Cross-store discounts, category coupons, live broadcast subsidies, exclusive member benefits... In previous years' Double 11, the so-called discounts were transformed into "Math Olympiads". Consumers often had to spend time splitting orders and repeatedly putting together orders before they could barely calculate the lowest price. This year's "Double 11", with the popularity of large models, consumers began to use AI (artificial intelligence) to settle accounts in order to truly enjoy the benefits. However, the reporter's investigation found that the low-price and preferential purchase plans given by AI are still affected by multiple factors and can only be used as a reference.
AI launches "Double 11" shopping function.
market
Say goodbye to "hand rubbing"
AI settles accounts as new assistant
Today, AI-assisted shopping has transformed from a niche game into a new way of consumption. According to a survey by China Youth Daily, 66.7% of the respondents will use AI to assist shopping - comparing prices, calculating discounts, putting together orders, finding the best coupon combination, etc. 85.7% of the respondents believe that AI will make shopping more effortless, cost-effective, and worry-free. More and more consumers say goodbye to manual calculations and directly send the products they want to buy and the preferential rules of each platform to AI, seeking a "purchase plan."
Ms. Hu, a citizen, started trying to use AI to compare prices and settle accounts this year. In previous years during Double 11, she often blindly placed orders in order to get full discounts, and some of the products she bought ended up being "tasteless". During this year's "Double 11", she directly pasted her shopping information on the e-commerce platform into the AI dialog box, and simultaneously attached her desired lowest price, most cost-effective and other requirements, and the AI automatically analyzed and screened out recommended purchase platforms and preferential operation paths. After comparing the calculations, Ms. Hu found that the whole plan was more trouble-free and cheaper than putting together the orders manually. "In the past, to calculate the full discount, you had to repeatedly add and subtract products and try again and again. Now AI can give different solutions at once, so you don't have to rack your brains anymore."
Not only Ms. Hu, many netizens also share their AI shopping experience on social platforms. On the short video platform, there is no lack of information such as "the discounts for top-up purchases have also become automated" and "make good use of AI to automatically save discounts every day during the 'Double 11'". "I asked AI to help me check the price of a certain product on a certain platform every day starting from today, giving priority to official flagship stores and brand-authorized stores..." Netizen Xiaopang said that after inputting instructions to the AI, the AI can help it "keep an eye on" the information about the products it wants to buy every day, including which platform is cheaper to buy it, the actual price, how much you can save with coupons, etc.
In addition to consumers voluntarily using AI to compare prices and settle accounts, some AIs have also begun to set up "Double 11" related functional sections on the page. For example, Doubao has a "Double 11 Questions Doubao" built into the page, with functions including selection based on budget, product comparison, etc.; Qianwen's "Double 11 Grab Discount" includes selection based on budget, "Double 11" strategy, matching items, product reviews, etc.
Actual measurement
Sort out the details but the plan may not be accurate
Can consumers really beat the preferential rules of each platform and enjoy the most affordable prices by using AI to compare prices and settle accounts? The reporter selected two different categories of products for actual testing and found that AI gave different money-saving solutions.
The reporter selected a wine and a cosmetic and submitted the information of the two products to the mainstream AI application in the market, asking it to first calculate which platform is the most cost-effective and cost-effective if the two products are ordered together. An AI quickly reminded an "important rule": Most categories of exclusive wine and beauty coupons are mutually exclusive. The same order can only be used for "platform universal cross-store full discounts + member rights + universal red envelopes". Category exclusive coupons cannot be shared across categories. After some calculations, the model gives an estimated purchase plan: if there is 88VIP, Tmall is the cheapest option to buy on the same platform; if there is no 88VIP, JD PLUS will be more cost-effective when ordering on the same platform. Another AI calculated and found that the most cost-effective platform for current purchases is JD.com, with a reference price of 1,101 yuan.
Subsequently, the reporter selected official flagship stores, brand authorized stores and other stores on the three platforms of Taobao, JD.com and Douyin, added two products and submitted for settlement. According to the real-time discount rules of each platform that day, on one of the platforms, when the two items were settled together, the original total price of 2,314 yuan was reduced to a store discount (including official instant discount) of 889 yuan and a platform discount of 117.37 yuan. The final total required to be paid was 1,307.63 yuan. The prices obtained on the other two platforms were 1,195 yuan and 1,330 yuan respectively. Obviously, the reference price given by the two AIs after settlement is quite different from the price displayed by the reporter's manual "add to shopping cart" settlement.
At the same time, due to the current different preferential rules and ranges for different platforms and different categories of goods, if the consumer puts forward the condition of "not restricting the shopping platform", the solution given by AI may be a cross-platform purchase.
The reporter used the keyword "no restrictions on purchasing platforms, just save money" and asked AI to give the most favorable solution. One of the AIs listed the purchase channels, preferential rules and operation steps for different products on multiple platforms, and concluded that "prioritize ordering on separate platforms. It is difficult to share the same large coupon across categories of liquor and beauty, and it is not recommended to forcefully put together an order." Another AI suggested that the most cost-effective combination is to buy liquor from XXX self-operated, and cosmetics and creams from XXX International. Therefore, when using AI to formulate shopping plans, consumers still need to have "multiple minds."
"Commodity price comparison and performance comparison are the main applications of AI in the "Double 11". But in fact, AI can also do some auxiliary work, such as quickly sorting out the preferential rules. Many consumers do not have the energy to sort out the preferential rules." Pan Helin, a member of the Information and Communication Economics Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that for example, AI can be used to split and put together orders, and the shopping list can be improved through dialogue; such as cross-platform price comparisons, cross-brand product selection, and reminders of negative information about product brands as shopping references. "Of course, consumers are not so specific when using AI to shop. Most people tell AI what they want to buy and then expect AI to tell them the answer they want."
reminder
Dynamic price adjustment
AI also needs to be “adaptive”
The interview found that although AI has advantages in sorting out the preferential rules of various platforms and comparing basic commodity prices, it still has shortcomings in the face of a more complex preferential promotion system - the main factors are the dynamic fluctuations in the prices of some commodities and the possible changes in preferential subsidies from merchants.
"I paid attention to a product, but the price changed several times." Wei Hu, an office worker, said that he added the product to the shopping cart a week ago, but has not yet settled. "I want to wait and see if the discount will be greater." Recently, he opened the platform page several times to check, and the price of the product has changed. He believes that during the "Double 11" e-commerce festival, merchants can modify product prices or discount rules at any time. However, the preferential prices that AI can obtain are only static data when users submit demands. "In this case, if AI is used to settle accounts at different times, the discounts may not be allowed. It needs to be fed with more detailed restrictions."
Take the purchase of a razor with a budget of 300 yuan as an example. Three days apart, the purchase plans given by AI are very different. On November 6, reporters used AI to combine the preferential policies of various e-commerce platforms and merchants during this year's "Double 11" to design a purchase plan that was "worthy of placing an order." At that time, AI first concluded that "razors do not belong to this year's national trade-in (national subsidy) category, so its preferential space is only three items: platform subsidies + store coupons + member rights." After analysis and comparison, the model gave a purchase conclusion in order of "worry-free + money-saving", and recommended a razor with a tens of billions of subsidies from a certain platform first, "around 190 yuan, that's it." You can get a machine with a recommended retail price of 349 yuan, and the remaining money can be used to buy a box of replacement cutter heads." If you are more concerned about invoices, seven-day no-reason returns, and after-sales response, choose another platform's self-operated + price guarantee, "spend an extra 20 to 30 yuan to buy a reliable one." In addition, if you have 88VIP, you can consider another platform's gift box, which is "more suitable for gift-giving scenarios."
Three days later, the reporter submitted the demand to the AI again and received the reply, "There are two changes in the current situation, and it needs to be recalculated based on the current real price." The two changes given by the AI are "the first wave of spot period has ended" and "the actual prices of several models have also changed, among which the price of a certain version has dropped." After some latest price comparison and analysis, AI gave the target models of multiple e-commerce platforms, the coupon collection operation process, and the expected purchase price. In the end, the purchase advice is "Buy on one platform today, it is the most stable", and the other platform is "the absolute lowest price and the easiest to worry about".
"AI has many restrictions on price comparison and accounting, such as it can only read the clear rules in front of it. Especially in the strategy of discount selection, AI will be ineffective when encountering dynamic price adjustments." Pan Helin analyzed that AI calculation discounts also face cross-platform data barriers, and some AI will be interfered by business preferences... Therefore, AI is only suitable for calculators and organizers under transparent rules, and may not maximize the benefits of consumers. Pan Helin suggested that AI should not be used to guide consumers to choose discounts during the "Double 11" e-commerce festival. Platforms and merchants should automatically calculate relevant discounts for consumers during sales. "Consumers don't like e-commerce festivals with cumbersome rules. If they cannot get the best discounts from AI and have used it several times without any effect, they will lose patience with AI."
Reporter Li Songlin
