Online marketplace Mercari, a platform for buying and selling secondhand items, is testing the limits of AI-powered customer service. The company is piloting Merchat AI, a customer service chatbot powered by ChatGPT technology. ChatGPT interacts with users in a conversational style that mimics human interaction, leveraging machine learning (ML) to refine and improve its answers.
With Merchat AI, customers can now have real-time conversations and discover product recommendations tailored to their needs. At the prompt of customers, the chatbot will search Mercari’s platform for applicable items and display a list of recommendations. The shopping assistant is able to draw information from the millions of products listed on Mercari’s platform in seconds. Interacting with Merchat AI will be similar to talking to a customer associate, as the AI will ask questions to learn more about each customer’s preferences.
Merchat AI is now available across the US as a beta experience. In the early stages of the project, Mercari advises that its AI-powered customer service chatbot may be subject to inaccuracies and inconsistencies. As the technology is tested and improved upon, customer interactions with Merchat AI will become increasingly more streamlined and accurate.
John Lagerling, Mercari U.S. CEO, expressed excitement over the launch of the AI-powered chatbot, noting that the technology promises to make secondhand shopping easier. According to a survey of ChatGPT chatbot users conducted by online marketplace Capterra, 67% of respondents feel understood by the bot often or always, compared to 25% of traditional retail chatbot users. Close to six in 10 (56%) respondents who have used ChatGPT for any purpose say they are likely to shop from a brand that offers a similar tool.
Mercari registered over 50 million downloads in the U.S., with new items listed daily. Through the Mercari website or app, users can access the AI-powered chatbots and take advantage of the streamlined shopping experience. With advancements in AI technology, secondhand shopping could become even easier and more enjoyable.
