Byte-Sized AI: Boohoo Uses AI for Search; Best Buy x Google Cloud; Manufacturing Startup Secures Millions

Meghan Hall
·6 min read

Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial intelligence—from startup funding, to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.

Boohoo Group enlists Bloomreach for AI-powered search

Fast-fashion purveyor Boohoo Group has decided to expand its partnership with existing third-party provider Bloomreach. The two already work together on automating Boohoo’s omnichannel marketing capabilities.

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Now, the two have inked a deal to enable PrettyLittleThing, Boohoo, BoohooMAN and Karen Millen with AI-powered search capabilities, an increasingly popular option as brands work to improve the customer experience.

The new capabilities will enable Boohoo Group’s brands to use real-time customer data to rank products based on search queries and information about the customer, which in turn is expected to put the right product in front of the customer at the right time.

Nick Capstick, chief marketing officer of PrettyLittleThing.com, said Bloomreach’s ability to leverage data for better outcomes was key to the company’s interest in broadening the scope of the partnership.

“The ability to use first party data to extend personalization from our marketing campaigns to our on-site and in-app search and merchandising experience is a game changer,” Capstick said in a statement.

Raj De Datta, co-founder and CEO of Bloomreach, said the partnership will bring Boohoo’s brands closer to its customers.

“Boohoo has always been at the forefront of retail innovation, and we’ve been proud to play a role in their marketing personalization journey,” De Datta said in a statement. “With the addition of our search and merchandising solution, they’re going to unlock a new level of personalization—one that spans the entire customer journey and offers limitless possibilities for growth. We can’t wait to see all they’ll achieve.”

Best Buy teams with Google Cloud for customer-facing tech

Best Buy has teamed with Google Cloud and Accenture to leverage generative AI.

By late summer 2024, the retailer plans to launch a customer-facing virtual assistant to aid customers with troubleshooting, deliveries, memberships and more.

The feature will be available both on Best Buy’s website and in its app.

But the partnership also wants to fuel human customer service workers’ interactions with customers. The electronics retailer will also develop an AI-powered assistant for its store associates. According to the companies, that assistant will help with “things like finding internal Best Buy company resources or pulling up specific product guides to help better serve a Best Buy customer.”

Brian Tilzer, chief digital analytics and technology officer at Best Buy, said the tools will ensure a smoother experience for both customers and associates.

“These new gen AI-powered capabilities further enhance our commitment to deliver better, more personalized experiences to our customers by unlocking the power of people,” Tilzer said in a statement. “We are excited to leverage and tailor these innovations with great partners like Google and Accenture so we can continue to serve our customers in unique and differentiated ways and make our employees’ jobs easier.”

Best Buy also plans to use gen AI to help “reduce the mental workload for agents, allowing them to better focus on personally connecting with the Best Buy customer.”

As an agent speaks with a customer, the tools will detect customer sentiment, recommend solutions the employee can share with the consumer and recap the conversation for the associates.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said the technology will allow employees to focus more on human-to-human interaction.

“Retailers are increasingly tapping into gen AI to create more seamless customer experiences and empower employees with new tools to make their work more impactful,” Kurian said in a statement. “Our collaboration with Best Buy will help customers better interact with Best Buy’s brand and services, and employees will also gain more sophisticated tools to assist shoppers.”

Oden Technologies secures hefty Series B for manufacturing AI

Oden Technologies, a data and AI company that services the manufacturing industry, announced April 10 it had secured $28.5 million in Series B funding. Nordstjernan Growth led the round, with participation from INX International Ink Co., which is one of Oden’s customers; Recurring Capital Partners; Flat Capital, owned by Klarna’s founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski; Atomico; EQT Ventures and more.

Oden’s technology allows manufacturers to access real-time data and insights about their production facilities from any device, in turn enabling stronger productivity and easier corrections to inefficiencies in facilities.

The capital will head toward the refinement of the company’s proprietary technologies. According to a release from Oden, it has plans to increase the accuracy of its data, expand its recommendation abilities and more.

Willem Sundblad, Oden’s CEO and co-founder, said the tools the company provides help bridge the gap between humans and technology.

“The labor and productivity challenges facing manufacturers are existential,” Sunblad said. “Operators are the most critical part of the process, but are the most underserved. With our AI applications, we’re able to give the front-line the tools to be the heroes of this industrial revolution.”

Amazon wishy-washy on Just Walk Out

Amazon put out a blog post this week saying that, despite reports, it won’t be eliminating Just Walk Out from its offerings.

The e-commerce giant said that it will be scaling down operations in large-format stores, like Whole Foods and other locations with more square footage. In those stores, it will shift its attention to Dash Carts, which scan items while a customer shops and relies less on sensors.

But it will continue to rely on the technology in smaller format stores, like those in stadiums and event centers, as well as in its own Amazon Go locations.

In the blog, the company also refuted the reports that it was leveraging offshore workers in India to verify its AI and ML systems.

As Amazon continues to sort out its technology strategies, other retailers haven’t backed down from the idea of checkout-less transactions. Aldi announced this month it had launched a pilot with Grabango to enable the concept in one of its Illinois stores as a test. In doing so, it did not have to alter the store’s planograms or its assortment arrangements.

Eric Traxler, Aldi’s vice president of IT, said the pilot has been a valuable learning experience for the grocer thus far.

“It’s exciting to see a checkout-free capability live in one of our stores,” Traxler said in a statement. “Aldi is continuously looking for new ways to be innovative and provide a best-in-class experience for our shoppers, and Aldigo is a great example of that in action.”