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Visual search makes shopping smarter and simple

At the recently announced Q2 results of Google and Alphabet, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that people are using Google Lens to conduct visual searches more than 8 billion times a month. Pichai also said that Google’s new feature, Multisearch, which helps people find what they are looking for through the use of images and text, is also gaining ground. “Later this year, Multisearch will be able to help people find local results near them,” he said. Pichai added, “We see hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google Images each month. Merchants will soon be able to submit 3D images of their products to appear directly on Google Search, so customers can try before they buy.” Visual search, which allows users to discover products by clicking on a similar-looking picture, has been around for a while and has been used by Google, Amazon and Pinterest.In April, Google announced the launch of Multisearch, which uses both text and images for improved search. With Multisearch in Lens, people can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what they see. Of course, all of this is made possible by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in search.

Shoppers from tier-I and tier-II cities drive India’s e-commerce growth

India’s Retail and E-commerce Trends, a report prepared by e-commerce tech firm Unicommerce along with Wazir Advisors, assesses the growth of India’s retail and e-commerce industry in FY22 and how consumer buying patterns have changed in the last two years. The report underlines that over this period India’s e-commerce growth was driven by consumers from tier-II and tier-III cities. Furthermore, growth was powered by the direct-to-consumer (D2C) segment. Some of the highlights are – $836bn estimated size of India’s retail sector in 2021-22 (FY22), 81.5% contribution from traditional retail, 12% organized brick-and-mortar, and 6.5% online sales channels, $225bn potential size of the online retail market in India, which is expected to grow at 32% a year over the next few years & $70bn Potential size of the D2C segment in the next few years, reflecting a robust CAGR of nearly 45%.

74% of large enterprises in India step up security spending in 2022

Facing an increase in cyberattacks, 74% of large enterprises in India have increased their spending on security in 2022, shows data released by International Data Corporation (IDC). This is expected to boost the value of India’s security market, which is expected to grow to $2.51 billion in 2022, according to IDC.  Services, followed by software and hardware, accounted for most of the enterprise spending. IDC further projected the Indian security market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.8% to $4.16 billion by 2026. Professional services, government, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), and healthcare are some of the sectors where a “considerable investment” was seen, IDC added. In the BFSI sector, more than 77% of enterprises have invested in cyber resilience solutions, identity security, and data security. IDC said that most enterprises are planning to invest across all security areas, especially to meet the increasing demand for hybrid-working models after the pandemic. 

Google to Allow ‘Asian-owned’ Label on Search

Google launched a new attribute that allows businesses in the U.S. to identify themselves as Asian-owned. Designed to promote diversity and help Asian merchants recover from COVID-19 losses, the “Asian-owned” attribute can now be added to Business Profiles on Search and Maps. Additionally, ad-supported publishers will soon be able to use the label in Display & Video 360’s Marketplace. The update adds to existing business attributes, such as “Black-owned,” “Latino-owned,” “veteran-owned,” “women-owned” and “LGBTQ+ owned.” Owners can use multiple attributes. “As we were building this feature, we worked with hundreds of Asian-owned businesses to ensure the attribute celebrates our diverse and unique cultures,” Search Product Manager Leanne Luce wrote in a blog post. Google also announced that Grow With Google is building upon its partnership with the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC) to help 10,000 additional Asian-owned small businesses gain digital skills. So far, the collaborative effort has helped some 20,000 Asian-owned small businesses through workshops on design thinking, e-commerce tools and analytics.

India has an EV super app coming

The government is working on launching a comprehensive app to hasten the adoption of electrical vehicles (EVs), that will function as a one-stop store. According to reports, Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), a state-run company, is gathering data from the private sector for the super app, which is expected to go live in the next four to six weeks. Customers will be able to make and modify reservations at nearby stations using the app, which will feature detailed availability, charger types, and charging costs and can provide information on the location and availability of car charging stations. Mahua Acharya, Managing Director of CESL, stated that the Union government’s goal is to establish an agreement that benefits all stakeholders.

Companies use NLP-based sentiment analysis to source intelligence

Pandemic-led complications are prompting companies across sectors to use artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sentiment analysis. For instance, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted a moratorium on loan repayments, banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) had to deal with a backlog of pending loans. To accelerate the process, many NBFCs and banks began to adopt natural language processing (NLP)-based solutions to assess a borrower’s sentiment from their conversations. A case in point is Credgenics’ sentiment analysis tool that uses speech recognition and analysis of chats over automated voice bots and WhatsApp bots to generate insights  about borrowers. These have allowed NBFCs and banks to identify the problems that borrowers are facing in paying loans. Credgencis claims that over 60 lending institutions including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and IDFC First Bank are using its sentiment analysis-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. According to Agrawal, sentiment analysis has enabled lending institutions to improve their debt collection rates by 15-20% and recover 70-95% of their bad debts.

Chatbots to become primary customer service channel by 2027

Gartner predicts that by 2027, chatbots will become the primary customer service channel for roughly a quarter of organizations. “Chatbots and virtual customer assistants (VCAs) have evolved over the past decade to become a critical technology component of a service organization’s strategy,” said Uma Challa, senior director analyst in the Gartner Customer Service & Support practice. She added that when designed correctly, chatbots can improve customer experience and drive positive customer emotion at a lower cost than live interactions. A Gartner customer service and support (CSS) survey of 50 respondents conducted online in January and February 2022 revealed that 54% of respondents are using some form of chatbot, virtual customer assistant (VCA) or other conversational AI platform for customer-facing applications. Challa says CSS leaders have a positive future outlook for chatbots, but struggle to identify actionable metrics, minimizing their ability to drive chatbot evolution and expansion, and limiting their ROI.


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