Artificial intelligence also obsesses online fashion: but what do customers think?

STILEOthe leading fashion search engine in Italy with over 7 million visits per month, during the latest annual report edition “Year in Review”, analyzed the behavior of its users by examining consumer opinions regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the fashion e-commerce sector.

Artificial intelligence from a fashion point of view: the Year in Review report

2023 was the year generative AI exploded, and even today more and more use cases are emerging across the industry. According to McKinsey, 73% of fashion industry executives believe generative AI is a priority for their companies in 2024, but only 5% believe they have the capabilities to fully exploit it. Therefore, it is essential to carefully consider the areas of use: but what do buyers think?

What customers think about artificial intelligence

The report revealed that the 30% of consumers have already noticed the use of AI by fashion e-shops, but as often happens with new technologies, opinions on the matter are divided. Self 37% express their discomfort with the use of this technology in any aspect of the shopping experience, on the contrary, the 25% indicates that they are comfortable with AI generating product recommendations.

Il AI-based recommendation systemin fact, personalizes the interface for the user, helping to solve the problem of navigating through a huge amount of fashion articles, thus preventing the majority of products from being moved to the bottom of the list or to subsequent pages , risking never being noticed.

Visual search is one of consumers' favorite modes

One of the consumer favorite modes involving artificial intelligence is the visual search: Indeed, 59% of users used it to find products online at a better price than products they had already seen offline. Next, albeit with a notable difference, user preferences include Al assistance in finding the right items for specific needs (14%), Al chat for customer service (13%), Al-generated photos with non-real models (9%) and virtual dressing rooms (9%).