Sunrider’s AI platforms provide customization and efficiency.
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Sunrider International, a nutrition company focused on herbal science, is employing a multifaceted artificial intelligence (AI) strategy empowering its field of Independent Business Owners (IBOs) and corporate employees. Leveraging various platforms is improving operational efficiency and creating a more personalized and effective experience. Gareth Hooper, Sunrider’s Chief Information Officer, recently shared insights into the company’s AI strategy and its impact with Direct Selling News.
Enhancing the IBO Experience
Sunrider’s suite of customized AI tools is tailored to meet the needs of its IBOs, focusing on simplifying processes, improving productivity and driving business growth. One of the standout innovations is the AI Shopping Assistant, a generative AI tool that provides personalized support to both distributors and customers. Designed to make the shopping experience intuitive, the assistant can answer questions based on product recommendations and comparisons and in different languages. It is integrated into Sunrider’s website and mobile app to help customers customize their experience.
“We don’t want people just coming to the homepage and getting lost. We’re going to be doing a very specific customer-orientated website—a more proactive shopping assistant,” Hooper explained. “In some of our countries, we’ve got 400 products.”
The AI Reporting Assistant streamlines access to critical business data. By enabling IBOs to generate complex reports through simple queries, this assistant eliminates the need for technical expertise in interpreting back office analytics. For example, an IBO can ask, “Who enrolled YTD, ordered skincare and lives within 50 miles of Dallas?” This feature is live for the US and Canada with plans to roll out to all other markets by the end of the year.
“We basically made it so you can create your own reports,” Hooper shared. “You’ve got 46 different data points. Some of our older IBOs still find the back office reports complicated to use. But with the AI Reporting Assistant, you can ask it any question, and it will look through your downline and provide the answer to you.”
Identifying specific action steps to trigger bonuses and earn income quickly is key. The Income Producing Activities (IPA) AI Coach uses personalized data to suggest actionable, prioritized tasks. This tool not only assists distributors in focusing on high-impact activities but also aids in onboarding new IBOs by providing step-by-step guidance. It can suggest action steps to help a new IBO whose bonus window is about to expire. “If someone’s going to qualify to rank up, or if someone’s within striking distance of a fast start bonus, then you definitely want to help that person achieve it,” Hooper added.
Customer retention is a critical metric for any direct selling company, and Sunrider’s Churn Predictor leverages machine learning to tackle this challenge head on. The tool predicts customer churn with about 80 percent accuracy within 60 days of a customer’s last order. Its predictions are integrated into the IPA AI Coach, prompting IBOs to take proactive measures to re-engage customers. The predictive analytics will suggest reaching out to a customer who most likely placed his last order, for example.
“Churn prediction is about giving our distributors the opportunity to act before it’s too late,” Hooper said. “It’s one of the ways we’re using AI to foster stronger, long-term relationships between IBOs and their customers.”
Boosting Corporate Productivity
AI is not just transforming the experience for IBOs, it’s also optimizing corporate operations at Sunrider. The IT department has been an early adopter, with about 30 percent of the company’s code now generated by AI tools such as Claude 3. Sunrider’s developers adhere to strict protocols to ensure data security and compliance while leveraging AI to expedite software development.
“Generative AI is helping our IT team work more efficiently,” Hooper shared. “It allows us to focus on innovation and scalability without compromising quality or security.”
Sunrider’s IT team also has plans to lean heavily on AI for test automation, which will significantly increase the efficiency of quality assurance (QA) processes. Currently, test case coverage stands at 60 percent, with manual QA still playing a role for more complex requirements.
In other departments, tools like ChatGPT and Copilot are being utilized to generate marketing content, while platforms such as HeyGen are being explored for video translations. Additionally, Sunrider is preparing to launch an AI-powered Adhoc Reporting Assistant for employees in 2025. This tool aims to reduce the time spent on adhoc reporting tasks by 90 percent by leveraging the company’s data warehouse.
Sunrider’s investment in AI reflects a forward-thinking approach that aligns with the company’s mission to empower its distributors and employees. By leveraging AI, the company is creating a more dynamic and supportive environment for IBOs, while also enhancing operational efficiency across its corporate functions.
From the March/April 2025 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
