In today’s competitive landscape, the best way for small businesses to stay ahead is to use technology to improve and transform their operations. Popular technologies helping SMEs streamline logistics and compete with larger companies with vast resources are artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
I recently sat on a panel at the 2024 Online Retailer conference to talk to SMEs like online retailers Nakie and CMY Cubes about how they are using these modern solutions to save on manpower and costs. These small businesses shared lots of practical insights on how AI can act as an additional ‘staff member’ in critical areas of the business as it can automate order fulfilment, customer service and data analysis.
For Nakie, their AI journey started when they realised their inventory management process was becoming unsustainable for their growing business. From launching the world’s first 100% recycled hammock in 2019 to expanding its recycled product range from beach towels to summer shirts, the online retailer needed an easy way to manage their inventory and fulfil orders.
Nakie is using AI to track stock levels and ensure they always have enough to meet customer demand -optimising back-end logistics. What’s more, Nakie also uses generative AI to analyse customer reviews to pick out key insights customers want the business to improve on. This type of operational efficiency not only allows Nakie to focus its resources on aspects like order fulfilment but also respond to customer feedback, ultimately leading to delivering on customer expectations and repeat purchases.
CMY Cubes started using AI to improve their marketing efforts and free up time to focus on their core business. To do this, the STEAM toy e-commerce business created a custom GPT AI model using its brand tone, messaging, and policies, to help create SEO-friendly blog posts, which is a task not directly related to their daily operations. By automating this process, they have been able to save time and focus on more important tasks, such as sales.
Additionally, CMY Cubes uses AI to analyse performance data and make informed decisions about their marketing strategy. By understanding which of their social media platforms are driving the most sales, they can allocate their marketing budget more effectively and ensure they are getting the best return on their investment, without the need for a dedicated data team.
Both small businesses provide insight into how AI and automation can be used to not only support operations but also improve customer service by using large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to draft and respond to customer queries. However, both retailers stress the importance of keeping the ‘human in the loop’ when using AI, to mitigate any issues relating to inaccuracies or security, and provide the best customer experience with a human touch.
Nakie and CMY Cube demonstrate how AI and automation can help small businesses run and scale their operations to meet customer needs and growing demand. In many instances, small businesses don’t have the resources, teams and budgets that big companies do. Similar advanced tech can be an equaliser and help to level the playing field by taking on some of the manual and repetitive tasks a small business needs to do, all while saving them money and time to focus on what’s most valuable.
