eBay personalizes apparel shopping with generative AI
eBay’s latest generative AI-equipped offering is designed to curate outfits for customers.
The e-commerce retailer is rolling out “Shop the look,” a tool based on generative AI that provides an immersive carousel of suggested outfits, tailored to customers’ shopping history. The feature includes interactive hotspots that reveal similar new and pre-owned apparel and luxury items that can be combined into outfits.
eBay intends for "Shop the look" to understand customer preferences and also use generative AI’s machine learning (ML) with them over time, leveraging the e-tailer’s decades of customer and product data and billions of images it has stored.
Shop the look is now available for iOS devices for U.S. and U.K. eBay customers, with a version for Android devices coming later in 2024. Shoppers who have viewed at least 10 fashion items in the past 180 days will find this feature both on the eBay homepage and fashion landing page.
In addition to fashion, eBay says it is exploring potential expansions into other categories, with the goal of continuously enhancing the feature with new personalization elements over the next year, while developing the solution in a manner that is fair, safe, and designed to prevent any unintended consequences.
"Beyond personalization, shop the look is a gateway to the world of fashion for our customers, keeping them connected with the latest trends and providing access to timeless pieces from our vast breadth of inventory and selection," eBay said in a news release. "It’s an opportunity for shoppers to explore fashion items that will integrate naturally with their existing wardrobes."
eBay streamlines business with generative AI
eBay’s new outfit curation tool is not the first generative AI application it has developed. In December 2023, the retailer released a new feature, based on generative AI technology, that enables sellers to draft social media posts with the click a button.
And in September 2023, the e-tailer released what it termed a "magical" seller listing solution that uses AI to analyze, research and extrapolate details about listings from a small amount of seller-provided data, including images.
From a photo, the AI technology can write titles, descriptions and add vital information, which could include product release date, detailed category and sub-category, and can combine with eBay’s other technology to suggest a listing price and shipping cost.
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. generated nearly $74 billion of gross merchandise volume in 2022.