AI’s role in retail, particularly for catalog management and automation, is becoming increasingly predominant and effective. In a recent AI survey conducted by Carl Marks Advisors, more than half of retail and consumer packaged goods executives (56%) have plans to invest in AI tools for marketing and financial forecasting (52%). Success stories from leading retailers serve as benchmarks. As AI advances, the trend towards the operational optimization of data analytics and automation tools is expected to grow.
This trend highlights the growing significance of AI in catalog management and other operational areas. Notably, major retailers such as Amazon, eBay and Walmart have pioneered the application of AI for catalog automation and product listing enhancements. This week, Wayfair and Google Cloud have announced an expanded partnership to transform the online retail landscape by implementing Gemini models on Google Cloud's Vertex AI.
Major retailers investing in AI: Amazon, eBay and Walmart
For instance, Amazon launched an AI tool in September 2023 to assist merchants in creating product descriptions, while eBay introduced its “magical listing” tool, which uses AI to summarize product details. These innovations drive efficiency and improve the accuracy of online product catalogs. This trend highlights the growing significance of AI in catalog management as well as other operational areas.
Notably, major retailers such as Amazon and eBay have pioneered the application of AI for catalog automation and product listing enhancements. For instance, Amazon launched a tool in September 2023 to assist merchants in creating product descriptions using AI, while eBay introduced their “magical listing” tool, which uses AI to summarize product details. These innovations drive efficiency and improve the accuracy of online product catalogs.
Walmart's AI initiatives have demonstrated tangible success in enhancing customer interactions and operational efficiency. The company introduced its generative AI-powered tool, My Assistant, to support non-store staff. Moreover, Walmart's AI and augmented reality-driven tool for room design assists customers in making complex purchasing decisions. These tools signify Walmart’s commitment to integrating AI for both automation and improved customer engagement.
Wayfair and Google Cloud Partner to Transform Online Retail
Wayfair has integrated Google's Gemini models to automatically enrich and categorize its extensive product catalog, which includes over 30 million items. This automation has significantly reduced the time required to tag new products and update existing listings by 67%. The enhanced process drives efficiency and results in significant cost savings, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Wayfair's Chief Technology Officer, Fiona Tan, emphasized the transformative potential of generative AI in retail, highlighting that their partnership with Google Cloud is central to achieving next-generation retail experiences. "At Wayfair, we believe gen AI is the key to unlocking the next generation of retail experiences," said Fiona Tan, Chief Technology Officer at Wayfair. "With Google Cloud, we've been able to efficiently scale and enrich our product catalogs, enabling us to support a more seamless and engaging shopping experience for our customers."
Wayfair is already seeing results from its use of Gemini on Google Cloud, including:
- Faster Time-to-Market: Instead of manually tagging each new product across its 30 million product portfolio, Wayfair uses Gemini on Google Cloud to automatically categorize products, reducing the time needed to curate new and update existing product listings by 67%.
- Significant Cost Savings: By removing the tedious process of manually tagging attributes like color and style, Wayfair estimates it will drive hundreds of thousands in cost savings per year.
- Better Listing Quality: Gemini's ability to analyze images opened up new possibilities for Wayfair, such as automatically catching errors in product dimensions listed in the catalog, leading to better customer satisfaction.
- Improved Customer Experience: Increasing the accuracy of product attributes like color and subject, and improving the coverage of these attribute tags in the catalog, improved conversion rates when customers use these filters by ~2%.
- More Responsible Content Management: With Gemini, Wayfair now has a scalable, AI-augmented process for identifying and flagging inappropriate materials.
Wayfair is also finding success using Gems, which are customized versions of Gemini to help with tasks or get deep expertise in new areas. With Gemini for Workspace and Gems, Wayfair has seen a boost to employee productivity, enhanced collaboration, and improvements in creativity across the organization.
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