Connecting ‘Bharat’ Online: An AI Framework of 4Vs — Voice, Video, Visual, Vernacular — for Customer Acquisition in Tier 2–3 E-Commerce
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/bwky2872Keywords:
AI-enabled e-commerce, 4Vs framework, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, customer acquisition, vernacular commerceAbstract
Customer acquisition in e-commerce in India will soon be increasingly led by consumers in tier 2 and tier 3 towns referred to as 'Bharat'. However, there exist several barriers faced by this emerging consumer base, which includes, among others, language barriers, lack of digital literacy, text-heavy platforms, products not being well-understood, concerns of online trust and risk, and shopping cart abandonment issues. This paper reviews the adoption barriers faced by Bharat e-commerce customers and proposes the use of an AI-driven 4Vs (Voice, Video, Visual, and Vernacular) framework to facilitate acquisition of this new customer segment. Voice assistants and voice search technologies enable reduced reliance on typing and navigation, video commerce enhances understanding of the product through demonstrations and live interaction, visual tools like image search and augmented reality make customers less reliant on text and helps bridge the missing touch-and-feel barrier, and vernacular tools enhance trust via a more relatable means of interaction. The paper highlights e-commerce adoption literature, online trust and risk, shopping cart abandonment, voice assistants, video commerce, visual commerce, and localized communications. This paper seeks to contribute to e-commerce literature by offering a framework which incorporates AI-powered tools to facilitate customer acquisition.
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