REVOLUTIONIZING ECOMMERCE: HOW IDEAINYOU PUTS AI, ML AND BLOCKCHAIN TO WORK?
REVOLUTIONIZING ECOMMERCE: HOW IDEAINYOU PUTS AI, ML AND BLOCKCHAIN TO WORK?
AI, ML and Blockchain are driving creativity. Instead of “how to do” questions, we are now interested in “what to do”. Maksym Pundyk, Co-Founder of IdeaInYou, is convinced of these statements. Together with the Maksym team, he helps eCommerce projects and other startups implement AI, ML and Blockchain solutions. Maksym told about his experience of using these technologies in an interview.
WHAT ARE THE SPECIFICS OF IDEAINYOU’S ACTIVITY?
We started our journey with eCommerce, which has remained our key specialization. However, we do not focus on specific domains, but try to cover as many interesting niches and aspects in the work as possible. In addition to service services, we also develop our own products. For example, we are currently working on a fintech product. Our mission is to show that service companies can also make quality products.
TELL US HOW YOU IMPLEMENT AI, ML AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES IN ECOMMERCE AND OTHER PROJECTS?
We have been working with AI, ML and Blockchain for 3 years. In the eCommerce segment, we actively use ML and AI to optimize catalog search and image search. Also, recommendations work well. For example, for one client, implementing recommendations based on user-viewed products increased sales by 12.5%. Then this figure increased to 19%.
Also, we use AI in marketing. But this requires a lot of traffic. Then AI can form a portrait of the ideal client, track his actions on the site and record desires, preferences, requests, pains, behavior patterns. Thanks to this date, you can build effective communication messages and marketing companies: attract new customers and increase the loyalty of existing ones.
ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN ADAPTING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ECOMMERCE SEGMENT?
The main problem is the mentality of customers, which broadcasts unpreparedness for changes and new technologies. This applies to both Ukrainian and foreign customers. And this is logical, because it is difficult to predict how this or that technology will affect their business. Therefore, using AI, ML or Blockchain for most is a real experiment and a risk. And who is ready for this risk in such an unstable time?
HOW DO YOU OVERCOME THE “TECHNOLOGICAL RESISTANCE” OF CUSTOMERS AND EXPLAIN THE VALUE OF AI?
Only by talking. We show our successful cases and try to show the customer the value of these technologies. Of course, trust is a key aspect. If the client trusts you and your team as professionals, he will be ready to experiment.
What lessons have you learned from working on projects using AI, ML or Blockchain for eCommerce, and how does this inform your approach to developing and implementing similar solutions for future clients?
As I already said, the main problem is a mindset that is not ready for changes. Also, AI needs a non-trivial approach to work in terms of problem solving. Not everyone understands how these technologies can be applied. Many are even afraid of them. Why? Because the lion’s share of work for some roles can now be done by AI and it devalues human labor. At school, parents, teachers, we were always taught “how to do” this or that, but not “for what?”. AI, ML and Blockchain pose another question to us: “what to do? for what? how to make the world a better place?”. And now, with these tools, it becomes our responsibility. We don’t need instructions anymore. Now is the time for creativity, creativity, courage. AI is here to make us think differently and find our true value as creators.
HOW DID YOU COME TO CREATE A COMPANY BASED ON AI, ML AND BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTIONS? BUT HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE POTENTIAL OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE FUTURE?
After ChatGPT was released, I immediately tried it out and was impressed with its capabilities. This led me to the important thoughts that every person should ask themselves: “What is my value?”. We often run away from such questions by immersing ourselves in our day-to-day work, without considering how we can become more valuable and bring more value to the market.
That is why, even after the release of such a powerful tool as ChatGPT, many people do not want to deal with it, because these technologies, doing all the same work and even more, devalue the work of many and literally make us reconsider our views on life and the value of human work .
Previously, working as a developer in various companies, I often fell into existential crises, doing “work for the sake of work” and thought that this was not normal, especially for a 20-year-old guy starting his own business. I have always thought that you need to “code” not just like that, but for something, for a greater goal, for the development of humanity.
But then I realized that these are exactly the questions, the answers to which give us an incredible leap in development, and humanity must go through this stage of transformation in order to reach a new level.
There is an opinion that technological progress hinders spiritual development, and in fact it only contributes to it. Currently, he encourages a person to understand his true value and find contact with himself, and only then he will be truly ready to create incredible things.