Marks & Spencer is utilizing artificial intelligence to offer advice to shoppers regarding clothing choices based on their body type and style preferences in order to enhance online sales.
The 130-year-old retailer is employing this technology to customize consumers’ online experiences and suggest products for them to purchase.
Stephen Langford, the company’s online director, mentioned that M&S is using AI to adjust the language it uses when communicating with shoppers to cater to six different preferences, including emotive, descriptive language, and more direct prose.
One objective is to tailor online interactions with shoppers, prioritizing the products that are most suitable for them – for instance, a male shopper might not be shown the latest sale on bras.
Shoppers can also participate in a quiz about their size, body type, and style preferences to receive appropriate outfit ideas generated by M&S’s AI-driven technology.
Langford noted that 450,000 M&S shoppers have taken the quiz so far, which enables them to select an outfit from 40 million options.
The service combines input from the £7 billion company’s in-house stylists with feedback from shoppers to offer suggestions on how to mix and match various outfits.
While automation of product descriptions using AI has increased from nearly zero to 80% in the past year, Langford emphasized that “humans are still essential in the process to validate the output.”
M&S’s managing director of clothing and homewares, Richard Price, stated that the fashion industry is “accelerating its shift online” with the goal of achieving approximately a third of sales digitally by 2028.
The retailer, which operates 240 full-line stores and 325 food outlets, reported a 41% increase in profits last year, with sales climbing 9.4% to £13 billion.
Online Fashion and Home Goods Sales increased 7.8% M&S acquired over one million customers last year, with two-thirds of them coming through the internet.
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The increase in online sales is partly driven by an 80% surge in spending on social media marketing and advertising in the past year, with the company now allocating more funds to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok than to TV, and almost a third of its TikTok revenue coming from entirely new customers.
During the presentation of its autumn range, Price stated that M&S had captured its first share of the women’s wear market in nine years this summer, despite facing challenging weather conditions until late July.
Although the company has traditionally been a leader in categories like knitwear and lingerie, it is gaining market share in other areas like denim, and with the winter party season approaching, it aims to surpass Next as the top seller of occasionwear.
Source: www.theguardian.com
