How Apparel Brands Can Boost eCommerce Conversion with AI

The rise of eCommerce has revolutionized the retail industry, providing apparel brands with new opportunities to engage customers and increase conversion rates. To thrive in this competitive landscape, brands must adopt innovative technology solutions that make online shopping experiences more personalized and effective. 

Here are some ways that apparel brands can leverage their eCommerce channel and integrate an AI sizing solution to elevate the online retail experience, increase sales, and create a personalized approach to engaging with customers, along with industry use cases to accompany each suggestion.

Personalized Shopping Experiences with AI Sizing Solutions

One major challenge faced by online shoppers is finding the right size. This sizing uncertainty often leads to abandoned carts and high return rates. Bold Metrics addresses this head-on by generating digital twins of shoppers to enable personalized size recommendations for each customer using digital twin software. 

“Based on the experience of our survey respondents, 70 percent of returns were caused by poor fit or style, suggesting that shopping tools are a key lever for preventing returns and improving consumer experience.”

McKinsey & Company, Returning to order: Improving returns management for apparel companies, 2021.

Using advanced algorithms and machine learning, Bold Metrics determines over 50 individual customer body measurements in seconds. The technology matches this with a shopper’s fit preferences, and the product’s tech pack data to provide accurate size suggestions based on specific styles. By integrating this AI sizing tool into your eCommerce platform, brands can significantly improve customer satisfaction, reduce return rates, and increase conversion.

Use Case: Creating a scalable sizing process for custom apparel

Creating a good fit is essential for brands specializing in tailor-made or custom apparel. By integrating an AI sizing solution into their eCommerce channel, such brands can ensure that customers receive garments that fit accurately, increasing customer confidence in the brand to drive a higher conversion and average order value (AOV) while improving client satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Custom clothiers like EPH Apparel and Blue Delta Jeans Co. leverage AI fit technology to get customers fitted from anywhere in the world with an accuracy within 1% of a Master Tailor’s in-person measurements. Customers answer a simple survey, and AI algorithms determine detailed individual body measurements in seconds. This Virtual Tailor solution has enabled custom clothing labels to supercharge their eCommerce channel and scale their business while reducing in-person fitting times to free up staff time and resources, which can be channeled into other parts of the business that require greater attention.

Enhancing Customer Support with Chatbots

Integrating AI-driven chatbots into your eCommerce platform can improve customer support by providing instant assistance and resolving common issues. These chatbots can answer frequently asked questions, assist with sizing inquiries, and recommend products based on customer preferences. You can improve customer engagement and conversion rates by offering prompt, personalized support.

Use Case: Facilitating the customer path-to-purchase

Apparel brands can employ AI chatbots to guide customers through their shopping journey by recommending suitable activewear based on their exercise routines and unique style preferences, based on past purchase history, or by submitting a fun Q&A to determine the shopper’s preferences around product and fit. This proactive approach can help customers find preferred products more easily, boost sales, and increase cart value.

Optimized Product Development for Better Conversion

AI algorithms can significantly impact a brand’s product value chain by leveraging real-time market data and customer behavior and drawing on a global database of eCommerce trends and information concerning dynamic pricing, trend forecasting, and consumer demand. This strategy can help your brand maximize profits, increase conversions, and maintain a competitive edge. 

Use Case: Get the right product to the right people (in the right fit)

Bold Metrics recently partnered with AI-powered market research platform, Particl, to provide Shopify-based apparel brands with a seamless way to create optimized products by understanding macro trends in the market and accessing the top-selling, fastest-growing products market-wide at ideal price points while also improving the online apparel shopper experience when it comes to fit and sizing. 

Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights

To elevate your apparel brand's eCommerce success, consider the following strategies:

1. Integrate AI sizing solutions like Bold Metrics to provide personalized size recommendations, improving customer satisfaction and reducing return rates with digital twin software. 
2. Enhance customer support by incorporating AI chatbots that offer instant assistance, resolve common issues, and recommend products based on customer preferences.
3. Implement dynamic product optimization based on real-time eCommerce market data and customer behavior. Close the product to shopper loop with an AI sizing tech like Bold Metrics to drive higher conversion rates and maintain a competitive edge.

By leveraging the power of AI and embracing these strategies, your apparel brand can create a more engaging and effective eCommerce experience that delights customers and drives conversion. Now, you need to supercharge your product display page to turn casual browsers into loyal shoppers.