As grocers explore the artificial intelligence frontier, The Fresh Market is seeing encouraging results with AI as part of its shoppable video partnership with Firework.
In May, the companies announced the beta release of what they claim is the first-ever generative AI live shopping solution, allowing The Fresh Market’s customers to use the in-video chat feature on an ongoing, on-demand basis after a livestream has ended. Firework's proprietary AI engine is providing real-time responses to viewers’ questions. The new AI engine, which can be customized “to reflect each brand's unique voice,” uses a large language model that can understand and respond in several languages, per the announcement.
Previously, the grocer’s AI chatbot feature could be used during a livestream or within an hour of it ending, Yang said.
Several weeks into the launch of the new expanded capability, the specialty grocer is seeing, on average, 400% more consumer interaction with the on-demand, AI-powered livestream videos, said Vincent Yang, co-founder and CEO of Firework. Because consumer engagement time with the AI-powered chat has increased, the conversion rate has also improved, Yang said.
“[T]raditionally, the moment a livestream ended, a significant portion of that interactivity was lost,” Firework Chief Technology Officer Rick Zhuang noted in a statement. “Now, with our generative AI-powered livestreams, shoppers can enjoy personalized, real-time interactivity and support no matter when they choose to watch. As a result, our customers can get even more lifetime value out of the video commerce content they create — transforming on-demand video into always-on, interactive experiences.”
Asking “Where do I buy the birthday cake?” in the chatbox on the grocer’s livestream video about its 41st anniversary will elicit an “AI-Assistant” response saying that the cake is available as part of the grocer’s Birthday in a Box promotion.
“It includes a choice of lemon mousse, strawberry dream, triple chocolate truffle cake, or gluten-free dark chocolate and white chocolate layer cake,” per the AI bot.
In further tests by Grocery Dive, the questions of “Does the ice cream contain dairy?” and “How large is the cake?” received AI-generated responses that the ice cream included in that promotional box does contain dairy and that the cake is six inches.
Yang said that the AI-powered chatbox machine takes pricing, ingredients and product attributes, like organic, sourcing origin and calories, into consideration.
“Even a store associate cannot answer those but now the machine can, right? We train a machine to really understand all the detailed product descriptions,” Yang said.
The goal of the AI feature for Firework and The Fresh Market is to build a strong personal connection with shoppers through personalized recommendations and informative responses that mirror in-person customer service, Yang said.
“I want them to feel like they're interacting with a human. I want to feel like I'm listening to them,” Yang said.
Yang expects AI to make a large impact on retailers, especially grocers.
“I think that [AI] will also have a huge breakthrough to the U.S. live shopping industry. Because the reason why that live shop wasn't adopted in the U.S. compared to China is the word ‘live.’ Because in China, people are shopping in a social way. In the U.S., people go to the website,” Yang said, noting it’s not feasible to get hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers on a website at the exact same time.
The AI chatbot in the on-demand live stream videos is one of several AI products Firework is launching, Yang said, declining to share specifics on the other two upcoming products because they are in the patent process.
The latest move builds on The Fresh Market’s years-long work with Firework. In February, the companies announced the grocer would utilize the Firework video commerce platform to launch a shoppable video-live commerce retail media network.
Founded in 2017, Firework also counts Walmart, Albertsons and fashion brand Natori among its client base.
