It’s that time of year again — when online retailers begin to plan for a tidal wave of festive shoppers. What will AI’s role be during this busiest of all seasons?
The festive season means many things to many people; to retailers and e-tailers, it means things are about to get busy. This is true no matter when the festive shopping season begins. In India, for example, it runs from mid-August to January; in the US, it traditionally stretches from Thanksgiving to just after the New Year.

Retailers of all sorts are already adapting their approach by timing sales and tying them into holidays or other festive events (e.g. Black Friday and Super Bowl sales in the US; Indian e-tailer ShopClues’ Maha Bharat Diwali Sale and Amazon’s The Great Indian Festival). But how are they using technology to support their sales efforts?