In the late 2000s, there was a giant name in the entertainment world. Every person who watched movies (which is, well, everyone) knew and loved this brand.
Its stores, with rows upon rows of DVDs, were the go-to place for every movie lover. No direct competitor could beat them. Their company was a money-making machine.
But nobody could guess this brand would soon collapse completely. And in an instant.
Something suddenly changed about the way people consume movies. A new technology disrupted the industry, turning DVDs into a thing of the past. Unfortunately, the “hero” of this tale didn’t want to adapt to this new technology, ultimately putting “The End” to their own story.
We’re talking about Blockbuster. And the new tech they didn’t want to pivot toward? Online streaming.
However, one of their direct competitors did choose to embrace this new tech.
It was Netflix.
A much smaller company (at the time) saw the internet would revolutionize how we watch movies. Blockbuster failed to recognize the big shift happening, and now everybody wants to Netflix and chill. Nobody wants to Blockbuster and chill, nor can they.
So, why is this little cautionary tale vital for every modern ecommerce business?
Ecommerce is Going Through a Shift. Don’t Miss the Wave
The ecommerce world is facing some challenges that are slowing down its progress.
Based on a 2023 multi-industry study, the average ecommerce bounce rate is approximately 54%. That means that more than every other visitor leaves an ecommerce website without even looking at the products.
The industry, however, is growing quickly.
But despite ecommerce having a projected market volume of US$5.56 trillion by 2027, some important KPIs do not follow this growing trend as much as they could. AOV, one of the vital e-comm metrics, hasn’t exactly been on the rise over the last seven years.
What’s going wrong?
3 main things:
- Text-based search
- Cookies and Metadata
- Search Filters
Text-based search is slow
Using words to search for products can be tricky. It’s not always easy to describe exactly what you want. And even when you succeed, you have to scroll endlessly, open god-knows how many new tabs, and still likely not get what you want.
Not to mention that text-based search engines often fetch irrelevant results. All this makes shopping frustrating.
The issue of cookies and metadata
People don’t like cookies because they make them feel like their privacy is being invaded. On the other hand, metadata is annoying for online retailers. Both cookies and metadata are slowing down ecommerce online shopping journeys.
Search filters are not helping you
Filters are supposed to speed up product discovery. But often, they hide items you might actually want to buy.
Fixing these problems will make online shopping much smoother and more enjoyable for everyone.
The solution?
AI photo search.
AI Photo Search is Changing the Ecommerce Industry. Forever.
Visual AI search engine tech is currently disrupting numerous industries. Aside from the two arguably biggest AI picture search engines, or AI reverse photo search tools:
…there are numerous other image AI search solutions that are on the rise, like Imaiger, AIimag.es, SplashAI, and other popular ones.
AI photo search software is used across various industries like stock image platforms (AI stock photo search is used to sort and organize photos), social media (to help users discover relevant content), Healthcare (to identify medical conditions), and so on…
But its biggest potential lies within the ecommerce industry.
Wordless search based on visual AI technology works so much better than using text to search for desired products. It uses visual search patterns and AI to read product photos and more easily put the right items in front of the shopper.
AI photo search software eliminates all the obstacles slowing down online retailers. It’s almost like it’s reading your mind and putting just the right products in front of you in a few clicks and less than 60 seconds.
Sounds too good to be true?
With Miros.ai, it’s as real as it gets!
Beat Your Competitors With Miros
Miros is an AI photo search tool used by numerous ecommerce platforms to improve their shopping experience and increase revenue.
Here’s a photo of a typical shopper who shops on platforms that use Miros:
Jokes aside, let’s take Swap, a second-hand clothing retailer, for example. By using Miros, they increased conversion rates by almost 5% shortly after integrating it into their systems. Their AOV also increased by 8%, with GMV getting a 10% boost.
How?
Well, they improved the shopping journey of their website visitors by enabling them to shop in the exact same way as using TikTok or Pinterest.
Miros helps you eliminate the problems with text-only search, like in this example below:
It beats any other way of improving personalization while removing the need for cookies and metadata. This means that a shopper can quickly find exactly the item they need and get recommended only relevant items.
And they don’t have to give away a single piece of private data.
The shopper simply uses a single query, and by clicking on a couple of images, the AI photo search reads what’s in the pictures and brings only relevant products to their feed.No filters.No cookies.No opening countless new tabs.
Just a fun, TikTok-like shopping journey that brings results.
Book a demo with the Miros team, and start your own journey into the future of ecommerce.
