By: Liu Xiangyu, InfoQ Author
Edited by: Kitty
Planned by: QCon Global Software Development Conference
How can AI technology help merchants improve their online operations and ultimately boost their business performance? This isa challenging question. At the QCon Global Software Development Conference 2024 (Shanghai) held on October 18-19, Liu Xiangyu,a technical expert from Alibaba’s Taobao Group, shared his insights on AI-Powered Merchant Management: 1688 E-commerce AI Implementation in Action. He presented real-world examples of AI applications for 1688 merchants, covering intelligent services for consulting Q&A, customer management, product operations, business planning, and industry-leading AI-powered management capabilities. He also discussed related technical solutions and lessons learned. His presentation was highly praised, earning him the Star Speaker award at QCon.
From December 13-14, InfoQ China’s AICon Global Artificial Intelligence Development and Application Conference will be held in Beijing, featuring exciting topics such as AI Agent technology breakthroughs and applications, and large model industry implementation practices. Stay tuned for more updates.
Below is a transcript of QCon’s newly-minted star speaker, Liu Xiangyu’s presentation, organized from the author’s perspective.
What is E-commerce Management?
Over the past year, the management model has become the most fashionable term in the e-commerce field. Our AIimplementation is also centered around this model. Therefore, please allow me to take a moment to clarify it. Simply put, management means that I buy your inventory rights and then I sell it, which is called (full) management. Under the full management model, the e-commerce platform no longer acts solely as a trafficentry point but directly faces consumers as a seller, assuming actual sales responsibility. In this model, the platform not only provides traffic entry but also directly manages product sales, logistics delivery, and other aspects, achieving full control over the entire sales process. For example, sellers only need to deliver their goods to the platform’s domesticcollection warehouse, and subsequent logistics, fulfillment, and after-sales service are all handled by the platform. Even your store operations can be entrusted to the platform, leaving you only responsible for supplying goods and nothing else. You can be a hands-off manager. As shown in the figure below, there are many stages involved in e-commerce operations. Each stage and its sub-fields attract individuals seeking profit opportunities. These opportunities also emerge continuously due to the division of labor and reorganization along the long chain. The so-called full management and semi-management should not be overly fixated on their definitions (each platform has its own). The key is topay attention to the fact that the prevalence of the management logic validates the value of re-organizing the division of labor in the new environment. Different platforms can find new optimization spaces along the industry’s long chain based on their own circumstances.
Why Do We Need Management?
Compared to domestic e-commerce, both traditional foreign trade and cross-border e-commerce are much more complex. Taking Amazon as an example, I have summarized the main stages and operations of cross-border e-commerce. Although it has been significantly simplified, it is still evident that the complexities in areas like inventory, logistics, and finance are muchgreater. Additionally, traditional foreign trade is even more complicated.
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