RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
Guess-Alibaba tie-up to bring AI to fashion world
US clothing brand and retailer Guess has marked another milestone in its partnership with Alibaba Group in its efforts to bring artificial intelligence( AI) to the fashion world providing customers with a more enriching shopping experience that combines online and offline shopping behaviours.
Rounding out a comprehensive partnership that began in 2013 with the launch of Guess in Tmall this year, Guess also became a global strategic partner of Alibaba’ s Fashion AI project, an initiative to give shoppers a glimpse of what the future of fashion retail will look like powered by AI. The launch of the interactive concept shop, driven by Alibaba AI, Guess and Alibaba saw, the implementation of the O2O( onlineto-offline) project come to life, marking the maturity of the unified customer experience concept.
Last month, Alibaba launched the pilot Fashion AI concept shop on the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus, pairing Guess’ retail knowledge and latest collections with Alibaba AI and other technologies. The project was aimed at providing a better retail experience for shoppers and to help brands better use analytics in ordering and maintaining inventory.
“ As technology changes how we interact, it also affects how we shop. As our customers evolve, it is critical that we evolve with them,” said Victor Herrero, CEO of Guess.“ Our strong and longlasting partnership with global technology leader Alibaba puts us ahead of the market in our industry. Together, we are able to innovate in real time. This is the future of retail and we plan to continuously invest and adapt to our customers’ needs in this changing retail landscape.”
Zhuoran Zhuang, vice-president, Alibaba Group, commented:“ Guess and Alibaba share the same vision to understand customer behaviours through technologies. With Guess’ retail expertise, we are able to train and refine our Fashion AI system and marry technology with fashion in a way that’ s never been done
Guess’ O2O New Retail concepts has resulted in overall strong performance and growth for the brand in Asia-Pacific.
before. We are looking forward to deepening our partnership to innovate personalised services offered in retail shops.”
The Fashion AI concept store featured smart racks, smart mirrors and next-generation fitting rooms. Alibaba’ s Fashion AI system offers mix-and-match clothing and accessory suggestions from the Guess line, as well as items sold by others on Tmall and Taobao.
With the advancements in AI and the continuing partnership with Alibaba Group, Guess anticipates extending the experience globally. ra
AR in retail market to worth nearly US $ 8b by 2023
INCREASING online shopping, rising smartphone penetration and growing adoption of connected devices are the major factors driving the growth of augmented reality( AR) in the retail market and encouraging retailers to adopt the technology, according to market research firm MarketsandMarkets.
Its new research report titled Augmented reality in retail market showed that the market is expected to grow from US $ 1.155 billion this year to US $ 7.95 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 47.1 % between 2018 and 2023.
Reflecting the way ahead
Due to the emergence of virtual fitting rooms, smart AR mirrors( which are mainly used as virtual try-on solutions in apparel fitting and cosmetics) are leading AR in the retail market.
MarketsandMarkets said more fashion retailers are tapping on virtual dressing rooms and the“ try before you buy” option helps customers with their purchasing decisions.
Garnering sales and revenue is also major objective of using AR in advertising and marketing. According to the report, the increase in the adoption of AR relies on major parameters such as the emotional connection with AR, economical advertising with more engagement, sales boost and improvement in hyperlocal advertising.
Grocery shopping would grow at high rate
The grocery shopping category is expected to grow at the highest rate in the next five to seven years. The ease and the convenience offered by retailers with
the implementation of advanced technologies would be the major drivers for the growth of AR in grocery shopping, the report suggested.
The use of AR in grocery shopping would also allow users to make healthier buying decisions. As customers’ information( such as buying habits, brands and frequency of buying particular products) can be stored; the data collected by retail companies can then be used to increase sales in the near future. AR for grocery shopping would see some growth due to retailers’ increasing investments in updating technology and the growing users of AR-enabled devices globally.
This year, North America is expected to lead in terms of market size and revenue generated from AR in retail applications, MarketsandMarkets reported. The AR in retail market is estimated to grow considerably in the subsequent years in this region. ra
26 Retail Asia August 2018