Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Based on customers' basic information such as their age, gender and recent shopping history, South Korean web service giant Naver will test an artificial intelligence-based product suggestion service to offer personalized online shopping experiences. The service will help customers quickly search for items they are looking for.

Naver said in a statement that the company will start a 30-day beta-service for AI-based product suggestion service on December 28. The convenient shopping service will preferentially show products that would match customers' preferences when they search for items on Naver's online store.

"Our AI will calculate how much a customer would favor a product by studying his or her previous shopping patterns and preferences," Naver said, adding the shopping curator robot will provide detailed product suggestions. During the test period, the AI preference-matching shopping service will only be offered for customers who search for fashion and accessories-related products.

The South Korean web service giant launched "Smart Store," its online shopping service in 2012. It is now one of the country's favorite online shopping mall. Smart Store connects online store operators and customers. Many customers use Naver's online shopping service to look for online stores that offer the lowest price.

The tech giant had previously provided an AI-based product suggestion service through Smart Store. However, customers' preferences were not reflected on search results despite the fact that online shopping processes usually start with customers searching for keywords related to products they are looking for.

Similar AI-based preference-matching service is provided by global online shopping giants including Amazon, the world's largest ecommerce operator, and Alibaba, China's top online shopping service operator.