Technology plays a vital role in the growth of any business. Let’s explore how AI can be used to improve businesses.
If we go back two-three decades, only hard work and trust were enough to run a shop. But now times have changed. Today, customers want smart shops, which are clean to look at, active on social media and can provide offers or information immediately. Now this work is being done by Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI does not mean that a robot will come and do your work, rather there are such mobile apps or websites which understand you and work for you. For example, if you say, ‘Make a Facebook post for my shop’, then AI will itself make the post, photo and line. Let us understand how AI can be used to increase business.
1. Organize stuff
If things are scattered in the shop, the board looks old or the lighting is not right, then the customer leaves quickly. AI will help in this. Take a photo of the shop from your mobile and put it in the app. It will tell you where the lighting is low or how to decorate the things. AI will itself suggest some layouts, like ‘put the offer board on the front counter’ or ‘there is more space in the right side rack, keep the new goods there’. Use Canva app to make a banner, poster or layout of the shop. You can ask ChatGPT for ideas to decorate the shop and Google Lens will take a photo and show you how other people have decorated the shop.
2. Marketing plan
Running a shop is one thing, but getting repeat customers is another. Marketing is essential for this. With the help of AI, you can become a marketing expert yourself. Write to ChatGPT or Writesonic, ‘Create a marketing plan for my mobile shop for the month of October.’ Then it will tell you which days to offer offers, what to post on social media and what messages to send. ChatGPT can create a complete marketing plan. Writesonic creates lines for offers, advertisements and SMS. Use MailerLite to send offers to customers through email.
3. Social media presence
Today’s customers look on Google or Instagram before buying. If your shop is visible there, people will come on their own. Canva can be used to design beautiful photos and posts, Predis.ai to create and schedule Instagram or Facebook posts, and ChatGPT to create captions or funny lines for posts. Take a photo of your shop and put it in Canva or Predis.ai, and they will automatically create the post, including the photo, design, and caption all in one.
4. Invoices, Emails, and Proposal Letters
Shopkeepers often find it cumbersome to create bills or send emails. AI does this in seconds. Simply type in ChatGPT, “Write an email to send a bill to a customer.” It will give you a complete email draft, which you can copy and paste. Similarly, you can use Rossum to automatically create and send invoices, Grammarly to write emails or letters in clear and correct language, and ChatGPT to write proposals, emails, and letters.
5. Sales report will tell you where the problem is
Every shopkeeper has sales data, but no time to understand it. AI can do this job too. Enter your monthly sales report in Excel or Google Sheet. Then ask ChatGPT or Notion, ‘Which product’s sales are down?’ It will say, ‘Sales of tea leaves have decreased by 20% in the last 3 months.’ Enter the data report in Google Sheets and ChatGPT and ask what should be improved? Notion AI can be used to analyze sales and prepare reports, and Google Analytics can be used to understand online traffic.
Here too AI will be your assistant
- If a customer asks on WhatsApp, ‘Is this product available?’ or ‘When will the shop open?’ WhatsApp Business + Zoko AI or Wati can provide an automated response.
- Shopkeepers often forget which items are running out. In such situations, the Sortly app takes photos, counts items, and generates reports. Use Zoho Inventory to track stock and provide reorder alerts, and you can also integrate Google Sheets into ChatGPT to find out which items are running out.
- If you want to know which products are seeing increased demand in your area or online, Google Trends will tell you which products are getting the most searches. Ask ChatGPT or Perplexity.ai, what’s seen increased demand this month?
