Artificial intelligence (AI) crossed over into quite a few conversations at February’s eTail West conference in Palm Springs, Calif. Panelists from Minted, Stitch Fix, Sur La Table and other brands shared how retailers are using AI, in addition to why they’re being cautious and — importantly — how they’re balancing rollouts to value human expertise. All of those AI retail recommendations together showed what’s at stake for retailers, team members and customers alike.
In a Feb. 28 panel, Jeff Cooper, the director of knowledge science at the non-public styling service Stitch Fix, made the case for leveraging AI while keeping human touches energetic and visual in customer experience. Cooper wasn’t alone with this attitude, which was also front and center during other retailers’ panels on the show.
The importance of human expertise
Identifying when AI tools need expert oversight generally is a challenge, based on Jeff Cooper, director of knowledge science at Stitch Fix. As he articulated during an eTail West AI panel, an organization may have the opportunity to avoid wasting resources in some areas. Nevertheless, in his view, brands mustn’t lose sight of the human domain expertise that will still be required to make use of AI resources in the very best possible ways.
Stephen Curial, chief technology officer at Curial, and Jeff Cooper, director of knowledge science at Stitch Fix, speaking at eTail West 2024 | Photo credit: eTail West
Stitch Fix is No. 42 within the Top 1000. The Digital Commerce 360 database ranks North America’s online retailers by web sales. In it, Digital Commerce 360 categorizes Stitch Fix as an Apparel & Accessories retailer.
“Much of the info collection has already happened for these large-scale generative tools,” Cooper said. “You don’t have to worry about collecting your billions of knowledge points to start with a few of them, but you do have to have the opportunity to usher in your expertise and your data and find people in your organization who’re willing to assist teach those models as to what they’ll do in your client.”
Controls and limits for AI
Cooper emphasized the importance of “appropriate controls and moderations and humans within the loop” for achieving results that provide positive experiences for patrons. In a single example, he shared how Stitch Fix as a retailer uses AI in its recommendations. As AI helps to optimize clothing recommendations, he said Stitch Fix also ensures that human judgment and creativity are still driving decisions.
“We’re using for our outfit completion model the judgments and creativity of our human stylists to assist train a model that may then generate tens of thousands and thousands of outfits a day,” he said. “We’re not turning our trend predictions completely over to an algorithm where we don’t have full control over which direction it would go in — but as an alternative we’re using our stylists to coach a model where we consider in its understanding of current fashion trends and where the market goes.
Cooper also underscored the worth of visible human presence in customer experience. In doing so, he brought up its role in customer experience when Stitch Fix’s boxes are delivered.
“Similarly, our stylists for our clients deliver wealthy, personalized advice via written notes to our clients in every box that they get,” he stated. “That’s a very important a part of the experience, but in addition one which we may also help speed up with AI.”
AI retail recommendations and customer experience
Angela Hsu, the previous chief marketing officer at Bed Bath & Beyond, flagged the identical enduring need for human connection. In her onstage remarks the identical day at eTail West, she praised what it has enabled for retailers and marketers. At the identical time, she urged the audience to keep up a way of perspective, at the same time as technology pushes boundaries.
“All of it is determined by the info, right? And the ID graph and the way you train the model,” Hsu said. “And I feel like there’s still a protracted technique to go. We’ve been talking about personalization for a long time or longer and doubtless the newest technology goes to take it to the following level.”
Hsu brought the conversation back to fundamental goals that AI doesn’t necessarily displace.
“At the top of the day, we’ll still have to come back back to what’s best for the patron,” she said. “How do you make it easy and personalized? And don’t get off beam by the shiny object after which forget what’s most significant.”
In Hsu’s view, those two priorities needs to be “the consumers that spend money” and constructing “a brand that lasts.”
Editor’s note: This was the second in a two-part series about AI perspectives at eTail West in 2024. Read more from leaders at Minted and Sur La Table in the primary a part of this story.
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