On the next to final day of Shoptalk, the annual retail conference running from March 17-20, in Las Vegas, Nevada, speakers from leading retail companies, including Meta, Reformation, and L’Oréal, discussed the rise of AI, especially generative AI, and its applications in the retail industry, from efficient content creation to streamlining the supply chain process.

All about Meta

The day began with Karin Tracy, Meta’s head of industry within the fashion, beauty and luxury categories. In discussion with Anne Mezzenga, co-Ceo of the business blog and podcast Omni Talk, Tracy discussed a few ways retailers can tap into generative AI. 

Tracy stated, “We [Meta] are building Generative AI creative solutions on top of performance solutions. So think about things like text variations, you write one line of copy, it [the application] will generate further versions, and then serve that up [to the consumer].”

Retailers can not only use the technology to efficiently create written copy materials, but also create visual content in a way that is quick and highly price accessible, especially for smaller brand owners, thus giving them more time to work on other tasks and be more productive. 

Ultimately, Tracy affirmed, that brands can use a combination of AI and traditional retail marketing strategies to reach their full potential.

“So you have performance coupled with generative AI creative solutions that are going to work [for the retailer].”

She provided the example of the skincare brand Fresh Beauty and its most recent holiday promotions. Using text variations and other content generated by AI in addition to other shopping campaigns, the retailer saw a 42 per cent increase in incremental conversions. 

Meta recently launched a tool that enables retailers to add video to their catalog ads, and with “all these ways, taking the power of video, automation, and creating various versions of creative media, enables you [as a brand] to have a better performance.”

Eva Press, vice president of the global business group at Facebook, added that AI doesn’t simply stop at content creation, but can enhance content creator sourcing as well.  

With the Creator Marketplace tool, brands can filter out creators that fit the specific demographic categories they are searching for and, on the flip side, enable influencers and other creatives to work with companies that align with their interests. 

Later in the day, Sapna Shah Parikh, chief digital officer at Kendo Brands, highlighted the positive impact that social media platforms can have on the beauty shopping experience. 

Not only are consumers able to more effectively search for products or be shown items that are aligned with their own specific needs and interests, but these social media platforms also enable a level of conversation amongst consumers, such as those asking for recommendations or product reviews, that help the consumer understand the brand on a deeper level.

Parikh stated, “Facebook [Meta] changed the accessibility of what we could do to share our experiences of a product.”

Is every retailer on board with AI?

While there are plenty of applications for AI, some retailers are still hesitant about letting AI take complete control, be it with creative or supply chain operations.

Anish Buch, vice president of US supply chain at L’Oréal, warned retailers that when tracking data with AI, “It’s important to have your data sets clear and to know where you intend to use it, and then get value from there. Because if you start the other way around and you follow the AI hype and just go for it, you end up in a bottomless money pit that is hard to get out of.”

While it’s important to keep up with the times and try out new tech along the way, retailers cannot lose sight of the human touch.

As Hali Borenstein, Reformation’s CEO noted, “If you use data too much, you can lose that sense of creativity and fun that fashion should have.”

Borenstein explained that if brands rely on the data to tell them what consumers are looking for, they may already be too late to pick up on the trend. She highlighted the importance of listening and engaging with the consumer on an intimate level, versus looking them over as numbers.