As major players perceive AI as a burgeoning growth area, a new era of AI-driven evolution is upon us. E-commerce is no exception. It's a safe assertion that AI will redefine the trajectory of e-commerce's future growth, propelling the industry into a new phase of exponential progression. Assuming no unforeseen circumstances, e-commerce will continue to thrive, bolstered by AI, over the next decade.

Alibaba's transformation, epitomized by its comprehensive embrace of AI, offers a glimpse into this future. Post-AI integration, Alibaba has seamlessly transitioned from the internet age to the AI era. Similarly, Tencent's AI-driven growth underscores the immense potential AI unlocks. With an increasing number of players joining the fray, AI is poised to unleash fresh, formidable energy.

AI's formidable energy and status as a new competitive frontier for internet giants stem from its ability to identify new pivots for e-commerce development. This explains the influx of players diving into the AI arena, viewing it as a strategic direction for growth. The magic of AI lies in several key facets:

AI Can Inherit the High-Quality "Legacy" of the Internet

Amidst the AI wave, an intriguing phenomenon emerges: new entrants like DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics coexist with traditional players like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu. Both newbies and veterans compete in the AI domain because they leverage AI to inherit and evolve the internet era's high-quality legacy.

The e-commerce sector mirrors this trend. AI's robust synergy with e-commerce stems from the industry's vast internet-era legacy, which fuels AI's growth and provides a broad stage for its implementation. E-commerce serves as a testbed for AI's integration and application. For players aiming to make a mark in the AI era, harnessing their internet-era legacy to catalyze AI-driven evolution is crucial for new growth.

Alibaba's AI journey exemplifies this. Its diverse application scenarios, user base, and product categories feed continuous data into AI, fueling its evolution and driving new development. AI's seamless integration with e-commerce's internet-era legacy suggests it will identify new pivots for the industry's growth.

AI Can Activate the Intrinsic Elements of the Internet

With internet-era dividends waning, internet players, including those in e-commerce, seek new directions. From social e-commerce to new retail and live e-commerce, these explorations abound. However, despite persistent efforts, players have yet to transform their internal structures fundamentally.

While these approaches spur short-term growth, they fail to address e-commerce's core issues. To revolutionize e-commerce and disentangle it from internet dependency, players must activate the internet's intrinsic elements. As AI matures and integrates deeply with internet players, it unlocks methods to activate these elements.

Digital humans, sophisticated AI-driven recommendation systems, and AI-based platform evolutions illustrate this trend. AI's fusion with internet intrinsics fosters profound internal change. For e-commerce, AI's deep activation of these elements initiates comprehensive industry transformation, unlocking new dividends.

AI Can Meet the New Demands of E-commerce's Upstream and Downstream

With internet-era dividends diminishing, e-commerce players face increasing scrutiny in capital markets. Falling market values and stagnant stock prices reflect this. E-commerce's struggle for new growth partly stems from its inability to meet upstream and downstream demands.

On the industrial front, e-commerce platforms' traffic empowerment wanes, with rising costs and conversion challenges. On the consumer front, users struggle to find desired products, and the shopping experience deteriorates. Traditional e-commerce models falter, unable to meet current demands.

Enter AI. As it synergizes with e-commerce, AI presents new solutions. For industries, AI offers holistic empowerment from production to marketing, fostering complete transformation. For consumers, AI delivers enhanced shopping experiences, addressing pain points and issues.

AI addresses upstream and downstream e-commerce demands, transforming e-commerce from a waning presence to a revitalized force. This AI-e-commerce synergy unleashes fresh energy and dividends.

AI Can Find New Roles and Orientations for E-commerce

In the internet era, e-commerce players primarily facilitated upstream-downstream connections and improved operational efficiency. They matched suppliers with consumers, ensuring products reached markets swiftly and consumers obtained goods cost-effectively.

As information grows and industries shift online, these traditional roles face challenges. E-commerce players must identify new, acceptable roles to sustain growth. AI's maturity presents new possibilities. E-commerce now participates more actively in industrial operations, transcending traditional matchmaking and intermediary roles.

For upstream industries, e-commerce empowers and transforms, driving industrial upgrades. For downstream, it offers precise connections, trendy experiences, and personalized services. AI's new roles for e-commerce chart new development paths, propelling the industry into a new growth phase.

Reflecting on e-commerce's development, players' internet-era success stemmed from finding their roles. Similarly, in the AI era, these new roles will usher in new dividends.

Final Words

A new wave of AI adoption is underway. Alibaba's AI integration, Tencent's deepseek collaboration, and Baidu's "Luobo Kuaipao" self-driving taxi service highlight AI's transformative impact on internet players.

This is a novel evolution, releasing fresh dividends. Amidst the AI surge, e-commerce too is evolving. As AI and e-commerce synergize, e-commerce will discover new pivots, tapping into broader markets. If the internet was e-commerce's traditional pivot, AI is its new one. Understanding AI's role as a new pivot and resonating with it will propel e-commerce into a new era, unlocking new growth avenues and charting the next decade's direction.