5 Ways AI Can Help Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

While small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly adopting AI thanks to its growing accessibility, many consumers are also actively seeking out retailers and companies that offer AI-powered features to enhance their shopping experience. According to Adobe, the use of AI in online shopping surged by 1,200% between July 2024 and February 2025, based on the analysis of over 1 trillion e-commerce site visits and a survey of 5,000 consumers. The data confirms what the market has already been observing: AI is a vital tool for driving business growth. 

Below, we highlight five AI solutions that can help businesses of all sizes improve customer service and, in turn, increase sales conversion.

Smart Search

It’s common for businesses to miss out on valuable sales opportunities simply because a user couldn’t find a specific product in the store. This leads to frustration for the user and losses for retailers, not only due to the missed conversion but also the potential loss of a customer who may never return.

AI-powered search solutions can improve the customer journey by optimising product searches and suggesting relevant items, even when the exact product name isn’t used. Machine learning can also recommend related products that match the user’s profile.

Adobe’s research shows that 55% of users report using AI platforms for product searches—a clear sign that this is one of consumers’ main demands. Platforms like VTEX’s Intelligent Search and Loja Integrada’s SmartHint offer smart searches with phonetic assimilation, making it easier to find products even with spelling mistakes.

Personalised Recommendations

While smart searches depend on user input, personalised recommendations allow companies to proactively suggest products aligned with customer preferences, and users expect this. In fact, 47% already request personalised suggestions.

With AI algorithms, businesses can analyse customer behaviour and purchase history to identify preferences and patterns. These are then matched with data from similar users to recommend products that make the most sense for each customer at that moment.

Marketing tools like newsletters, often seen as spam in the past, can now become effective communication and retention strategies if personalised. Companies can send curated product and service suggestions to each user segment. This is a great example of how marketing and AI can work together successfully.

These recommendations can also be made directly on the website or platform. Popular services like Spotify and Netflix show how machine learning combined, with robust data, can power excellent suggestions.

Anticipating Customer Needs

Just as personalised recommendations suggest products based on user behaviour, AI can also anticipate recurring needs and suggest replenishment.

This is an ideal feature for purchases made on a regular basis — for example, monthly pet food orders or grocery shopping that tends to happen around the same time. In these cases, shops can send users a push notification via the app or even an email reminder letting them know that the product is running low and can be reordered. To strengthen customer relationships and encourage loyalty, businesses can also offer a discount on the next purchase, along with a reminder.

The more the customer repeats these purchases, the more data the system collects, refining future suggestions. This creates a virtuous cycle that strengthens the relationship and increases customer lifetime value.

Conversational Commerce

Conversational commerce refers to real-time interactions between companies and customers, occurring on e-commerce sites or any platform offering online services. Examples include chatbots, virtual assistants, and sales agents.

Adobe found that 39% of respondents have already used digital assistants and chatbots powered by natural language processing to make purchases. Another 53% said they plan to start using these tools this year.

Automated support via WhatsApp, for instance, is already widely adopted. Tools like WhatsApp Business let small and medium-sized companies set up messaging systems to answer frequently asked questions.

What’s new is that these tools have evolved to handle more complex requests. With current technology, companies can offer virtual shopping assistants that help users choose the right product and experience it virtually, such as through virtual try-ons.

Fraud Prevention in Payments

In addition to streamlining customer service and increasing sales conversion, AI is also essential for enhancing payment systems, preventing fraud, and ultimately reducing losses for both businesses and customers.

By analysing billions of transactions, AI can detect patterns linked to fraudulent behaviour — such as purchases made in locations that don’t match a customer’s usual habits, or spending with an unusual average ticket value. This analysis happens in real time, allowing companies and banks to act quickly.

For example, Mastercard recently launched Decision Intelligence Pro, which enables banks to more effectively assess suspicious transactions in real-time and determine their legitimacy. According to the company, AI can help improve fraud detection rates by an average of 20%—and in some cases, results were up to 300% better.

Conclusion

It’s clear that AI is trending not because it’s new, but because it’s more accessible, and more effective than ever. In a scenario where 50% of e-commerce companies have already implemented AI-powered solutions, the technology is expected to contribute around 31 billion USD to the sector by the end of this year.

But just adopting AI tools isn’t enough to ride the trend. You first need to understand what you want to improve in your business and how AI can support that, whether by enhancing an existing solution or introducing a new one.