Redefining the Style and the Way We Shop!
Think about the kind of revolution we can bring by integrating AI into our fashion industry. Yes, it is possible. Fashion retail and manufacturing are not untouched by AI with the dynamics of the industry taking a different and unique shape today. From marketing to design, AI has been at the forefront of disruption in the fashion industry. According to several reports conducting by business analysts around the globe, there has been a huge jump in fashion retail due to automation brought on the table by AI robots. Let’s discuss in detail what kind of impact AI has created in the fashion industry.
What AI has to offer for the Fashion Industry?
AI: Our New Clothing Designer and Stylist
AI Algorithms are very effective in analyzing designs through images. AI can suggest designers which design will ace the fashion market and which one not to amplify design-making capabilities. Apparel manufacturing comprises of several mundane tasks from sewing to sorting. It is a labour-intensive industry but AI robots can help to reduce the labour cost and perform all of these tasks with better accuracy at a faster speed. Ai-enabled machines can stitch fabrics faster and also detect faults in fabrics to provide quality assurance.
AI provides retail solutions to monitor customer’s activities and perform sentiment analysis to understand how a product is performing in the market. AI-enabled outfits are tailored according to the user’s body type, style, and latest fashion trends. AI-powered smart mirrors have been used in several apparel stores to enable virtual visualization of clothes a customer would like to buy.
Benefits of Incorporating AI into Fashion
AI is dramatically shifting the way we shop and there is no denying to the fact that in the next few years, traditional apparel stores will completely be replaced by digital stores to simplify the shopping process. AI will be our guide through this transformation and it is everything every marketer will seek to raise its bar in the fashion market. Let’s see how the fashion industry is getting benefited by AI every day.
#1 Product Customization
With e-commerce taking a big leap forward in the fashion industry, AI can help it to keep browsing patterns of the customers and in turn, suggest similar items based on style and design.
#2 Enhancing Customer Services and Communication
AI-powered chatbots have gained immense popularity in the fashion market. They can assist customers to provide concrete solutions and bridge the communication gap.
#3 Automating Retail Operations
Retailers suffer a lot in making data entries and performing calculations manually. AI can help them to assess margins with greater accuracy so that they can focus more on building strategy and product execution.
#4 Rendering Better Buying Process
With powerful insights in hand, fashion buyers can order the specific type of material and number of items that have high probabilities of being sold.
#5 Managing Inventory
Demand forecasting has been at the core of the fashion industry and thus, plays a vital role in constructing the success graph of a business. AI algorithms are very effective in making predictions to keep your business moving.
#6 Improving Product Discovery
Heard about Google Lens? It is an AI-powered tool through which users can upload a snap of a specific product and then it assists them to buy similar styles right from their smartphones.
A Curated List of Major Fashion Retailers who are using AI
Let’s have a look over the front leads of the fashion industry who are employing AI to get things done smartly.
Alibaba
Alibaba Group is a Chinese retail and technology multinational and they opened their first ‘Fashion AI’ store in 2019. The key features of their store include smart mirrors, intelligent garment tags, and omnichannel integration.
Amazon
Amazon is an established name in the fashion industry and it is considered a tech powerhouse nowadays. With its product recommendation systems helping a wide range of customers in assisting shopping, it is now growing into a titan. Amazon has its own algorithm for designing clothes and it has added another feather into its hat by introducing Amazon Echo Look, an Alexa fashion assistant.
Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger in collaboration with IBM worked on a project called ‘Reimagine Retail’ to equip retailers with skills in AI design. Using AI, fashion designers from Tommy Hilfiger gained better insights for creating a perfect piece for a specific person.
Van Heusen
Van Heusen has been a leading fashion retailer over several years. It created a retail environment with smart mirrors where virtual garments are projected over a customer’s reflection.
In a Nutshell
If you find a tag of the bestseller on a book, you certainly know that the book will be worth a shot. Likewise, AI is assisting fashion retailers to use data-driven solutions for predicting best and worst sellers with better accuracy than ever before. Not only revolutionizing e-commerce, but AI has also proposed a sustained shopping way by reducing inventory waste. Fashion mangers, designers, retailers, and manufacturers are learning to benefit profoundly by harnessing the underlying potential of AI.
