“Hi there, I’m Enki.” Any loyal ASOS shopper will know Enki from the chat window that pops up as you land on the ASOS website. Enki recommends items based on your shopping habits. Enki analyses images of clothes that users upload, and can match them with similar styles to purchase. Enki probably has more solutions than a personal stylist. But then, Enki is an algorithm.
The use of Artificial intelligence is transforming retail. By using machine-learning, "fashion bots" such as Enki can analyse buying behaviour and recommend products that customers are more likely to buy. Other fashion retailers are taking note. According to Accenture, AI systems will boost profitability in the retail sector by 60 per cent over the next two decades; no wonder that chatbots are seen as crucial to retailers’ future success. But does it mean human stylists will disappear?
They can breathe a sigh of relief, says Federico Marchetti, the chief executive of online luxury retailer YOOX NET-A-PORTER. “Luxury fashion has a human aspect of beauty and emotion,” he says, “Machines are about speed and information. You have to strike a balance between the two. Some may call it a choice, but in the luxury industry, it is a strategy.”
Innovation means machines that are able to design products, 3D-print them and deliver by drone, but this can omit a key resource: human creativity. Marchetti argues that technology has huge potential in terms of data collection, and a role to play on augmenting and improving the work of stylists. Yes, Net-a-Porter uses shopper bots, but the information they generate and collect is used by human designers.
Customers will embrace AI, says Kerry Liu, CEO of Toronto-based Rubikloud. “Customers don’t care about retailers’ problems,” he says. “They care about finding the right product at the right time. AI can help shops provide that.” Rubikloud leveraging uses machine learning to optimise complex supply chains. By using AI, stores should have the right product on the right shelves, faster. “It’s about staying relevant,” says Liu. AI alone, though, will not deliver retail nirvana. Marchetti argues that in the future retailers may want to add a new label to merchandise: “Made by humans” could replace, say, “Made in Italy” – a guarantee of human creativity.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
