Could AI-empowered teams save online retailing?

Online sales returns are trashing profits for retailers…

but could AI help to save them?

Virtually half of the clothes bought on websites are returned. Last year, in the UK alone, shoppers sent back over £4 billion of purchases. A staggering 46% of online customers routinely order a variety of items, in various sizes – only to return the majority. And since a high proportion of these unwanted purchases cannot be re-sold, they are consigned to landfill sites.

This is the costly reality of online retailing. On every level – economic, environmental and ethical – it is unsustainable. And that is why our March ‘Innovation Talk’ focuses on a recent AI-enabled experiment aimed at stopping these many unhappy returns…

Zuhlke are world leading experts in the application of AI. Convinced that technology could help to change the fortunes of fashion retailers, they committed four days to collecting data for an experiment. Consumer expectations, purchasing behaviours, user issues and pain points – anything and everything that impacts the online process came in for scrutiny.

But the data was disparate. To connect the complexity of dots – including countless hours of video interviews – they used a cocktail of AI tools. These proved decisive. They empowered the team. They surfaced data trends… accelerated wireframe development… inspired and supported ideation sessions.  AI was the critical catalyst. It helped to deliver a prototype app capable of educating people to modify buying behaviours. An app that could potentially move the dial from significant loss to substantial profit.

In one working week, a talented team – armed with AI tools – delivered results that would take a small army of researchers eight weeks to complete. They also delivered a prototype app that might just save the online retail sector. That’s why our March ‘Innovation Talk’ is such a ‘must-watch event.