The latest white paper from BoF, The Future of E-Commerce, Powered by Generative AI â in partnership with Zalando â explores how e-commerce organisations can successfully implement generative AI (gen AI) to maximise consumer engagement and increase creative output.
With 60 percent of US consumers surveyed by Google saying online purchasing decisions require more effort than before, online retailers are turning to next-generation technologies to create a more engaging shopping experience.
âIn traditional e-commerce, it can be very hard for a customer to even figure out where to start,â says Tian Su, vice president of personalisation and recommendation at Zalando. âThis is something people have been trying to solve for a long time: how to make a smooth, seamless experience in which customers really enjoy the process of discovery.”
Gen AI can enhance product recommendations â through hyper-personalisation and optimising the search functionality â and simplify the path to product discoverability, particularly when a customer is in need of inspiration regarding their purchasing decisions.
In this paper, which offers gen AI use cases from Zalando, BoF explores how to leverage word-based large-language-model (LLM) technologies, such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, to heighten the customer experience. It also unpacks how image-generating start-ups such as Midjourney, Llama, Dall-E and Stability AI can provide businesses with new means to enhance creative output and content displays.
Download the white paper, The Future of E-Commerce, Powered by Generative AI.
Evolving the Customer Experience and Product Discovery
Fifty percent of fashion executives surveyed for The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co.âs The State of Fashion 2025 report identified the gen AI use case with the most potential in 2025 to be product discovery and customer search.
For Jessica Couch, retail tech expert and founder at Looks.ai, the opportunity lies in making the experience feel more human. âThe less they feel like it is a chatbot and the more it feels like a conversation and the more [the consumer is] getting the information that they need, [â¦] the more blissful it is.â
âThis is why we have launched our conversational interface, Zalando Assistant, which engages customers in a natural way in order to guide them â even when theyâre unsure of what theyâre looking for â to find exactly what they need on Zalando,â says Su.
In this section of the white paper, BoF explores how businesses can leverage gen AI to enhance consumer engagement in an online shopping experience. This section looks at:
- Translating relevant data into hyper-personalisation
- Sparking consumersâ imagination
- Enhancing the search bar functionality
- Deploying conversational chatbots and virtual assistants
- Optimising size-and-fit technology
Enhancing Creative Output and Content Displays
Gen AI is already proving a popular tool for amplifying marketing and creative output. Through the use of gen AI-powered text and image generating software, traditional obstacles are no longer barriers to creations or campaigns.
Zalando, for example, is leveraging gen AI in content creation to shorten production timelines and reduce costs, as well as creating more dynamic and relevant backdrops for product shots or onsite teaser campaigns.
It allows the team to jump on microtrends that emerge at short notice, enabling content production up to 80 percent faster than conventional content production methods.
Oneline retailers can implement gen AI to transform creative processes and enhance the customer experience by:
- Creating consumer-led product descriptions
- Extending use cases of product imagery
- Capturing and visualising emerging trends with gen AI
- Accounting for gen AI acclimatisation
Read the full white paper, The Future of E-Commerce, Powered by Generative AI.
In this white paper, BoF also explores the preparatory work that businesses should undertake before introducing new technologies like gen AI and what retailers must consider from a legal and ethical perspective, to implement the technology in a responsible and safe way.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Zalando as part of a BoF partnership.