Fast Five Shorts | Google Shopping Now Turns Your Fashion Idea Into Reality
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Alvarez & Marsal, Mirakl, Simbe, Infios, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, along with guest hosts from the Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group Chris Creyts and David Schneidman break down the week’s retail news. In this short, they cover: Google Shopping Turning Your Fashion Idea Into Reality
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/zoe5hsCC9jU
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Transcript
Google's new Shopping tab has a new AI tool that makes your fashion idea and suggests.
Speaker A:Sorry, that takes your fashion idea and suggests similar clothing Options.
Speaker A:According to TechCrunch, this new feature, dubbed Vision Match, is now available in the search experience on mobile for US users.
Speaker A:It lets shoppers describe a garment they're imagining, and then the AI suggests ideas based on the description, along with the best available matches that users can purchase.
Speaker A:To try this feature, users simply type an idea into the search bar and scroll to to the can't find it?
Speaker A:Create it prompt or go to the left panel in the Shopping tab and select Create and Shop.
Speaker A:Chris Creets On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you say that retailers and brands with whom you work are prioritizing investments in Gen Search?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think.
Speaker B:I think it's pretty high.
Speaker B:You know, maybe call it like a seven.
Speaker B:It's definitely a topic that's getting a lot of talk.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker C:Really it is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think it's not.
Speaker B:It's not that people are dumping investment into it yet, but I think everyone's really curious.
Speaker B:Like from a merchandising perspective, you have this fear that you carry the product a customer is looking for and they can't find it.
Speaker B:And somewhere in that discovery journey, it breaks.
Speaker B:And I think that is a very real fear that people have.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:Does these AI tools actually solve that?
Speaker B:Eg, you can upload a picture of a, you know, a garment into someone's search on like a victoria secret.com and it'll suggest all the other ones that we have that are like that.
Speaker B:Does it really drive value?
Speaker B:I'm not sure, but I think there is a deep desire to make sure that you're serving intuitive search results.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:I think no one wants to be the last one that or the last one to build a more intuitive discovery process.
Speaker B:I think there's some other cool elements that are coming out of these, like personalized searching.
Speaker B:If they already can use.
Speaker B:If you can use Gen AI to better understand someone's purchasing and browsing history, then you know what to present to them.
Speaker B:So it's not only returning more intuitive search results based on what everyone's looking for, but I can present you with the things that I think you're most likely to buy based on what you've bought from me in the past.
Speaker B:I think there's definitely some upside there.
Speaker B:So I'd say there's a lot of interest.
Speaker B:I know people who are actively doing, you know, part.
Speaker B:There's a lot of partnerships with Google Cloud in this space.
Speaker B:So I think there's a lot of traction here and a lot of interest in the area.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:Is it translating to immense value yet?
Speaker B:I'm not sure.
Speaker B:I haven't heard anyone really toting massive EBITDA gains from AI search yet, but I think there's a lot of interest.
Speaker A:So Chris, would you say that you're like your recommendation for retailers is what then is it to start to look at investing in this on their own brands, to start to look at this from how they show up in these searches or like how are you navigating this, your recommendations for them?
Speaker B:Yeah, I would think back to what your consumer data is telling you and what your shopping data from your website is telling you as to whether these are investments that make sense for you.
Speaker B:If you're seeing low click through rates, if you're seeing as you walk that funnel from your website in terms of how people interact with your site, if you're seeing searches that don't result in the right click throughs that you want, then maybe this is something that is a true gap for your business where you prioritize those investments.
Speaker A:And Dave, is this consistent with what you're seeing with clients that you've worked with as well?
Speaker D:Yeah, especially within fashion and apparel, it's super important as it relates to personalization and customization.
Speaker D:Now with the amount of data that's out there and the amount of options that consumers have, they want something that's tailored specifically to him and her.
Speaker D:And this is a more potentially more seamless way to drive customization on things that are unknown.
Speaker D:And I think right now we live in a world where more is more.
Speaker D:And so having this AI tool, if done correctly, to Chris's point, could have huge impact.
Speaker D:Maybe not as much to conversion, but at least to loyalty and traffic.
Speaker D:And I think that's where they should start first.
Speaker D:Is this a traffic driving piece and then how does that relate to actual conversion of sale?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Especially as search behaviors are shifting, you know, and well, there's a whole track that's going to be dedicated to that at Shop Talk next week.
Speaker A:Chris Walton, that, that you and I are both going to be having, I'm sure, a lot of conversations with retailers about.
Speaker A:Chris, what do you think?
Speaker A:Everybody knows how I feel about Google search right now, so I don't need to spend too much time on this.
Speaker A:But, but I love to get your your insights because I've made you include yet another Google headline in our Fast five.
Speaker C:Yeah, I made the joke that this is like your Google orgasm of the week.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Like this is like every, every month.
Speaker A:Every month.
Speaker C:Gotta hit, gotta hit it every month.
Speaker C:Yes, I know but no, I mean first of all I'd say like stepping back, it's, it's quite comforting to hear David and Chris say that retailers are actively thinking about that.
Speaker A:This I agree.
Speaker C:That's good.
Speaker C:I mean it shows me they've learned from the mistakes of the past where they discounted e commerce for so long.
Speaker C:So, so that's very comforting.
Speaker C:The one place where I probably, I disagree with, I think Chris, who said this is I do think there's an order of operations here of the right way to approach this from a retail executive perspective.
Speaker C:Because like I think was outlined, I think there's two imperatives that, that the retailers are facing.
Speaker C:One, they have to decide how they want to show up on the search engines themselves and two, they have to decide what it means for their own e commerce experiences.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And I'm inclined to disproportionately invest in the former because that's all really about having great data quality at the end of the day, which is a good thing to have regardless.
Speaker C:Whereas the latter, to see the benefit, it's going to still require a step change in how people shop which is likely going to come by way of a culturing to the search engines themselves.
Speaker C:So I think that's kind of a, a next order of operations concern.
Speaker C:You got to get your data quality right first and the proof point will be how do you show up on those search engines?
Speaker C:That, that's, that's the approach I would be taking if I was in the executive chair.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And Chris, I, you got me thinking of something too.
Speaker A:Like as, as we talked about as searching behaviors are changing and you know, even people are going to a brand's own website even less so traffic like this is going to be really important and making sure that you're investing and showing up on the search engines on Google or on any of the gen AI search platforms too where people are going to be starting their, their searching and discovering process.
Speaker A:But I also wonder if like from Google's perspective, does this allow them another data set to sell to brands in the long run of like these are the things that people are creating like for specifically for this tool.
Speaker A:Like here's what's missing in the category.
Speaker A:Here are the search terms that people are entering in when they come to this Google create and find tool.
Speaker A:And then they can in turn take that back to the brands and be like as you're developing your R and D as you're trying to figure out, like what the next trend is, here's another collection of data that we can give you exact pinpointed information on.
Speaker A:Here's what people are dreaming up that doesn't exist out there in the world.
Speaker C:Yeah, I mean it's, it's a 100%.
Speaker C:It's another data point for Google.
Speaker C:It's another data point to serve up advertising too in the Google platform as well, which I'm sure they're thinking about, you know, long, long, long term, you know, without a doubt.
Speaker C:So yeah, I think, I think that's exactly right.
Speaker C:And the other point I'd make too is like you brought it up like the traffic to websites is going to be less and less.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So, you know, you've got to convert it, but at the end of the day you need to show up where the traffic is going to go.
Speaker C:And so that's the point I would make here that people need to keep top of mind.
