The mail order company Baur Group is testing a search with generative artificial intelligence in its online shop. The search tool “SearchBuddy” translates customers’ search queries into an inspiring result and is intended to make the use of AI “more human”.
As the company, which belongs to the Hamburg trading and services group Otto Group, announced on Tuesday, the “SearchBuddy” is based on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. The new tool will be tested over several weeks in the Baur desktop and mobile shop as well as in the Otto Austria online shop.
“Generative AI is surprisingly good at understanding language and reacting like a human,” says Georg Sebald, head of shop management at Baur, in the statement. “We all come into contact with AI applications more and more frequently in everyday life. Tools like ChatGPT make interacting with technology feel more authentic and natural.”
For the customers of Baur and Otto Austria, the new search field is intended to become an “inspiration area that enables human interaction and generates product recommendations for personal inquiries,” according to the statement. Complex personal inquiries are translated in such a way that precise information about the product categories is no longer necessary.
With the test phase, the company wants to find out how customers use the search option, what questions they ask the tool and how additional added value can be created through the use of AI.
“Our SearchBuddy recognizes search queries where our customers are looking for an inspiring result. “Using generative AI, human search queries are translated into relevant search terms that deliver suitable results on baur.de,” says Sebald.
The tool was developed as a joint project by Baur, Unitom, the Otto Group “Digital & Consulting” team and the Baur subsidiary empiriecom.