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【2021 Solutions】 Utilizing AI Image Recognition, Choice Technology Saves E-commerce 90% Time

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, the first step in this transformation is to create beautiful product designs and quickly list products online. Using AI image recognition technology, Choice Technology has identified 'explosive' e-commerce designs, creating an AI workstation for retail e-commerce that features automatic object detection, background removal, and beautification. For small e-commerce businesses with about 500-800 product items, this can save approximately 90% of the time. It is an excellent tool for small and medium-sized retailers making the transition from offline (physical channels) to online (virtual channels) sales.

The meaning behind 'Choice' is 'Choosing the best tech experience for our clients.' Liu Yi-Han, the founder and CEO of Choice Technology, hopes to leverage his expertise in image engineering to help SMEs with technology barriers achieve their dream of easily listing products on e-commerce platforms without needing to learn a multitude of tech tools.

Using AI image recognition technology, photos can be automatically background removed, saving time in photo enhancement.

▲Using AI image recognition technology, photos can be automatically background removed, saving time in photo enhancement.

E-commerce AI Workstation, from material design to e-commerce listing, get it done with one 'click,' fast and convenient.

▲E-commerce AI Workstation, from material design to e-commerce listing, get it done with one 'click,' fast and convenient.

Machine learning automatically generates 50 types of product recommendations for direct listing on e-commerce platforms with one click.

Since its foundation in May 2018, Choice Technology has used machine learning algorithms to collect millions of product designs on social media platforms like Instagram and the largest handmade marketplace Etsy, automatically generating 500,000 design recommendations. Clients simply need to upload their product photos, and the AI tools at the e-commerce workstation perform background removal, background addition, and other image editing tasks. Unlike the traditional method where retailers had to hire professional photographers and designers to prepare products for e-commerce, this approach saves time, money, and effort.

According to statistics, the average cost for photographing a product, arranging its layout, and designing it varies from 2,000 to 3,000 RMB per item. For a product range of 1,000 items, the cost in money and time can be overwhelming for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses. Choice Technology draws product types from the sales rankings of major e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Shopify, selecting categories such as fashion apparel, catering food, home accessories, fresh fruits and vegetables, sports equipment, and nutrition & health fashion, among others, with the largest category being fashion apparel, which accounts for up to 56% of sales on the Choice platform.

Furthermore, during the pandemic, consumers mostly opted for takeout or delivery services such as UberEats and Foodpanda, which has led to a surge in catering food, also becoming an important design recommendation on the platform. With over 500,000 photos used to train the AI model, the strongest recognition capabilities are in home and apparel categories.

Choice Technology team, photo (second from the right) shows founder and CEO Liu Yi-Han

▲Choice Technology team, photo (second from the right) shows founder and CEO Liu Yi-Han.

Liu Yi-Han pointed out that after the pandemic, WFH (Work From Home) has triggered another wave of sales for delivery meals and home accessories. In the future, the database will be adjusted dynamically based on the sales ranking movement of e-commerce platforms in terms of product images and attractive background scenarios.

Helping SMEs transform into e-commerce by offering the first month of rapid listing services for free

The operating model of Choice Technology is based on a SaaS B2B model, charging based on the number of photo uploads, billed monthly, and catering to individual retailers, small to medium-sized customers, and corporate clients. Since the pandemic, offline retail opportunities have been keen to transition to online sales. The Ministry of Economic Affairs Industrial Bureau offers digital transformation schemes for SMEs by providing subsidies to help retailers transform. Currently, Choice Technology provides the first month free of rapid listing services to small and medium-sized retailers using online tools like Google Forms for group orders, eventually integrating with e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Shopify to save listing time, allowing retailers to focus on product quality, beautification, and marketing channel work.

Regarding the distribution of customers, Liu Yi-Han analyzed that Choice's clientele is divided into two types. The first type are physical retail businesses new to e-commerce, who primarily need fast background removal and automatic lighting adjustments for their product photos, often preferring pure white or simple backgrounds. The second type is medium to large enterprise brands, who require high-quality product photos with personalized designs suited for different festivals, such as pink items for Valentine's Day, which realistically enhance the shelf presentation and indeed have the potential to become 'explosive products.'

'The technology for optimizing product photos is not the issue; the challenge is creating suitable and high-conversion scenario photos.' Liu Yi-Han stated that data collection and training are automated processes, and AI technology is quite mature. The difficulty lies in efficiently collecting data with attractive, high-conversion scenarios for machine learning, requiring continuous dynamic extraction from the sales rankings of major e-commerce platforms.

Regarding the future business layout of Choice, Liu Yi-Han explained that the short-term goal is to assist physical stores with digital transformation, since many SMEs were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and moving sales online can help reduce the impact of the pandemic. As for the mid to long-term goals, affected by the severe pandemic situation in overseas markets, Choice will first serve Taiwan customers well. After the pandemic eases further, they will expand into the US and Southeast Asia markets.

Liu Yi-Han attended the 2020 MarTech Marketing Forum for a panel discussion

▲Liu Yi-Han attended the 2020 MarTech Marketing Forum for a panel discussion.

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」

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【解決方案】運用極現科技4D無人機雲端平台 巡檢成本降為五分之一
Utilizing Extreme Present Tech's 4D Drone Cloud Platform Reduces Inspection Costs to One-Fifth

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industry representative with emphasis By implementing the drone 4D AI inspection cloud platform, the efficiency and safety of facility inspections among petrochemical operators can be elevated, further reducing the risk of equipment downtime Founded in March 2018, Extreme Present Tech has become a consistent winner in domestic entrepreneurship competitions, including being crowned champion in the 2019 OPEN DATA Business Innovation Practice, selected into Microsoft's startup accelerator in 2020, chosen for NVIDIA's AI startup team in 2021, and its products have been launched on the Microsoft Azure platform, earning investments from the National Development Fund and major domestic groups, thereby securing strong market validation for its technical prowess and services The founder and CEO of Extreme Present Tech, Hsu Wei-Cheng, mentioned that at the beginning of its establishment, the company took on the national space center's satellite 3D photography scheduling system and specialized in the integration of geographic information into 3D images As drone hardware technologies matured, the company shifted its operations towards the drone market and combined it with AI image recognition systems to establish a 4D cloud DaaS platform, offering services including online aerial photography ordering DaaS, 5GAIoT cloud platform SaaS, and enterpriseAPI server software, to meet the demands of drones in smart cities, facility inspection, engineering management, disaster response, pollution monitoring, and other applications, maximizing the value of drone services Smart aerial inspection regularly tracks the health status of plant equipment at a glance The quantity and area of petrochemical plants in Taiwan are immense, lacking sufficient manpower for comprehensive equipment inspections Given that petrochemical plants produce high-temperature flammable and corrosive chemicals that must be transmitted and stored through pipelines and tanks, long-term risks like pipeline ruptures and 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high personnel costs by purchasing drones or outsourcing aerial photography With the long-term provision of aerial photography devices and the DaaS business model by Extreme Present Tech, customers can save 45 of aerial photography costs, and obtain aerial inspection reports within 24 hours post-operation, helping clients efficiently identify issues with solar panels Aiming to become the largest aerial data service company and enter the Southeast Asian market Since its establishment in 2018, Extreme Present Tech has rapidly grown in the aerial photography market with innovative thinking, actively expanding its aerial data application services Currently focused on cultivating the Taiwan market, the company aims to enter Southeast Asian nations, with Indonesia chosen as the first stop due to its high demand for infrastructure Hsu Wei-Cheng hopes that earthbook becomes the world's largest aerial data service platform Besides completing the initial round of funding from the National Development Fund and major groups, to penetrate the international market, the company continuously improves its drone data services and AI technology innovations, while also requiring the assistance of entities like the Industrial Technology Research Institute to find strategic investors that complement the company, fulfilling its goal of becoming an international aerial data corporation in phases Founder and CEO of Extreme Present Tech, Hsu Wei-Cheng「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」

【解決方案】台灣軟體科技實力媲美國際 Golface智慧服務促高球轉型
Taiwan's Software Technology on Par with International Standards: Golface's Intelligent Services Transform Golf

Compared to Japan, where 90 of golf courses operate without caddies and use an automated service model, golf course management in Taiwan still heavily relies on human labor Facing a labor shortage of up to 70, adopting a site and membership management platform to provide intelligent golf services may be a transformation worth considering for golf course operators 'Taiwan's software technology is comparable to international standards and definitely has the capability to compete in the global market,' says Tsung-Che Liao, co-founder and CEO of Golface, established in 2014 with the vision to leverage technology at its core, aiming to create Taiwan's first golf entertainment platform With over 9 years vested in cultivating intelligent golf services, Liao is well-versed in the nuances of golf course services He has considerable domain knowledge and has launched a comprehensive intelligent golf solution The world's first networked smart golf cart hits the road automation of golf courses is no longer just a dream In mid-May, Golface's newly developed ARES Smart Golf Cat, the world's first networked smart golf cart, officially became operational Equipped with a dedicated vehicle computer mainframe, dual network systems, AI-based visual recognition cameras, and high-precision GPS tracking, golf courses can now confidently allow golfers to drive themselves The system enables real-time monitoring of any driving violations, and the presence of digital consumption traces allows for insurance coverage The procedure is as follows golfers book the cart via a reservation platform, receive a QR code, pay through the platform, and unlock the cart with the QR code at the golf course The golf cart can then be driven onto the course The course management platform can monitor and restrict the areas through which the cart can travel, ensuring it does not leave the paths Upon completion, the cart is returned through a tablet in the cart In instances of any infractions, penalties are applied directly through the user's account, and for severe violations, future access to the carts may be prohibited This achieves the goal of 'automation' ARES Smart Golf Cat is the world's first networked smart golf cart, officially in service since May 2022 'As labor costs continue to rise, recruiting and training caddies are becoming common pain points in the market While Taiwan's courses still employ caddies, there's a 70 labor shortage,' Tsung-Che Liao added This smart golf cart tablet, combined with a mobile app, has become the ultimate smart caddy Golface is striving to complete the last piece of the 'automated golf course' puzzle Amassing digital consumption trails for advanced client segmentation services Starting with consumer needs, Golface has sequentially launched services like the golf cart tablet, mobile app, golf reservation platform, instructional videos Golface TV, golf tourism, and smart carts The smart cart has been operational since May 2022, currently featuring four units with plans for mass production in the latter half of 2022 Although the cart currently requires manual operation by golfers, remote operation is anticipated early in 2023, with autonomous driving expected in the third phase Via the cart tablet and management system, staff can understand the status of the course through on-screen visual representations, showing each cart's real-time and relative location, departure times, and duration of service per hole, which aids course managers in monitoring on-course consumption effectively, thus reducing traffic jams and customer complaints 'Previously, we relied on staff's mental imagery now, we can employ imagery to visualize real-time situations on the course This makes it possible for those who don't understand golf to work in this field,' emphasized Tsung-Che Liao While course control has traditionally been handled by experienced professional players, the shortage of skilled professionals makes hiring even more challenging Therefore, replacing manpower with digital tools yields twice the result with half the effort The golf cart tablet has entered the Japanese golf market, installed at Fukuoka Century Golf Club Golface's golf cart tablet has been introduced to 14 domestic courses, and has now officially entered the Japanese market, favored by Fukuoka Century Golf Club, where tablets have been installed in carts providing automatic voice announcements for hitting strategies, distance measurements, and visual charts displaying hitting data During the COVID-19 pandemic, with borders closed, Golface utilized OTA technology to provide software updates and troubleshooting, ensuring uninterrupted services, which was highly appreciated by the Japanese golf courses Tsung-Che Liao remarks that Taiwan's software technology is not inferior to other countries like Japan, but more support from golf courses is needed to help transform the industry intelligently 'To assist in the transformation of golf courses, the first step is digitalization,' Liao pointed out By helping courses accumulate data and understand customer service cycles and hitting rhythms, it enables courses to avoid congestion and serve more customers To date, Golface has accumulated data on over 20,000 teams, 35 million scorecards, and over 10 million records This data helps enhance management performance, segment customer layers, reduce complaints, and plan marketing strategies for off-peak periods Golface co-founder and CEO Tsung-Che Liao has spent 9 years deepening intelligent golf services, aiming to build Taiwan's first golf entertainment platform「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」