at a restaurant mixing up an
order. This human error is practically the
only thing reminding us that human
beings were involved in the process at
all.
As more sellers embrace chatbots,
human interaction is further removed
from the transaction. What’s strange,
however, is how it can feel like one is
interacting with another person. It’s not
uncommon for people to type phrases
like “Hello,” “How are you?” and even “I
love you” into chatbots, partially to see
what happens but partially because it
feels very natural to interact this way.
There is a process of self-delusion at
work too. Bots don’t need to pass a
Turing test to convince people that they
are human when people are willing to
anthropomorphize even relatively simple
bots.
Consequences of Conversational
Commerce
As conversational commerce rises
through automated bots, this can have
profound effects on call centres, and
become a lightning rod of an issue in
countries like India and the Philippines
that employ hundreds of thousands of
call centre workers. Consumers are
going to be trained to check for bots first
before calling retailers and brands, or
even before visiting their sites. The bots
will require fewer humans manning
them as responses will be automated to
common queries.
What could tilt trends in an opposing direction is
that websites and apps are faceless, beyond chats
with customer service. There is typically no human
interaction when shopping for a pair of shoes or
figuring out which hotel to book. Conversational
commerce creates opportunities for sellers’ staff to
become part of the process and offer
recommendations or ask questions that will
ultimately increase conversions while helping
buyers make more satisfying decisions. When
engaging with chatbots, efficiency is still important,
but so is a proper conversation stream.
In time, some sellers may promote that their
chatbots are manned by real human beings
offering live support. It will be the impetus, with
higher costs for the sellers contributing to a goal of
higher conversions. People may even recommend
such bots to their friends. After all, if one gets a
compliment on a pair of shoes, it’s nicer to say,
“Jenny from Zappos recommended them” than, “A
chatbot recommended them.”