Leboncoin switches to artificial intelligence: what it will change in concrete terms

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The French classifieds giant is unveiling a series of technological innovations that will radically transform the experience of its 26.8 million monthly users. With the ambition of catching up with Amazon on the French market, Leboncoin is betting everything on artificial intelligence to revolutionize its services.

This transformation, announced on December 16, marks a strategic turning point for the platform that has continued to reinvent itself since its creation in 2006.

AI everywhere

No more approximate descriptions and random keywords. Leboncoin introduces image search, directly from its mobile application. The principle is simple: you take a photo of the object of your desires and the AI ​​instantly analyzes its characteristics to offer you similar ads, like Google. Circle to search .

A vintage sofa spotted in a shop window ? A pair of sneakers spotted in the street ? It only takes a few seconds to find the rare gem on the platform. This feature is based on visual recognition algorithms capable of identifying the smallest details of an object to suggest relevant matches.

Sellers will also benefit from a small revolution. No more need to rack your brains to write an attractive description: AI now takes care of everything. From a simple photo and a title, it automatically generates a detailed description, suggests a price consistent with the market and even recommends the most suitable delivery methods.

For now, this feature is only available for the categories 'Games & Toys', 'Video Games' and “Household Appliances”, but it will be extended to all sections in early 2025. This automation promises not only to save valuable time, but also to improve the quality and relevance of ads.

A tailor-made experience for each user

To highlight this new era, Leboncoin has completely revised its home page.Exit the single interface: each user now has their own version of the site, enriched with recommendations based on their browsing history and favorites. An evolution made possible by the company's 600 technical collaborators, who represent nearly 40% of the workforce. This advanced personalization aims to create a more fluid and intuitive shopping experience, where the relevant products come to you rather than the other way around.

Behind the scenes, this transformation is based on cutting-edge technologies. The site uses in particular CamemBERT, a language model developed by Meta especially for French. The technical teams had to overcome significant challenges to manage up to 5 million requests per second on a base of 67 million ads.

Thanks to this modernization of the platform, Leboncoin hopes to attract a new generation of buyers and sellers, while retaining its historical user base. A good start to take on the giant Amazon.

• Leboncoin is rolling out a series of new features powered by artificial intelligence
• The home page is now personalized for each profile and automatic ad creation functions are available for sellers
• With these improvements, Leboncoin intends to compete with the giant Amazon

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