Fashion retailers cottoning on to the benefits of AI

Two separate research studies, funded by Apptus and carried out by IMRG and Hive, have found that fashion retailers are planning significant investment in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next two years, as they seek to deliver the'real time relevant' customer experiences that are vital to improving sales performance. The study carried out by Hive found that, though retailers plan to invest in AI in a number of areas – online merchandising and personalisation are clear priorities. Asked to identify the areas of their businesses that will benefit the most from automation in the coming 3-5 years, scoring each out of 10, they awarded personalisation a score of 7.9 and online merchandising: 7.8. By contrast customer service scored five out of ten. Why AI? Fashion retailers' race to adopt AI is driven by a growing realisation that the current, manual approach to online merchandising and product exposure is delivering diminishing returns. Conversion rates are in decline, as is customer loyalty, while basket abandonment is on the rise.