Lotte Hi-Mart, a major South Korean home appliance retailer, announced on July 2 that it has introduced an artificial intelligence shopping agent called "HAVI" and launched an open beta test the same day.
HAVI is an AI-based shopping service that finds products and provides comparisons and recommendations when customers ask questions in natural, conversational language. The company is also redesigning its app interface to allow users to access the AI shopping agent through a navigation bar menu at the bottom of the screen.
For example, if a customer types "Recommend a refrigerator suitable for a newlywed home," HAVI considers factors such as price, capacity, brand and usage environment tailored to a newlywed household to select appropriate products.
Lotte Hi-Mart explained that it introduced the AI shopping agent because home appliances are typical high-involvement products. Their high price points and long usage periods mean consumers face extensive information searches and deliberation from the purchasing stage. The company plans to officially launch HAVI in the second half of the year, utilizing more than 1 million data points accumulated annually through the open beta test and its after-care service.
"We focused on enhancing consultation capabilities so that customers can find and choose home appliances more easily and quickly with HAVI," said Park Kyung-seok, head of Lotte Hi-Mart's IT and AI division. "We will continue to advance the service and transform into a home appliance e-commerce specialist that offers hyper-personalized product recommendations and services."
