Original link: https://www.skyue.com/23052322.html
Yesterday, I discussed with my colleagues the impact of ChatGPT on e-commerce platforms and recorded some thoughts.
One of the concerns is: Will ChatGPT become a super portal, where users can directly express their needs in the dialog box, get product recommendations, and complete shopping. If there is such a day, what will it mean for the e-commerce platform.
ChatGPT is very similar to search in terms of usage scenarios, and it is natural to think of the relationship between search and e-commerce platforms. Taking China as an example, Baidu failed to become the entrance of shopping. There should be the following reasons:
- Baidu cannot index data : Taobao, based on commercial considerations, does not want to become Baidu’s dirty, it blocks Baidu, does not allow Baidu to index Taobao’s product information, and other e-commerce platforms are not sure whether to allow Baidu to index. But without Taobao’s data, the supply of goods will be much less.
- Comprehensive search experience is not as good as vertical search : Taking a step back, even if Baidu can capture Taobao’s information, it can obtain limited product information and user information (for example, cannot obtain purchase information), so in terms of product search and recommendation experience, it will certainly not be able to compete with Taobao. compared to. In the 2010s, with the rapid popularization of the mobile Internet, Baidu’s web experience is far inferior to that of vertical apps such as Taobao.
- The network effect of the e-commerce platform and the minds of users : the more buyers there are, the more sellers are willing to open stores on the platform; the more sellers and more products, the more buyers are willing to shop on the platform; For logistics and other services, the platform has a natural network effect, which will eventually form a small number of oligarchic platforms and shape the minds of users (you can go to XXX when shopping). In this way, users will not go to comprehensive search when shopping.
The US market is similar. Although Amazon does not block Google, when users have shopping needs, they still go to Amazon to search instead of Google. According to statistics , Amazon is the second largest search engine after Google in the United States.
At present, ChatGPT’s capabilities are mainly in two aspects: information acquisition and content creation. If ChatGPT does not exceed these two capabilities, then the above analysis still applies. It cannot subvert users’ current shopping habits, nor can it become a shopping portal.
At this stage, ChatGPT can at most provide some decision-making information before shopping like a search, such as asking ChatGPT: “I want to buy a mobile phone-sized, easy-to-carry ink screen reader, and support WeChat reading app, what recommendations do you have?” Considering ChatGPT It is generative authoring, which can provide more direct and richer decision information than search. If the accuracy of the answer is reliable, it can replace the search engine. (PS: I googled this question, but there is no ideal result)
But if ChatGPT can evolve into a full-fledged personal assistant and can use tools to solve problems, it may become a proxy between users and e-commerce platforms . The user’s shopping process may become like this:
- Users give their needs to ChatGPT.
- ChatGPT uses platforms such as Taobao and JD.com to select a number of candidate products for users according to user needs, and gives sufficient reasons. ——You can even bargain with the seller to get a better price. (The seller’s customer service may also be ChatGPT, haha)
- The user confirms which one is desired among the candidate products.
- ChatGPT places an order and follows up the logistics.
- After receiving the goods, the user may praise ChatGPT for the good selection
- ChatGPT went to the e-commerce platform to give a 5-star praise.
If the user trusts ChatGPT enough, the third step can also be saved.
In the above process, ChatGPT replaces people and becomes the real user of the e-commerce platform . This will have a profound impact on e-commerce platforms.
For example, the network effect of e-commerce platforms will be weakened . A premise of the network effect is that the more merchants on the platform, the more users will come to this platform to shop, but it has an invisible assumption that the time and energy of users are limited, so they go to the top platform to shop and find the efficiency of products. higher. But if it is ChatGPT shopping, it can traverse dozens, hundreds or even more platforms to find the most cost-effective products that best meet the needs of users. Then sellers have every reason to open a store on a platform with a lower rate, regardless of the size of the platform.
For another example, those complicated marketing are no longer effective , because ChatGPT can accurately calculate and make absolutely rational decisions.
In this way, there is a high probability that the e-commerce platform will be subverted. But on this day, it is not only the e-commerce platform that has been subverted.
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