Zalando utilises artificial intelligence to improve customer experience.
- Zalando Assistant offers tailored suggestions and seeks customer feedback.
- Challenges like unpredictable weather influence fashion retail trends.
- Trend Spotter identifies emerging fashion trends across Europe.
- AI tools, including ChatGPT, enable cost-effective technology development.
At the Drapers Future of Fashion conference, Tian Su, vice president of personalisation and recommendation at Zalando, shared insights into the company’s efforts to enhance customer engagement using artificial intelligence. She highlighted Zalando’s commitment to leveraging AI tools to refine the customer journey for their extensive user base, which spans over 50 million customers across 25 markets.
One notable tool, the Zalando Assistant, employs AI to suggest products to users, who can then provide feedback by giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. This immediate feedback mechanism helps Zalando to refine its service offerings. Su shared a personal anecdote, explaining how she used the tool to select her attire for the conference, though it did not anticipate the need for outerwear due to unforeseen weather changes.
The challenge of unpredictable weather, particularly in the UK, poses difficulties in forecasting fashion trends. Despite this, Su noted that another AI-driven tool, Trend Spotter, successfully advised her to wear a coat. Updated weekly, Trend Spotter pinpoints fashion trends from six European fashion capitals, using data on user interactions with products, such as searches and shopping cart additions.
Su also remarked on the impact of cultural events on fashion choices, citing a surge in trend data following actions by public figures like Taylor Swift. AI allows Zalando to swiftly adapt to these trends without significant financial investment, as exemplified by the integration of ChatGPT technology into their tools.
Su suggested that other retailers could benefit from similar implementations to remain agile in an ever-evolving technological landscape, despite the challenges of initial development costs. This strategic adoption of third-party AI solutions, such as ChatGPT, illustrates Zalando’s approach to efficient innovation in customer engagement.
Zalando exemplifies how integrating AI technologies can significantly enhance online customer engagement, offering a model for the retail industry.
