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Artificial intelligence in Swiss e-commerce: how smaller online retailers can also benefit

13.06.2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long since ceased to be just an issue for tech giants. Even small and medium-sized online retailers in Switzerland can benefit from it easily and efficiently today, whether through automated customer communication, intelligent product recommendations or more accurate revenue forecasts. Many tools used in marketing, cybersecurity or content already work in the background with AI. This article specifically shows you how you can make good use of AI in your online business and what you should watch out for.

Why invest in AI technology now?

The Swiss retail sector is facing a variety of challenges, from a shortage of staff to growing competition from Chinese online retailers such as Temu and Shein, not to mention price increases in purchasing. To remain competitive, you need to work more efficiently, address customers in a more targeted manner and make data-based decisions. This is precisely where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play.

AI is no longer a topic for the future, but a tool that already helps to save time, increase revenue and use resources in a more targeted way. For small and medium-sized online retailers in particular, it’s worth taking a look at three key areas of application:

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How to specifically use AI in your online shop

According to an online retailer survey from 2024 – the full study can be found at The link will open in a new window zhaw.ch (in German) – 54 percent of the companies surveyed already use AI tools for translations and 53 percent use generative AI for text creation. The benefits they see are time savings, the ability to create more content and lower personnel costs. Many tools that are commonly used in e-commerce now work with artificial intelligence, often in the background. AI tools that are easy to implement and immediately add value are particularly suitable for Swiss online retailers. Here are a few examples of how you can already use AI productively:

  • By automating responses to customer enquiries, the service unit can work more efficiently. An AI-based chatbot, for example, can solve many simple problems on its own; only in more complex cases is intervention by service staff necessary. Customers can talk to an AI chatbot for online shops as naturally as they do to a human and receive support with service questions as well as advice on products. Chatbots in customer service are easy for customers to use and available around the clock. SaaS solutions in this area can be seamlessly connected to online shops and ERP systems and don’t generally require any major changes to the IT infrastructure. Currently, 21 percent of the larger online shops surveyed in the aforementioned study use a service chatbot, as opposed to just 5 percent of the smaller online shops.

  • AI product recommendations and personalization in e-commerce can increase revenue. What’s more, intelligent product recommendations in e-commerce contribute to a better user experience and thus to higher customer satisfaction. 18 percent of the larger online shops use personalization options, as opposed to just 3 percent of the smaller shops. In addition, 25 percent of the larger online shops surveyed use AI for product recommendations – compared to just 7 percent of the smaller shops. To respond competently to customer enquiries, the chatbot needs to be integrated into the ERP and the online shop.

  • The advantages of AI-based inventory management grow with the size of the range and the number of daily orders. Data analysis and forecasting with AI tools can help to avoid supply bottlenecks and to dynamically adapt inventories to the anticipated demand. According to the online retailer survey, only 4 percent of the online shops surveyed currently use AI for automation in purchasing.

  • AI-based forecasting tools can also generate sales and revenue forecasts that are helpful for strategic decisions. However, only 4 percent of the online shops surveyed currently use AI forecasting for e-commerce.

  • Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can help to fill online shops with attractive, search engine optimized content. AI tools such as ChatGPT and specialized applications such as Frase or Ahrefs can help to design appealing, informative and search engine optimized product titles. Product texts can also be written using ChatGPT. Please note, however, that these texts may sometimes contain errors and must be checked before publication. Product images can also be professionally edited using AI tools such as Canva. The Midjourney AI tool and similar applications even allow you to create complete images from text inputs. Last but not least, you can use tools such as SEO.ai to find suitable keywords for search engine optimization.

  • In the field of cybersecurity, AI-based data analysis improves defence against threats. AI cybersecurity in online retail is also used to detect fraud in payment transactions, for example. You should therefore rely on a trustworthy partner to process payments in your online shop in order to benefit from these technologies.

    Find out more about secure payment methods in online shops

    More information on payment technologies in Swiss e-commerce

AI in payment transactions

PostFinance uses advanced AI technologies to process payments for your online shop faster, more securely and more transparently. AI systems detect inconsistencies in payment transactions much faster and more accurately than people. By quickly identifying suspicious transactions, they can prevent fraud in real-time payment transactions using a PF Card, credit card or TWINT. AI can also detect unauthorized login attempts by analysing behavioural patterns. As a small online retailer, you can also benefit from automated processes, better planning and easier system connection thanks to PostFinance’s AI-based solutions – at the same time, with the PostFinance service you can accept all major payment methods in your shop.

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Checklist: how online retailers can safely get started with AI

As we can see, the use of artificial intelligence in e-commerce SMEs can be relatively easy and bring major benefits. Some tools, such as ChatGPT and Midjourney for creating content, can even be used directly in the browser via a web interface without any preconditions. For more elaborate solutions, you can follow these five steps:

  • Artificial intelligence requires reliable data, if possible in real time. For extensive AI use, processes in the company should be digital and managed in an ERP system.

  • Modern platforms have numerous interfaces and offer good preconditions for connecting AI applications. Some common solutions already include AI tools that offer useful functions.

  • Where does using AI make sense? Highly specialized retailers with only a handful of products in their range don’t benefit as much from AI-based product recommendations as large online shops with thousands of products.

  • Your ERP and shop platform may already offer AI functions. However, it might also be worth switching to solutions that specialize in AI functionality. As a general rule, you should think long-term and keep an eye on both scalability and compatibility. Any subsequent changes can require greater effort.

  • Before AI applications are used definitively, all legal implications, e.g. relating to data protection, must be checked and the privacy policy and GTC must be adapted if necessary. More and more companies are publishing an AI disclaimer on their website that explains how AI is used to generate and personalize content. Employees who use AI tools should also receive appropriate training.

Portrait Philippe Mettler

Philippe Mettler, Digital Commerce Consultant, Post CH Ltd

Philippe Mettler has many years of experience in consulting and project implementation, particularly in e-commerce, web and PIM. He has extensive practical knowledge with customers from a wide range of sectors. Using this knowledge, he helps our customers further develop their digital competence and successfully operate in digital commerce.

What should online retailers in particular consider when planning to use AI?

The important thing is not to wait, but to actively start gaining experience. If you want to achieve good results, you should check whether external support makes sense, for example, for selecting suitable tools or for integration into existing processes. The use of AI also offers great potential for automation, such as for recurring tasks. What’s crucial is to stick to it and continuously develop the way you work with AI.

What practical experience has been gained?

AI proves especially useful when it comes to texts and translations. Acceptance and use are already high here. Nowadays, you can also create high-quality product images with manageable effort and basic knowledge. The benefits also depend heavily on the company in question. More and more applications are now integrated directly into e-commerce tools. It’s important to remain visible as a brand. The models need to be well trained so that the communication really fits the brand and doesn’t get lost in the sea of sameness.

How does Swiss Post’s Digital Commerce team support retailers in Switzerland?

Our goal is to make our customers more successful in e-commerce. We currently see a great deal of untapped potential, particularly in the marketplaces sector. We help to evaluate opportunities and provide support with onboarding on suitable platforms, always with the aim of advancing retail digitally.

Questions and answers

  • As a rule, all AI applications work with data analysis, which means that data must be available for many applications. E-commerce is often highly digitized and therefore offers very good preconditions for the use of AI. Ideally, there should be a digital ERP system in which data from all business units is merged digitally via various interfaces (APIs). However, the digital data that accumulates there first needs to be collected in the individual units: digital inventory data from warehousing, orders and user behaviour in the online shop and digital accounting data provide the database for various AI analyses and forecasts.

  • If the company is already largely digitized, then you don’t actually need much more to introduce AI technologies. Numerous common ERP, e-commerce and shop systems have already integrated AI tools that allow the benefits of artificial intelligence to be exploited without any additional effort. This also applies to business solutions from reputable, widespread providers such as Microsoft or SAP. Other tools are available as software-as-a-service and can also usually be integrated with relatively little effort. Only large companies in the e-commerce sector, such as Amazon and Otto, use comprehensive, internally developed AI solutions.

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