The details below emphasize the application and use cases of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in real estate. The industry has already witnessed unprecedented changes in the way it operates whereas learning about both technologies would only scratch the surface.

Before diving deep into it, let us first understand the current state of AI and its transition into the property business market.

Real Estate & the Coming of AI/ML

Despite the ongoing economic crisis worldwide and the depressing impact of the recession, the real estate market seems to thrive and operate brilliantly and gallantly. In fact, MSCI has predicted that worldwide business acquisitions are all set to rise by 9.6 trillion in a few years.

Like almost every other business industry, real estate finally realized the potential of advanced technologies such as AI and ML when integrated. In the data-driven world of the property market, AI has impacted almost every aspect from property search to consumer buying behavior, selling strategies, investment management, construction, and so on.

Creating intelligent homes using smart and advanced technologies, and the ability to virtually visit a unit before it is actually built to get first-hand experience and even predict the creative design intent are only a few of many other possibilities. Just a few questions you can have answers for using artificial intelligence are:

– Would the elevator be able to calculate the number of passengers and raise an emergency alarm if it’s overfilled?

– Would there be a positive ROI of the solar panels if installed on the rooftop?

– Who would be the primary buyers and residents once the building is complete?

Fortunately, all such answers can be obtained by AI and ML-enhanced software. Now that we know a bit about the technology, let’s have a look at how it’s benefiting the real estate industry.

AI & ML: Driving Real Estate to New Heights

1. Generate More Leads

AI-powered software programs are becoming increasingly popular in the e-commerce industry due to their ability to gather valuable consumer insights. These insights can be used to improve business development strategies and increase sales. In the real estate industry, marketing campaigns that utilize AI apps and chatbots can gather customer data that is useful for lead generation. Machine learning interfaces can also help identify trends and patterns in consumer behavior. Allowing businesses to tailor their marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.

In fact, there are many different applications that help you gain traction in a particular real estate niche and emerge as a leader; having been learned and trained through ML environments. Then there s NLP technology that prepares a track record of potential buyers having greater chances of conversion.

2. Streamlines Property Search

All the way from listing property units on the Internet to buying, renting, and customer support, technology has simplified the entire process for everyone. We’re quite accustomed to search tools in the real estate industry that can filter the results by agents, buyers, number of bedrooms, the total area of the unit, number of bathrooms, nearby amenities, and so on.

AI algorithms come into play during this stage, allowing users to search for a property based on very specific details and the teensiest aspects that can change the game. In fact, the technology is advanced enough to even walk you through the unit using a 3D model. Even wearable tech lets you experience the place with all the design changes, adding or removing amenities and so much more.

3. Property Management

Keeping track and remotely managing almost all aspects of the real estate industry using AI software is an added benefit. For instance, the algorithms and repeated patterns from users streamline and even automate tasks. Such as maintenance of buying/renting lists, unit listings, catering to maintenance requests, tenant applications, and many other details.

Even the most intricate tasks such as checking tenant/buyer and even owner’s background, seasonal availability and booking of units, price trends in particular areas and so much more can be automated using AI and ML.

4. Simple & Hassle-free Transactions

AI and ML, when integrated with Customer Relationship Management (CSR) systems, allow data reading, report generation, and contract management to be performed automatically. All of this saves time as compared to manually entering every single detail, thus even removing the slightest chance of human error from the equation.

5. Facilitates Property Evaluation

While the coming of AI and ML is considered a true blessing, for some, the technology’s ability to predict the final outcome or future that’s more or less precise is regarded as a threat to their employment. But that isn’t the case as you can work in collaboration with the technology and see exceptional results.

With real estate, estimating the rental cost, the current and future value of the unit(s), analyzing nearby facilities, gauging information such as crime rates in the area, alternative routes to travel to-and-from the property, public records, and so on; are a few of the many possibilities you can easily overcome using AI and ML.

This particular technology was tested and performed brilliantly beyond imagination during the pandemic as most of the outdoor activities were either halted completely or partially executed.

6. Loan Management

Complicated calculations and financial dealings in real estate can be painful but even here, ML and AI come to the rescue by simplifying the entire process. For instance, when it comes to lending, a real estate agent or investor would be informed in advance with all the data and documents available at their fingertips, collected by AI.

7. Mortgage Calculation

A lot of real estates companies are engaged in mortgage calculation and despite operating in the industry for years, there comes a time when they need help. Even here, AI and ML come to save the day as the algorithm can read mortgage applications, remove possible errors, and process further. The end result is a flawless and precise outcome that helps owners to make an informed decision.

The coming of AI and machine learning have transformed industries from scratch as we know them and real estate isn’t any exception. Then there are many different yet best apps for realtors supported by Android and iOS to give you an idea of integrating AI and ML in real estate apps.

AI and ML are gaining traction as more and more industries are pledging to the technology. Integrating this smart tech is sure to raise market credibility and optimize delivery with quality.

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The post Why Do Real Estate Apps Need AI and Machine Learning? appeared first on Tricky Enough.

Starting and expanding an online business these days is challenging. Economy aside, the market is highly competitive as the eCommerce market is booming exponentially. Thanks to the futuristic and next-generation development platforms, you can have your store up and running quickly without all that painful coding.

Speaking of eCommerce website and app development platforms, Shopify takes the lead amongst the many because of its handy features, user-friendly features, and ability to customize the store as your business grows. Before jumping onto custom Shopify app development, let’s learn a bit about the platform itself to get you started.

About Shopify

Launched in 2006, Shopify is an eCommerce development platform for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and even established corporations looking forward to excelling in their digital business. The platform enables developers and creators in building and manages online retail stores, accept payments, tailor the website as per the need, and also analyze sales statistics.

A Word on Shopify App Store

Shopify apps are easily available in the marketplace on the official Shopify App Store containing more than thousands of handy applications, catering to a variety of eCommerce business models. That said, the store is categorized based on the apps’ functionality, and nature of business operations and also filters the search.

Purpose of Shopify Applications

One can easily figure out the apps’ purpose and functionality based on the listings category. Store design, management, marketing, customer services, shipment, merchandising, conversion, and many more are a few examples whereas each further branches out into subcategories.

Take for instance, marketing can be divided further into analytics, SEO, content marketing, direct marketing, email marketing, etc. Such features give an idea of how you can customize your Shopify app and what you need based on the nature of your eCommerce business.

Different Types of Shopify Apps

In general, Shopify apps are divided into three types namely public, custom, and private. Let’s have a look at each for clarity.

1. Shopify Public Apps

The name itself indicates that public apps are available for free to merchants and can easily be found under the respective category on Shopify App Store. On the contrary, many other public apps aren’t listed on the store which can be downloaded and installed directly by a partner Shopify app development company or individual developer having the proper license to operate.

The standard needs of retailers are fulfilled by these Shopify Public Apps with an ability to maximize reach and brand awareness. For seasonal or infrequent use, maintenance checks, and more targeted users in retail, unlisted Shopify Public apps are recommended.

2. Shopify Custom Apps

Custom Shopify apps are tailored to a business or retailer’s unique needs whereas these apps are unavailable in the Shopify App Store. To introduce lucrative new features and extend the performance to other platforms, custom apps are the go-to option. An external app developer has no access to the custom app or Shopify admin panel to manage custom apps as these are unique to every user.

3. Shopify Private Apps

Just like custom applications, Shopify Private Apps aren’t listed in the official app store and are available only at selected e-stores or e-shops. These apps target retailers with stricter and very specific requirements whereas external developers need access to the admin panel and API to manage the development and introduce features.

Embedded vs. Standalone Shopify Apps

Public, custom and private Shopify apps further vary in their nature as these can either be standalone or embedded.

• Standalone

These have a unique and specific interface along with their domain.

• Embedded

These apps are hosted and managed completely from your infrastructure, however, integrated with official Shopify through the App Bridge. As for their availability and display, you can find these apps directly in the admin or iframe’s POS. You can also introduce new UI features and storage options through Shopify app extensions.

Benefits of Custom Shopify App Development

There are many reasons and benefits to developing custom Shopify apps. According to a 2022 statistical report, 80% of Shopify store owners use these apps to beat their competitors and stay ahead in the game.

• UX

Disseminating the right information to the right audience in just the right way and time can be challenging for shop owners as they’ve too much to deal with already. This may be the case when sticking to the standard functions whereas mobile application is sure to give a better, smoother, and more engaging user experience thus increasing the chance of better conversions.

• Unique & Creative

Custom Shopify app can help store owners and brands showcase their stellar features and products which helps them stand in the limelight. Also, it increases the chance of getting more sales and earning customer loyalty in the longer run.

• Marketing & Branding

The very purpose of custom apps is to meet unique needs and features required to power up your retail brand. Having that said, custom Shopify apps come with tailored marketing and branding tools to give you visibility and sales beyond imagination.

• More Control

A custom app gives owners more authority to integrate new features and functions, data for safe and secure operations as well as prevention from various online threats.

Ways to Build a Custom Shopify App

To enable a custom Shopify app, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the apps and click on Develop apps for your store
2. Hit the allow custom app development option

You will receive a prompt that reads Warning and Information clause. Once done reading the details, click on Allow Custom App Development.

3. Provide the name of the app and the developer company or individual
4. Click on Create App

You can later assign API scopes that are of two types – Admin API and Storefront API scopes.

• Admin API Scopes lets you store and access data that moves the API operations and functionality.
• Storefront API Scopes are visible to customers but only to those that you would select.

5. Once APIs have been assigned, click on Save
6. Finally, you can click on Install App

Following the above steps will create a custom Shopify App

Update a Custom Shopify App

You can update the app by editing the API scopes. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Click on Configuration
2. Select Admin API or Storefront API integration depending on your needs

Click on Edit and then proceed to update the scopes as required.

Future of Shopify Applications

The world of eCommerce shows no sign of slowing down and having a powerful store built upon a robust platform like Shopify ensures healthy profit and the ability to scale with time. However, all of it depends on how you’d manage and keep up with the changing trends. As of now, the above details would surely help in creating your very own custom Shopify app.

The post All You Need to Know About Custom Shopify App appeared first on Tricky Enough.

Adobe Commerce, previously known as Magento, is a scalable, feature-rich, platform used to develop and power B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Customer) eCommerce stores.

A theme is simply a component of Adobe Commerce that, by combining different and unique elements such as templates, layouts, styles, or images, creates a visually unified design for the entire application e.g. your storefront. You either choose from a wide variety of existing, prebuilt themes, or opt for a completely custom and tailored theme.

Adobe Commerce comes preloaded with two themes, Luma and Blank. Luma is like a demo theme, while Blank is well… more like a blank canvas for you to create your own custom theme.

There are no limitations on using the sample theme, Luma, for your live eCommerce store, but if you wish to modify the default layout, you must develop a “new theme”. Any modifications or changes you make to Luma and Blank will likely be replaced or overwritten during updates, so we suggest not altering the existing or default files or settings.

Your new theme can stand alone or derive from another theme already in use or from the default. The concept of theme inheritance used by the Adobe Commerce system enables you to change only specific theme files while retaining access to other necessary files from a parent theme.

Prerequisites for Adobe Theme Development

Prior to initiating Adobe Commerce development, there exist certain conditions you need to meet to be able to successfully develop your own Adobe Theme.

1. Familiarity with the Adobe Commerce.
2. Experience in coding Adobe Commerce.
3. Access to frontend and backend of your Adobe Commerce Store as well as access to
   hosting.

Once all three of these prerequisites are met, you may begin on your journey to develop an adobe commerce theme.

Step 1: Creating a Theme Directory

i) Here is what you need to follow to create a directory for your Adobe Commerce theme

ii) Start by opening <adobe_commerce_root>/app/design/frontend.

iii) After you’ve opened it, create the new folder according to the name of your Vendor: /app/design/frontend/<Vendor>.

iv) Followed by creating a new directory of your theme under the <Vendor> directory.

Step 2: Declaring the Theme

i) Once you’re finished creating a theme directory, you must declare it by creating theme.xml containing your chosen theme’s name in app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<theme>.

ii) Configure it using the following code:

iii) Add the preview.jpg file to the app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<theme>/media/ directory.

Step 3: Forming a Composer Package for your Theme

Composer packages are used to distribute the default themes.

Add a composer.json file to the theme directory and register the package on a packaging server to distribute your theme as a package. https://packagist.org is the standard website for public packaging servers.

The composer.json file contains information on theme dependencies. For the correct dependencies and their versions, consult a recent theme.xml file. You might need more modules in the “require” section if your parent theme isn’t Magento/Blank.

Step 4: Adding a registration.php into your theme

Now add a registration.php file with the following contents to your theme directory to register your theme with the system:

Step 5: Configuring Your Store’s Images

A view.xml configuration file is used to set up the storefront’s product image sizes and other properties. It is necessary for a theme but not essential if it already exists in the parent theme.

The following steps should be followed to add view.xml if your theme’s product image sizes are different from those of the parent theme or if your theme does not inherit from any other themes:

1. Access your application server by logging in as a user who has the ability to create folders and files in the installation directory.

2. In your theme folder, create the, etc directory.

3. Copy the view.xml file from either the Blank theme or the etc directory of the parent theme. i.e. move the file view.xml from theme-frontend-blank/etc to your theme’s etc directory.

4. Adjust the sizes of each product picture for the storefront in the view.xml file. E.g. you can specify a size of 250 x 250 pixels to make the product images in the category grid view square:

<image id=”category_page_grid” type=”small_image”>

<width>250</width>

<height>250</height>

</image>

Step 6: Creation of Directories for Static Files

Your theme probably includes a variety of static file formats, including:

Styles

Fonts

JavaScript

Images

Each type needs to be kept in its own web subdirectory in your theme folder:

app/design/<area>/<Vendor>/<theme>/

You keep all of the static files that are generally relevant to the theme in the directory…/theme>/web/images. A theme logo, for instance, is kept in…theme>/web/images.

Your theme most certainly contains module-specific files as well. These files are kept in the respective subdirectories, such as…/theme/Namespace Module>/web/css and similar ones. The next portions of this article go through managing the module-specific theme files.

NOTE: You must first clear the pub/static and var/view_preprocessed directories before making changes to the files stored here while developing a theme. Otherwise, the storefront displays the previous iterations of the files.

Execute rm -r <magento_root>/pub/static/*/* to clear the pub/static directory. Then execute rm -r <magento_root>/var/view_preprocessed/* to clear the var/view_preprocessed directory.

Step 7: Adding a Theme Logo

A logo image’s name and default format in the program are logo.SVG. A logo.svg picture is automatically identified as the theme logo when it is placed in the standard location, which is the <theme_dir>/web/images directory. Once the theme is applied, it appears in the header of your store page.

You can use a logo file with a different name and format in your custom theme, but you might need to declare it.

If or whether your theme has a parent theme and its logo picture determines whether a declaration is necessary. These scenarios are conceivable:

There is no parent theme for your theme.

There is no need to specify your logo picture if its name and format follow the default naming scheme (logo.svg).

If the name or format of your logo picture deviates from the standard naming practice, you must indicate it in the layout.

The parent theme of your theme exists:

There is no need to define a theme logo if it has the same name and format as the parent’s theme logo.

Declare it in the layout if your logo picture has a different name or format.

Step 8: Declaration of the Theme Logo

Add an extending <theme_dir>/Magento_Theme/layout/default.xml layout to declare a theme logo.

For instance, if the size of your logo file is 300×300 pixels, you must declare it as follows:

NOTE: Declaring the size of the logo is optional and can be skipped.

Step 9: Designing the Theme

Applications for Adobe Commerce employ a model view controller architecture. The major focus will be style, which in this case mostly entails changing the CSS or LESS. We will start changing the theme using LESS as that is how Adobe Commerce was created.

There are three different ways to style a website before you start styling the theme:

Server-Side Compilation

Using Grunt for Server-Side Compilation

Client-Side Compilation

We’re gonna use Client-Side to explain but fret not, the result is the same, no matter which methodology you use.

Begin by uncommenting the line SetEnv MAGE_MODE developer which can be found in the .htaccess file.

The LESS compilation mode must then be switched to the client-side by accessing the admin panel in Adobe Commerce. Select Process type under Stores Configuration Advanced Developer Front-end development workflow. Do not forget to click the Save Config button once you’ve made the change.

When we refresh the web browser in this mode, Grunt does not need to be running in order to compile our CSS. The Adobe Commerce platform will handle it. Now that we have fewer files, we can make changes to them and watch the frontend change in the following place: /app/design/frontend/Cloudways/m2-theme/web/CSS/source/CW-theme.less

The following code may be used in your CW-theme.less file:

This file allows you to apply theme-specific styles, save it, and then reload your browser. You’ll notice that there aren’t any styles when the browser first loads if client-side compilation is enabled. This is because LESS is currently being assembled by Adobe Commerce. Give it a few seconds, and your personalized styles will start to appear.

Step 10: Editing the Layout of the Theme

The layout file with the same name must be placed in the directory as /app/design/frontend/Magento/luma/Magento_Theme/layout/default.xml in order to override the theme layout.

These layouts replace the ones listed below/Cloudways/m2-theme/Magento_Theme/layout/default.xml

Always use the directory name page layout rather than the layout when replacing page layout files.

The layout overriding method offers exceptional customizing freedom. We advise against making the following changes:

Alias or Block name

The parent handle’s page type.

Conclusion

These are the 10 simple steps you have to follow to create your own custom theme in Adobe Commerce. You can always reach out to us if you want to learn more about Adobe Commerce Development.

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