Kia's conversion rate is 3x higher with its chatbot than with its website

"At last count, Kia had more than 800 websites where a customer can ask about buying a car.
In November, to try and simplify the process, Kia launched Kian, a Facebook Messenger and chatbot, in order to have a direct source for all the information that users might search for. In the four months since its launch, Kia has gotten three times more conversions through Kian than through its main website, Kia.com.
The conversion rate through Kian is 21 percent, while conversions through Kia.com are at 7 percent, according to Nathalie Choy, national manager of digital, social and CRM marketing at Kia Motors America.
Customers aren’t shying away from asking their questions. Choy said Kia has seen an increase in engagement, mostly thanks to Kian. Kian has exchanged 600,000 messages, resulting in 50 times more engagement through Messenger, according to Choy."

Source:  Digiday, 21st March 2018

Amazon shipped more than a billion items during the Christmas shopping period 2016

"According to a new Reuters report by Mark Maketa, Amazon shipped more than one billion items worldwide this holiday season, nine times more than during last year's holiday season… “its best ever.” The Echo home assistant, and its smaller version Echo Dot, topped the best-sellers list, said Jeff Wilke, chief executive of Amazon's worldwide consumer division, in a press release.
Amazon likely sold between 4 million and 5 million devices this year to date, with Alexa, the voice-controlled assistant on the Echo, estimated Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy, says the report. Shoppers can command the Echo to perform a host of tasks, from playing music to turning on Christmas lights."

Source:  MediaPost, 2nd January 2016

5,000 Shopify merchants are distributing order confirmations and shipping alerts via Messenger

"Despite gripes about the usefulness of Facebook chatbots, “tens of thousands” of developers are building them, Messenger’s head of product Stan Chudnovsky revealed onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. And, 5,000 Shopify merchants are now distributing order confirmations and shipping alerts via Messenger, showing e-commerce companies are eager to reach the app’s nearly one billion users."

Source:  TechCrunch, 10th May 2016