Forget waiting for an AI wave and relying on dated approaches, says e-commerce expert 

“It’s time to stop defining audiences by demographics or past purchasing choices and calling it personalisation. The segmentation approach is dead,” says Robin Mellstrand, e-commerce expert and Chief Strategy Officer at FACT-Finder. Introducing a new approach, the company is announcing the launch of FACT-Finder Next Generation Blixt, a real-time, AI-based solution that marks a milestone in search and personalisation for online retailers.

FACT-Finder is addressing the need to deliver ultra-relevant experiences to customers by enabling them to move their personalisation efforts away from the traditional segmentation approach. Amongst its key features, Next Generation Blixt delivers true 1:1 personalisation without segment rules or collaborative filtering. It uses a small-data, fast-learning approach to determine ranking, which means that it finds all products relevant for a customer, including those that are new or niche. Emile Bloemen, CEO of FACT-Finder, emphasises: “The combination of business expertise and AI is a truly exciting development. With manual control and transparent AI, consumers have the best experience and businesses are in control of their commerce future.”

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“The solution is a game-changer because it understands customer intent and adjusts results in real-time using an entirely new AI approach to personalisation,” continued Robin Mellstrand. “Without the need for log-in, demographic or sensitive data, the AI engine in Next Generation Blixt understands how products are related and shows customers exactly the recommendations that best fit the context and purchase intention. It automates in a way that manual rules never can, and the results are transformative.”

The launch of the new solution comes six months after FACT-Finder announced its acquisition of Loop54, the Nordic market leader in AI-based personalisation. It represents a winning combination of both artificial and human intelligence, uniting FACT-Finder’s leading search, navigation, and merchandising functionality with Loop54’s real-time, 1:1 personalisation and recommendations.

FACT-Finder’s intuitive user interface together with the neural network developed by Loop54, which automatically maps relationships between products and optimises in the background, removes the ‘black box’ challenge commonly associated with AI solutions. The easy-to-use backend is accessible to the entire e-commerce team, removing the problems associated with delays in development that hamper dynamic change. This gives retailers the tools they need to implement changes, backed by AI, enabling them to develop strong differentiation in the highly competitive online retail market.

“We are putting control back in the hands of retailers,” said Mellstrand. “This approach no longer means that they will be reliant on masses of data or even customer interactions. Instead Blixt uses AI to gain a deeper understanding of search behavior much earlier in the customer journey and can adapt to shifts in behavior allowing it to respond flexibly to changing demands. Blixt will make sure that the right products are shown to the right individual by search or by product recommendation, without any compromise on their privacy due to cookies and without resorting to outdated segmentation.”

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