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Myntra has introduced a revolutionary concept that leverages Artificial Intelligence and big data analytics to forecast fashion trends, a move that will significantly shorten the fashion production life cycle.
‘Artie’, an indigenously developed smart bot, gathers consumer insights to create a range of on-trend, fast fashion apparel under the ‘ModaRapido’ brand.
The AI platform was developed with the objective of leveraging technology to develop a better understanding of consumer interest and likes to shorten fashion life cycles. The smart bot created by a team of 25 Myntra technologists and fashion experts over the past eight months, mines all fashion-related information in real time and uses that information as a base to determine trends and forecast demand.
According to Gautam Kotamraju, SVP, New Initiatives, Myntra, “In all the pre-pilot studies we have conducted, this technology has mirrored what people want in terms of their style in real-time. What Artie does is it allows us to offer trendy apparel synonymous with the current style that is prevalent on the fashion streets. We have put together a nimble supply chain which allows us to produce real time fashion and bring it to our customers in under21 days. So, no longer does one have to look into a crystal ball for fashion which is at least six months away from the current fashion.”
The complex yet seamless process shortens the design to production cycle from about 6 months in the traditional practice, to only 3 weeks. This significant reduction will benefit brands by reducing inventory and enabling them time to market the collections. The platform is therefore intended to disrupt the conventional method of forecasting fashion based on expert opinion.
‘ModaRapido’ brand, currently offers a collection of tees, jeans and sweatshirts for men and jeans for women. A new Fall/Winter collection has been launched and is available on the Myntra app. The product line will be extended to other categories in the coming months.
Myntra has been bringing about a lot of innovation in its strategy this year. This year, the online fashion retailer also went app only this May, shutting down both its desktop and mobile site, citing reason that 95% of its web traffic came from mobile. The move also sparked a debate among ecommerce players whether app only was the right way to go. Parent Flipkart was expected to go app only in September, but the plans were put on hold as the ecommerce giant wanted to assess how it will impact sales in big-ticket categories such as large appliances and furniture.
Recently, ecommerce platform Snapdeal also made a move towards deploying artificial intelligence on its platform. It has acquired the US-based advertising platform, Reduce Data for an undisclosed amount. Reduce Data has developed a programmatic display advertising platform that leverages artificial intelligence, real-time data and other tools. It focuses on delivering return on investment for advertising campaigns.
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