THE ICONIC partners with Google AI to transform shopping

THE ICONIC has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to enhance its online shopping experience with new AI-powered capabilities.

The advancements are set to improve search functionalities on the platform, enabling customers to use natural-language searches such as "beach-themed party" instead of traditional keyword searches like "shirt." Other features include a "Snap-to-Shop" tool for finding products through uploaded photos, and a "Complete the Look" function which suggests complementary items.

Adam Cox, Chief Technology Officer of THE ICONIC, highlighted how these developments could inspire and simplify the shopping journey for users. "These new advancements in search and discovery make it faster and simpler for people to not only find the items they're looking for but also to find inspiration whilst they shop," he said. "We have over 20 million monthly visits to our website and app. These AI capabilities mark a major step forward in how we connect every single one of these customers to the products and styles that best suit them from our ever-expanding assortment, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and bottom-line results."

Partnering with data consultancy firm intelia, THE ICONIC has adopted Google Cloud's Vertex AI and its Gemini models to automate the tagging of product photos. This replaces the previous manual process, thus expediting the search experience across the platform's expansive range of over 200,000 items, with 300 new additions daily.

These improvements are expected to aid customers in making more precise and speedy searches for various queries, including complex ones such as "tops with bell sleeves." The automatic tagging process is also intended to provide THE ICONIC with better insights into emerging trends and enhance personalised features for users.

The Google Cloud capabilities are underpinned by a data framework employing BigQuery, which allows THE ICONIC to handle behavioural and operational data more efficiently. Staff are now able to access and analyse data using Google Workspace's spreadsheet integration, significantly reducing processing time.

Adam Cox commented on the overall impact of the integration, stating that "Overall, Google Cloud's seamless integration of data and AI has made testing and pursuing opportunities to enhance our online retail experience faster and more straightforward."

This strategic move has been further endorsed by Paul Migliorini, Vice President of Google Cloud Australia & New Zealand, who remarked, "Our work with THE ICONIC equips its teams with the technology and skills to turn their ideas for a personally-tailored online fashion experience into a reality. We're now seeing this work come to fruition in its use of Google Cloud's generative AI and data capabilities to leap from e-tailer to digital fashion adviser – directly speaking to the needs of each individual customer in a way that gives THE ICONIC a significant point of differentiation in an increasingly competitive market."