Retail technology innovation of the week: Matalan lays claim to a UK GenerativeAI first
Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a new series brought to you by RTIH and sponsored by 3D Cloud by Marxent, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.
Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, in the run up to the publication of the 2024 report in March.
So far, we’ve showcased work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Rovertown, Wing, Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, Walmart, A.L.C., Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, PMC, Żabka Polska, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Grace O'Malley Irish Whiskey, Metacask, Ikea, Carrefour Belgium, HMV, Worldpay from FIS, and FreedomPay, and McDonald’s.
And this week we’re focusing on Matalan, a fashion and homeware omnichannel value retailer that has announced the launch of a new Generative AI (GenAI) tool.
Matalan has partnered with Kin + Carta on the GenAI and Large Language Model (LLM) offering, which creates detailed product descriptions for items listed on its website.
The move is pitched as the first time a UK retailer has used AI in this way and forms an important part of Matalan’s digital transformation journey.
The tool will be implemented across all departments, including clothing and homeware. According to a press release: “As well as making shopping online with Matalan even easier, it is expected to deliver a 4x increase in productivity.”
The solution, which was developed and delivered by Kin + Carta and Matalan’s digital team in three weeks using Google’s Vertex AI, uses product metadata and imagery to produce more detailed product descriptions for customers.
Matalan’s bespoke model is configured to read product imagery and select details to inform the product description, with the aim of providing customers with richer information about its range.
The retailer’s team of copywriters will continue to oversee descriptions, ensuring a crucial human touch whilst improving search engine optimisation, conversion rates and efficiency.
This is the first of a series of initiatives the business has planned to improve its e-commerce offer, as part of its wider omnichannel strategy to make shopping online as easy, seamless and enjoyable for customers as shopping in-store.
Ali Jones, Chief Customer and Omnichannel Officer at Matalan, says: “As the UK’s first retailer to be leveraging Generative AI in this way, this is a hugely exciting moment for us”
“Not only does it demonstrate innovation into new and so far unexplored areas, but it shows our commitment to putting our customers and the shopping experience first - whether they’re shopping on our website or through the Matalan app.”
“This all ladders up to our ambitious business transformation, so it’s a proud moment to be announcing this industry first, today”.
Ewan Nicolson, Director of AI & Data at Kin + Carta, comments: “This new tool is using generative AI to increase operational efficiency in Matalan’s in-house copywriting team and vastly multiply the number of detailed product descriptions Matalan can post onto its e-commerce site every day.”
“This is the type of situation where generative AI is at its best, creating rich, bespoke content in a matter of moments that has a real impact on sales.”
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