As we continue navigating the digital age, our expectations for technology continue to intensify. We expect it to make our lives easier, more convenient, improve how we communicate, how we entertain ourselves, and even how we shop.
This is true for consumers who like to shop just as much as it’s true for the fashion brands themselves. People love technology because it eliminates long check-out lines, it grants them more sizing and color options than would be available in-store, and they no longer have to leave their homes to ‘go’ shopping. On the other hand, fashion brands can benefit from innovative technology because it can improve their customer service efforts, help them create more effective marketing outreach, and eliminate the amount of time they’re spending on administrative tasks.
As the fashion industry becomes more digitized, it’s time brands take advantage of new technologies like artificial intelligence to grow their business. Below are five examples of how AI is changing the game for retailers (and as a byproduct, consumers).
1. Hyper-personalization
Arguably, the greatest perk of artificial intelligence in the fashion realm is its ability to hyper-personalize the customer experience. Consumers want brands to do the heavy lifting for them. Instead of scrolling through the hundreds of products available on a store’s website, AI can put the clothing and accessories someone is more likely to purchase right in front of them. A number of successful brands are already utilizing AI to personalize their product recommendations and, as a result, are seeing a surge in sales. Artificial intelligence can learn everything there is to know about each one of your customers, even down to the style of sunglasses they prefer. And this level of personalization and customer service doesn’t go unnoticed by your customers.
2. Reliable Sales Assistants
Good sales assistants are hard to find. Fortunately, AI developers have created digital versions that often prove to be more beneficial than their human counterparts. Not only can retailers expect to save more money by going this route, but they can also be reassured that all of their customers are receiving top-tier customer service. Let artificial intelligence handle inquiries about available sizes and colors, similar selections, and more while your team can focus on the more demanding aspects of their jobs.
3. Competitive Pricing
Artificial intelligence paired with machine learning technology makes certain that retailers are pricing their products at points that will keep them ahead of the curve. This helps retailers maintain a competitive edge in the industry. It ensures that you’re not overcharging for products that similar brands are selling for less money, but it also ensures you aren’t undercharging for your products either. Similarly, AI can influence how you adjust your prices depending on other factors, like what season it is.
4. Better Understanding of Supply and Demand
Large retailers are notoriously known for spending millions of dollars on items that they expect to do well on the market. But as the fashion industry is unpredictable at times, a lot of these pieces end up collecting warehouse dust, and, as you know, unsold inventory is costly. However, with the use of AI, business leaders are receiving reliable insight as to which clothing will sell and which will flop, allowing them to better fulfill the needs of the customer while also making more profit. And as for the aging inventory, prediction analysis technology was established to help retailers get these products off of the shelves by formulating feasible markdowns and marketing strategies that are sure to attract consumer interest.
5. More Effective Inventory Management
Both employees and business leaders alike can agree that tracking inventory the traditional way is a frustrating, never-ending process. This is a problem our software helps to address. When fashion brands use ApparelMagic, we help them effortlessly keep track of what’s in stock with just a click of a button. By implementing real-time metrics, ApparelMagic makes it easy for companies to be able to save both time and labor costs, eliminate the possibility of counting errors, improve loss prevention measures, find out which items are going unwanted, and ensure that they never run out of those that are in demand.
Any retailer that hopes to thrive over the next few years must be willing to evolve alongside technological advancements such as artificial intelligence.
