AI for Fashion Retail - How Understanding Consumer Psychology Aids Shopping Experiences

As shoppers, we all hope for a seamless shopping experience — one where we can find what we're looking for quickly and easily, without any surprises.

Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. In fact, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group, nearly 60% of potential customers are lost simply due to a single poor customer service experience.

What causes these negative experiences? More often than not, it's because retailers aren't taking the time to understand their customers' needs and desires.

But what if there was a way to use technology to create a seamless shopping experience for everyone?

That's where AI for fashion comes in.

By understanding consumer psychology, AI can help fashion retailers create a shopping experience tailored to fit each customer.

Keep reading to learn more about how AI is changing the fashion industry and discover its four primary use cases.

Consumer Psychology in eCommerce Fashion

Seamless shopping experiences don't just happen by chance — they're the result of a deep understanding of consumer psychology. And when it comes to fashion retail, this is more important than ever.

Fashion is one of the few consumer categories that is guided more heavily by emotion than logic. We want the latest styles because they make us feel good, not because we need them. We buy certain brands because they give us a sense of belonging, not because they are the most practical choice. This emotional connection to fashion is what makes it such a powerful industry. And it's why, even in tough economic times, people are still willing and able to spend money on clothes.

After all, we often turn to retail therapy to make ourselves feel better. As research suggests, impulse purchases are also quite common in the fashion world. As a result, creating an online fashion experience that appeals to our emotions is essential for retailers.

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on consumer psychology in the context of eCommerce fashion. This research has shed light on how consumer psychological factors such as perceived risks and benefits, perceived value and consumer emotions influence online fashion shopping behaviour.

For example, several consumer psychology studies have found that consumer perceived risks, such as concerns about product quality, fit, or return policy, are significant barriers to online fashion purchase behaviour. On the other hand, consumer perceived benefits, such as convenience, selection and price, are strong drivers of online fashion purchase behaviour.

In the world of online fashion retail, consumer perception is everything. When consumers perceive a high value for a product, they are more likely to buy it, regardless of whether they intended to purchase in the first place. Therefore, fashion retailers need to create a high-value perception of their products to increase online sales.

The good news is that there are several ways to do this. The even better news is that with the help of AI, retailers can gain even deeper insights into consumer behaviour and preferences.

4 Uses of AI for Fashion

#1 Complementary Products

Consumer psychology dictates that people are more likely to buy a product if it is accompanied by other products that complement it. This is especially true for fashion items. According to McKinsey, introducing complementary products can increase sales by 20% and profits by as much as 30%.

Anyone who has ever gone shopping for a new outfit knows that it can be a challenge to find the perfect items. Not only do you have to worry about finding the right size and style, but you also need to make sure that the clothing you choose goes well together. For example, if a customer is buying a dress, they are more likely to also buy shoes and a handbag to go with it. You may find merchandisers doing this already on eCommerce sites but this is often biased. Style is so subjective and suggestions for complementary products should be tailored to every unique shopper’s interests and tastes.

Thankfully, there's a new generation of shopping assistants that can take the stress out of fashion shopping. AI-powered tools are designed to offer complementary product recommendations, so you can be sure that you're always putting your best foot forward.

Online fashion retail is a competitive marketplace, and the ability to offer an AI-driven customer experience can give you a significant advantage. If you aren’t, your competitors might be. In a world where time is increasingly precious, these assistants provide a valuable service that can save shoppers a great deal of time and effort.

#2 Styling Advice

Consumers have long been drawn to the bricks-and-mortar shopping experience for its positive aspects, including seeing, touching and trying on the merchandise before making a purchase. However, as online shopping has become more convenient and prevalent, many consumers have found themselves missing the positive aspects of the offline experience when shopping online.

But what if there was a way to get the best of both worlds - the convenience of online shopping combined with the personalized service of a bricks-and-mortar store?

Enter AI shopping assistants.

By analyzing data points like body type, clothing size, pricing preference and personal preferences in-real time, AI-powered fashion assistants can recommend the best items for each individual shopper based on behavioural psychology principles like ‘price anchoring’ and ‘nudging’. This not only keeps your shoppers engaged on your site for longer and exploring more products but also helps to reduce returns and boost customer satisfaction.

#3 Tactical Promotions

As anyone who has ever stepped into a store knows, traditional shopping psychology and consumer behaviour are powerful things. And now, with the help of AI, those same triggers and mechanisms are being translated into the online world in a way that results in incremental sales.

Pages like ‘New Session/ New Arrivals’ and ‘Promotions’ are essential in fashion retail but at the same time can hamper your shoppers’ experience if they do not find anything to their liking. AI Shopping Assistants are able to understand their style and preference in real-time, and find them relevant products from anywhere in your catalogue .

Many online retailers also use "ai-based promotions" and "ai-based new for you" features to highlight items on sale or that the shopper might be interested in. These features are excellent to engage bargain hunters and regular customers while keeping their shopping experience contextual.

In a world where everyone is looking for a bargain, offering relevant discounts and coupons, not a catch-all ‘bargain basement’, can be a powerful tool for driving sales. And with AI, retailers can be sure that they're always offering the best, but more importantly, relevant deals to their customers.

Source: Get That Trend

#4 Personalised Recommendations

Your shoppers appreciate feeling like they are being treated as an individual, and AI-Powered Commerce is the best way to achieve that. They want to know that retailers understand their needs and wants. In fact, personalised shopping cart recommendations influenced 92% of online shoppers to buy products.

Fashion retailers can use AI to provide hyper-personalised recommendations to customers based on their individual preferences. By understanding a customer's taste, AI can suggest items that the customer is likely to love. This ensures that customers only see relevant items, which makes the shopping experience more enjoyable and seamless.

By using AI to tailor the shopping experience, retailers can build strong relationships. And with the help of AI, these relationships can only get stronger over time as the feeling of being known and tastes understood grow.

The Future of Fashion is Here

When it comes to shopping psychology, AI is definitely avant-garde. Its impact on the fashion industry is just beginning.

If you want to stay ahead of the trend, contact our team to see how you can include AI-Powered Commerce in your store. We can help you make sure that your customers have a fantastic experience with your brand and that they keep coming back for more.

With the help of Shopbox, you can create a shopping experience that is personal, fun, and stylish — all while keeping your bottom line in mind.

Ready to take your online fashion store to the next level? Let us show you how artificial intelligence can do just that.