(Bloomberg)—Perry Ellis International Inc. has a new ally in its efforts to sell more men’s clothing: Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa.
The fashion company, No. 630 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 1000, has created a feature for the voice-activated assistant that offers style tips to male shoppers. The idea is to help men dress for any occasion—and ideally get them to stock up on Perry Ellis merchandise along the way.
“We try to look at what our consumer’s needs are and try to help solve them,” said Melissa Worth, president of the menswear company.
“Under a digitally centric and technology-driven focus, Perry Ellis is targeting new outlets including technology, lifestyle and news. Social media and voice-activated tools are also leveraged to place the brand and product directly in front of the consumer,” the brand said in announcing the Alexa skill. Perry Ellis uses a video to demonstrate how the skill works.
More than 80% of men don’t know what to wear in different situations, according to a survey from the clothing brand. So it spent four months developing the Alexa tool. Its recommendations are sent to customers email accounts, with an image of the clothing and a link showing where to buy it.
Consumers access the personal stylist and search for outfits by enabling the “Ask Perry Ellis” skill on Alexa.
But it doesn’t work for every occasion. When asked for a yoga outfit this week, Alexa was stumped: “Sorry, I don’t have a recommendation for that one yet.”
