FUTR Europe 2025 review: How Sweaty Betty is using AI to drive sales and boost customer experience

Jad Freiha, Head of Analytics and Insights at Sweaty Betty, shares how the premium sportswear brand is using artificial intelligence (AI) to fuel growth across the business.

Speaking at FUTR Europe in London last week, Freiha explained how Sweaty Betty is using AI to drive ‘hyper personalisation’ and ‘consumer centricity’.

Sweaty Betty is using AI to analyse data from its customer care teams, consumer surveys, social media and product reviews. “Automated AI analysis not only provides context, but it can also act as a data analyst too,” Freiha explained.

He used the example of a customer review reading: “I love your leggings, I use them for my morning run. However, they are more expensive than other brands.” As well as giving them feedback on the product and pricing, by using AI Sweaty Betty can use this data to gather a list of customers that run in the mornings. “I never thought we’d be able to do that,” Freiha said. 

Sweaty Betty has previously worked with Dynamic Yield’s marketing technology to make better recommendations and online quizzes, getting to know its customer better. 

The retailer is also using AI to test the performance of its marketing and advertising. The AI labels based on different poses, styles and colours, which can then be tested against their performance in great detail. 

“I have never been able to uncover those insights before and was only able to do it using computer vision,” Freiha told delegates. 

As well as tracking consumer behaviour on its website, Sweaty Betty is also using AI in its stores to get further insights. “We’re using Google Nest cameras in strategic locations in store,” Freiha said. This has given them a new metric - the walk in rate - which they are now tracking how many customers walk in or continue walking past. “We can assess the effectiveness of our window display,” he explains.

AI analysis of its cameras have also created store heat maps to show which displays consumers are engaging with the most. “We can run experiments,” Freiha said. “If customers visit the fitting room, do they have a higher rate of purchase?” Sweaty Betty is also using the data to optimise customer journeys in-store. 

Sweaty Betty is also using AI to test out new advertising before launching new campaigns. “It’s cheaper and faster, and we can predict realistic responses before deploying them in the real world,” Freiha explains. 

The retailer is tapping the technology to test internal messaging and its effectiveness before sharing. 

Sweaty Betty is introducing ‘AI Champions’ across all functions to see how the technology can be used in new ways. Freiha suggested leaders lead by example, sharing with their colleagues how they are using AI to help foster a culture of experimentation.

“We should bring AI to the table,” Freiha said. “Use AI to record and transcribe an important meeting - it will tell you why you are struggling with a problem or how you could improve your communication style.”

Freiha admitted there is still a lot of scepticism toward AI. “People believe it’s not driving value,” he said. “Colleagues often fear telling people they’re using it - they are worried it will take their job.” He suggested introducing it through educational projects can be a way to reduce fear around its use. 

There is also an issue with companies becoming overly reliant on one AI software. “I was recruiting for analysts in my team recently and gave the candidates an assignment - most of them gave me the same answers because they were all using ChatGPT,” Freiha said. He had also had similar issues internally with staff all using Microsoft Copilot and getting very similar results.

Still, Freiha was hopeful that AI could be used beyond the experimentation Sweaty Betty has already done. “We are now entering a new era. We are now able to start asking AI powerful questions like: how can become the number one brand in the market?”

“We have the opportunity to shop how we can use AI,” Freiha added. “If we cooperate, it will help us all get a lot of value from it."