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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】2秒鐘完成結帳動作 Viscovery AI影像辨識助攻智慧零售
Complete checkout in 1 second, Viscovery AI image recognition assists smart retail

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checkout process The store clerk needs to scan the product barcodes one by one in the regular checkout method If a product does not have a barcode, such as bread and meals, the clerk needs to first visually confirm the items, and then input them into the POS checkout system one by one Based on actual measurements at a chain bakery, it takes 22 seconds for an experienced clerk from "visual recognition" to "entering product information of a plate of 6 items into the checkout system" New clerks may need even more time In addition, according to a Japanese bakery operator, it takes 1 to 2 months to train employees to become familiar with products Now with AI image recognition technology, store clerks let AI handle the "product recognition" step, and AI will play the role of copilot, quickly identifying items within 1 second, speeding up checkout to save 50 of checkout time, and optimizing customers'shopping experience The time cost of training employees to identify bread can also be 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【解決方案】7毫秒內分離人聲 洞見未來科技協助聽損者「聽說更簡單」
Voice Separation in 7 Milliseconds: RelaJet's Future Technology Makes 'Hearing and Speaking Easier' for the Hearing Impaired

One rainy Thursday afternoon near Taipei Arena, the Taipei Experience Center of RelaJet was fully booked with appointments from people with hearing loss eager to try hearing aids made with a voice separation engine For the hearing impaired, having affordable, lightweight, and effective noise-reducing hearing aids is truly a blessing 'We hope to help users in need to hear the world's wonders again' This empathetic expectation by RelaJet's founder and CEO Po-Ju Chen, who is also hearing impaired, illustrates his understanding of the needs of the hearing impaired He hopes that RelaJet's unique voice amplification hearing aid technology will benefit many more people Affordable hearing aids benefit many with hearing loss Founded in 2018 by Po-Ju Chen and his brother Yu-Ren Chen, RelaJet developed a multi-voice separation engine paired with Qualcomm's Bluetooth audio platform, drastically reducing the price of imported hearing aids, typically costing 80,000-100,000 NT dollars, to just under 10,000 NT dollars They aim to develop affordable goods with excellent noise-cancelling capabilities that wirelessly connect to smartphones In its first two years, the company primarily developed the multi-voice separation engine, which significantly improved the noise reduction quality Once equipped with Qualcomm Bluetooth earphone chips, the audio processing time is drastically short, at about 7 milliseconds to enhance main voice projection and reduce ambient noise, less than half the time required by traditional medical standard of 16 milliseconds for hearing aids, nearly 'zero-delay' 洞見未來科技推出平價助輔聽器,大大嘉惠聽損者 Yu-Ren Chen explains that the primary use of Qualcomm chips for edge computing, along with a streamlined algorithm, achieves extremely low latency and better noise reduction The hearing aids can cover 18 channels, whereas traditional hearing aids cover 4-48 channels In the future, RelaJet will progressively increase the number of channels According to statistics, there are 470 million people globally with hearing disabilities, with a 30 average device use rate in developed countries, with the highest in Western countries Taiwan has nearly 15 million people with disabling hearing loss, of which the middle-aged and elderly make up 30, yet the device use rate is only about 10, which is quite low Yu-Ren Chen further analyzes that the low device usage rate is due to two reasons firstly, the high average selling price of international big brands ranges from 80,000 to 200,000 NT dollars with a three-year usability period, which deters many due to the high cost and maintenance Secondly, in noisy environments, the noise is also amplified which does not necessarily ensure clarity for the users, and the sound parameters can't be adjusted in real-time, making it inconvenient to frequently visit stores for tuning Thirdly, most models cannot connect to smartphones, making it inconvenient for the hearing impaired to take phone calls Utilizing Qualcomm Bluetooth chips for 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anticipated to be exported to international markets in the latter half of this year Additionally, a hearing aid product combining Bluetooth functionality, set to launch in June this year, is sized like typical Bluetooth earphones, targeting visually conscious consumers with hearing loss Its small size and attractive wireless earphone design allow for phone calls, and if approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, eligible users can apply for government subsidies RelaJet to expand into overseas markets, using the USA as a beachhead An interesting question arises due to the pandemic everyone must wear masks which impedes lip-reading How does this affect those with hearing loss Yu-Ren Chen indicates that this situation highlights RelaJet's advantages As each person with hearing loss has different levels of hearing ability, hearing aids can only augment to an appropriate volume, assisting users to hear about 60-70 content, with the remainder relying on lip reading and gestures During the pandemic, as everyone wears masks, masks also muffle sounds, but RelaJet's voice separation engine can correct and strengthen the separation, making it easier for those with hearing loss to recognize voices Besides the Taiwan market, RelaJet's next stage will be expanding into overseas markets, expecting to obtain ISO 13485 medical device quality management system certification and US medical device approval in 2022 They plan to enter the US market, either under their own brand or through OEM arrangements Apart from the Taiwan market, RelaJet will also enter the US market in the next phase for hearing aids「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」