🤑 Artificial Influencers Are Earning BIG

📰 News Round-up

• Alibaba ordered to pay $141 million in damages to JD.com for anti-competitive practices filed to a Bejing court (Digital Commerce 360)

• Baidu’s AI bot and rival to ChatGPT, Earnie Bot, reaches 100 million users worldwide (CNBC)

• Brits owe over £4 billion in buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) spending over the festive period, up 8.8% in 2022 (Retail Gazette)

• In 2023, Jimmy Donaldson (Mr Beast) was the highest-earning content creator, amassing over $82 million with a combined total following of 377 million. (Wealth of Geeks)

• AI image generator MidJourney to begin training a new AI video generator model. This new model will allow users to transform ‘text to video‘, a potential game changer for video generated content. (Decrypt)

• Lidl UK finance boss, Marco Di Costanzo, steps down following £76m loss as discount food retailer struggles to balance profits with growth (Retail Gazette)

• AI contributed to over $51 billion worth of sales during Cyber Week promotions, through targeted offers and product recommendations (SalesForce)

• Boxing Day footfall rose by 4% year on year in the UK, but is still below pre-pandemic levels (Retail Gazette)

📈 The Trends To Watch In 2024

2023 has been quite a year for the online business world.

From the immense rise of Chinese e-commerce giant Temu and the extensive selling power of Tiktok, to the unimaginable application AI has brought to online merchants and consumers alike.

But it hasn’t been without its challenges too. As we close one chapter and open another, 2024 promises to bring even more innovation and learning. This is what I expect to see in 2024:

1. Chinese E-commerce Will Continue To Boom in 2024

   The gains the likes of TikTok, Shein and Temu have made in 2023 were colossal. They won’t be slowing down in 2024, in fact, quite the opposite. Consumer confidence in these platforms is at an all-time high, while advertisers leave X and shy away from traditional advertising methods, 2024 will be quite the year for Chinese-based e-commerce.

2. Customer Experience Will Be More Important Than Ever in 2024

   Google is putting greater emphasis on user-focused web pages across all sites. Webmasters are encouraged to prioritise this over all else. In 2024 AI-generated content will continue to flood the web. Google’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) guidelines will be more important than ever to differentiate your content from your competitors.

3. Search Generative Experience (SGE) In 2024

   Marketers will, for now, be less in control of their search rankings as SGE finds its feet. SGE is an AI-powered search, to connect searchers to more precise and informative information, faster. It will impact all searches across the web, including helping connect e-commerce businesses to their intended audience. During 2023 it has been tested in the US only, in 2024 we expect to see it rolled out in greater capacity around the world.

4. The Virtual Reality Surge In 2024

   From AI-generated images and virtual influencers, the age-old belief of ‘seeing is believing’ is now fundamentally flawed. AI-generated content will continue to penetrate the media we consume, both knowingly and unknowingly. The upcoming 12 months will be a year that will accelerate this like never before.

5. The Power Of Consumers In 2024

   2023 saw consumers increasingly in the driving seat, demanding top-notch service and value for money. While personalisation will continue to be championed by businesses through the use of AI technology, the majority of consumers will continue to be selective in their purchases while the economy is set for another uncertain year.

6. AI Learning & Legislative Landscape 

   Whilst AI becomes increasingly integral in business automation and operations, a surge in AI learning and upskilling is expected. Concurrently, a wave of new legislation and court cases around AI usage and ethics will likely be at the forefront, shaping the future of the technology.

💅 AI Is Creating Virtual Influencers

These people are not real, but the money they generate certainly is.

AI influencers are an emerging breed of popular culture, and with the influencer market size growing by over $20 billion since 2016, the sky is the limit to where they will go.

Lil Miquela Sousa is an AI influencer who represents a 19-year-old girl. With 2.8 million followers behind the account, brands pay upwards of $8,000 per post. Despite being completely fictional, she even has over 80 million song streams on Spotify and was named in the TIME 25 Most Influential People on the Internet.

Another is 25-year-old Aitana Lopez, easily recognisable due to her pink hair, who has amassed over 250k followers on social media. Brands are said to be paying upwards of $1,000 per post featuring her.

Aitana’s agency, The Clueless, which constructed her, says she was born out of tiresome dealings with influencers and their egos. What’s more, Aitana brings in around $11,000 a month in revenue.

Big names, including the likes of Louis Vuitton and Samsung, have all taken up the opportunity to work with virtual influencers.

Many more brands are turning to virtual influencer marketing for a variety of factors, including lower costs than traditional advertising. But an even more crucial factor is control.

Brands can control every aspect of the AI influencer, to ensure they consistently align with their brand image and tone. There’s less risk of mistakes, off-brand behaviour or controversial opinions being shared.

As reported by the Financial Times, the rise of AI influencers isn't without its ethical concerns from no other than their real-life human counterparts. They argue that the increasing prevalence of AI raises questions about authenticity in digital interactions.

With the rising costs of influencer marketing, an increasing number of e-commerce brands will likely turn to AI models to promote their brand in the coming years… who knows, maybe even months.

The Outpost’s Opinion: This took me a bit of time to get my head around. But these AI influencers are the real deal, with both brands and consumers taking them seriously. This is another example of AI taking jobs from humans while challenging our perceptions of art, marketing, and even personal relationships in the digital age.