Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Electronic Markets https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-022-00537-z RESEARCH PAPER Artifcial intelligence in E‑Commerce: a bibliometric study and literature review Ransome Epie Bawack 1  · Samuel Fosso Wamba 2  · Kevin Daniel André Carillo 2  · Shahriar Akter 3 Received: 11 September 2021 / Accepted: 22 February 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Institute of Applied Informatics at University of Leipzig 2022 Abstract This paper synthesises research on artifcial intelligence (AI) in e-commerce and proposes guidelines on how information systems (IS) research could contribute to this research stream. To this end, the innovative approach of combining bibliometric analysis with an extensive literature review was used. Bibliometric data from 4335 documents were analysed, and 229 articles published in leading IS journals were reviewed. The bibliometric analysis revealed that research on AI in e-commerce focuses primarily on recommender systems. Sentiment analysis, trust, personalisation, and optimisation were identifed as the core research themes. It also places China- based institutions as leaders in this researcher area. Also, most research papers on AI in e-commerce were published in computer science, AI, business, and management outlets. The literature review reveals the main research topics, styles and themes that have been of interest to IS scholars. Proposals for future research are made based on these fndings. This paper presents the frst study that attempts to synthesise research on AI in e-commerce. For researchers, it contributes ideas to the way forward in this research area. To practitioners, it provides an organised source of information on how AI can support their e-commerce endeavours. Keywords Artifcial intelligence · e-commerce · Literature review · Bibliometrics JEL classifcation O3 Introduction Electronic commerce (e-commerce) can be defned as activities or services related to buying and selling products or services over the internet (Holsapple & Singh, 2000; Kalakota & Whin- ston, 1997). Firms increasingly indulge in e-commerce because of customers' rising demand for online services and its ability to create a competitive advantage (Gielens & Steenkamp, 2019; Hamad et al., 2018; Tan et al., 2019). However, frms struggle with this e-business practice due to its integration with rapidly evolving, easily adopted, and highly afordable information tech- nology (IT). This forces frms to constantly adapt their business models to changing customer needs (Gielens & Steenkamp, 2019; Klaus & Changchit, 2019; Tan et al., 2007). Artifcial intelligence (AI) is the latest of such technologies. It is trans- forming e-commerce through its ability to “correctly interpret external data, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specifc goals and tasks through fexible adaptation” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2019. p. 15). Depending on the context, AI could be a system, a tool, a technique, or an algorithm (Akter et al., 2021; Bawack et al., 2021; Benbya et al., 2021). It cre- ates opportunities for frms to gain a competitive advantage by using big data to uniquely meet their customers' needs through personalised services (Deng et al., 2019; Kumar, Rajan, et al., 2019; Kumar, Venugopal, et al., 2019). AI in e-commerce can be defned as using AI techniques, systems, tools, or algorithms to support activities related to buying and selling products or services over the internet. Responsible Editor: Jianwei Hou * Ransome Epie Bawack ransome.bawack@icn-artem.com Samuel Fosso Wamba s.fosso-wamba@tbs-education.fr Kevin Daniel André Carillo k.carillo@tbs-education.fr Shahriar Akter sakter@uow.edu.au 1 ICN Business School, CEREFIGE - Université de Lorraine, 86 rue du Sergent Blandan, 54003 Nancy, France 2 TBS Business School, 6 Place Alfonse Jourdain, 31000 Toulouse, France 3 School of Management and Marketing, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia