The shift toward AI-driven personalization is rewriting the rules of e-commerce. Fashion brands like Oh Polly are leading the way, reporting an extraordinary 80% increase in conversion rate after deploying machine learning tools to tailor every aspect of the online shopping experience.
How Oh Polly Used AI to Transform E-commerce
Oh Polly, known for its stylish dresses and occasionwear, partnered with leading AI personalization platform Nosto to overhaul its website merchandising and customer journey. By customizing product feeds and recommendations at every customer touchpoint—homepage, category, and checkout, the brand achieved the biggest game changer.
Key AI Personalization Features Powering Growth
- Personalized Recommendations: Visitors see best-sellers, recently-viewed items, or products most relevant to their past shopping activity. At checkout, Oh Polly uses cart-based recommendations to encourage cross-selling, even with typically single-item baskets. This strategy drives a 5-10% conversion rate even for high-ticket items such as £70 dresses, which has massively improved average order value.
- Visual AI for Out-of-Stock Items: When viral styles sell out, Oh Polly’s AI instantly recommends visually similar, in-stock products, reducing cart abandonment and missed sales opportunities.
- Automated Merchandising: AI algorithms dynamically control how products are sorted and shown on category pages. This approach allows highly relevant variations to be targeted to different segments and individuals.
- Data-Driven Learning: Real-time data from search and user engagement feeds back into the model, letting Oh Polly fine-tune product recommendations, predict returns, and optimize inventory.
Broader Industry Impact and Expert Commentary
Other fashion retailers are watching and learning. Established brands like Oh Polly, Boots, and B&Q are showing how conversion rate optimization powered by AI can deliver results. Surfacing products that best meet customer goals not only personalizes the experience but also drives up sales and loyalty.
Platform partners also highlight the unprecedented visibility into search data, allowing the Oh Polly team to quickly adjust to evolving shopper behaviors and seasonality.
Muir adds: “Algolia gives us unprecedented visibility into our search data, allowing us to fine-tune the customer journey. It’s crucial – search is customer feedback in real-time. Ignoring it means overlooking how our customers’ shopping behaviors are evolving.
Revenue and Return on Ad Spend
Following this personalization overhaul, Oh Polly reported immediate gains across core metrics:
- Revenue increased by 46%
- Shopping ad spend rose by 85% while cost per acquisition improved
- Average purchase value surged by 172%
- Bounce rate dropped by 144%
What’s Next? Future AI-Enabled Features
The brand plans to integrate product returns data into AI recommendation engines, helping reduce costly returns and refine merchandising strategies. Post-purchase flows and checkout personalization are also set to deepen customer engagement and satisfaction, with new technologies like Shopify’s redesigned checkout.
The Competitive Advantage of AI Personalization
Industry-wide research strongly supports the value of this approach. Companies that integrate AI-driven personalization experience an average 35% increase in engagement rates, demonstrating how tailored experiences can transform customer interactions. Additionally, these businesses report up to a 50% rise in qualified leads and scheduled appointments, showing how personalization drives not just attention but action. Perhaps most strikingly, shoppers are 70% more likely to return to websites that offer personalized experiences, underscoring how relevance and customization foster lasting loyalty and repeat visits.
The Future of Fashion E-commerce
Oh Polly’s rapid gains illustrate why AI-powered personalization is quickly becoming the new standard in fashion retail. As machine learning gets smarter and more platforms adopt advanced technology, expect even higher conversion rates, more engaging shopping journeys, and accelerated business growth.
