Customers’ Attitude Towards AI Enabled Virtual Assistants Used in E-Commerce Portals

Abstract

From intelligent chatbots and voice assistants to personalized product recommendations and fraud detection, AI enables e-commerce platforms to deliver seamless and efficient shopping experiences. The present study aimed to explore the customers’ attitude towards AI enabled virtual assistants used in e-commerce portals. A sample consisting of 110 respondents was drawn from the population in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, India for the study. The convenient sampling was devised. The research reveals a robust demographic and functional profile of Virtual Assistant (VA) users, primarily characterized by a young, educated, and rural-based male majority whose engagement is driven by a strong positive correlation between technological familiarity and overall satisfaction. With 85.5% of respondents being graduates and 50% aged below 20, the study identifies a “tech-optimistic” user base that highly values VA Appearance (Mean: 4.16) and Information Quality (Mean: 4.03), leading to a dominant 5-star experience rating (33.6%). Future research should expand beyond the current student-centric demographic to include a more diverse range of age groups and professional backgrounds to determine if these positive attitudes remain consistent across different life stages. There is also a significant opportunity to conduct longitudinal studies to track how the evolution of Generative AI and natural language processing (NLP) reduces the current “vagueness”.