When the Digital Commerce 360 editors embarked on the October edition of Strategy Insights, we knew we wanted to focus on generative AI, but we weren’t sure how much we’d find.
The OpenAI consortium released its generative AI bot ChatGPT for public use during Q4 2022, and it quickly became the hottest topic around. Months later, everyone in the online retail industry is still buzzing about generative AI, but how many businesses are actually using the technology today? And how many would want to talk to us about it?
Turns out, quite a few.
While many merchants we talked to are still just piloting and exploring how best to use the burgeoning technology, many brands have live generative AI programs up today. This Strategy Insights, “6 ways retailers are using AI right now and how generative AI will change ecommerce,” showcases examples of many large retail brands (and a few smaller ones) and how they are using generative AI right now.
Below is just a sampling of examples you’ll find in the rest of this report. Download the entire Strategy Insights here.
1.) Stitch Fix taps generative AI to write ad headlines and product descriptions
Apparel retailer Stitch Fix uses generative AI to write headlines for Facebook and Instagram ads. In the past, it would take about two weeks to develop a creative campaign and draft copy. But now, human copywriters can evaluate a headline created by the generative AI system in less than one minute — and they approve the machine-created content 77% of the time, Stitch Fix says.
2.) Babylist uses generative AI to write email subject lines
Baby products marketplace and registry says its marketers are expected to use generative AI to help create ideas, content and copy, says Lee Anne Grant, chief growth officer. Babylist finds that ChatGPT-generated subject lines increased open rates for marketing email in half of their tests. It concluded that ChatGPT is a “great resource for when the team needs subject line inspiration or help writing one,” Grant says.
3.) J’evar uses generative AI to create product models
Online-only jewelry merchant J’evar has its product designers use generative AI to speed up how it creates custom jewelry pieces. Instead of going through dozens of product mockups over the course of weeks, genAI can help its designers produce product samples in minutes, says J’evar founder and CEO Amish Shah.
4.) Newegg uses generative AI to summarize customer reviews
Online electronics retailer Newegg built a generative AI tool in house that creates one product summary for a product based on all of the published customer reviews. This review is published at the top of all the reviews. Reviews are an important feature for Newegg, as 20% of Newegg.com shoppers read reviews, and these shoppers spend 40% more money on the site than non-review reading shoppers, says Andrew Choi, director of brand and website experience for Newegg.
5.) UrbanStems creates images with genAI
Online flower merchant UrbanStems is using generative AI in multiple ways, including having it create images of potential products it wants to sell. For example, the brand can tell its generative AI software to create an image of a 10-stem red and white arrangement of peonies in a glass vase and white background — and send that image to its merchandising team to create the product in real life. This helps the brand quickly experiment with new designs, without having to purchase flowers and conduct a photo shoot just for a design mock up, says Katie Hudson, content director for UrbanStems.
6.) EBay enables its marketplace sellers to use genAI to write product descriptions
Marketplace giant eBay built a tool based on Open AI’s ChatGPT that creates a product description based on data sellers provide about a product’s category, condition, color, brand and more. Roughly 20% of sellers shown the generative AI tool use it, and of those, 90% accept at least part of the description, says Xiaodi Zhang, vice president of seller experience at eBay.
—April Berthene, Editor, Strategy Insights
Additional reporting from Digital Commerce 360 editors Don Davis, Gretchen Salois and Abbas Haleem.
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