Arkéa Crafts a Chatbot for Remote Purchases

FACTS

• Arkéa launches a mobile conversational agent for distance selling. This tool embeds a payment option for corporate e-commerce specialists.

• Goals: Provide e-merchants and m-merchants with an additional sales channel, and, in turn, improve their customer experience.

• An initial pilot test was conducted in partnership with the French group CinéAlpes, by way of applying this solution to movie tickets. For now, it will be made available for customers of the Multiplexe Liberté in Brest, enabling them to chat with a bot to book and pay for their seats.

• This AI-powered solution adjusts to the users’ expectations and sends customised answers in real time. The user may choose to chat via voice or text interaction, to streamline the entire process from choosing a movie, paying for and receiving the tickets.

• How it works: in Android or iOS, the customer...
  • Starts Google Assistant
  • Chats with Multiplexe Liberté
  • Checks out the list of currently on-screen films
  • Chooses a film show and number of seats
  • Verifies his order and validates
  • Validates his payment (using fingerprint recognition)
  • Receives an e-ticket and a QR code (for check-in)

CHALLENGES

• Secure customer loyalty and attract new merchants. Conversational interfaces are meant to provide the users with a new communication / interaction channel. For CinéAlpes, the point is to bet on customers’ mobile life while relying on a more seamless process, avoiding that they should have to wait in line at the checkout desk or self-service kiosks. This service is also a way to assess their interest in a more informal interactive option for ordering their movie tickets.

• Build on each market specifics. Arkéa intends to apply this conversational agent to different businesses. The teams from their innovation unit (Pôle Innovation et Opérations) are working on an Artificial Intelligence able to make adjustments and evolve based on each customer’s industry.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• With this mobile chatbot for remote purchases, Arkéa enhances their range of technological and banking solutions for corporate customers. Less than a week ago, this group also included a reverse factoring solution designed by the FinTech Pytheas Capital Advisors.

• Conversational commerce has become part of various experiments. A few days ago, Ingenico rolled out a chatbot embedding IBM’s AI engine to attract more brands and merchants. Unlike Ingenico’s solution, Arkéa features an integrated, almost invisible, payment option, and the customer does not have to key in his banking information.