• Artificial Intelligence

Using AI Technology for Fashion Trends Prediction and Demand Forecasting

26 Jul 2022
Using AI Technology for Fashion Trends Prediction and Demand Forecasting

More and more fashion companies tend to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI). The technology has been known for years, but it went viral only several years ago.

AI contributes to multiple processes in fashion: search personalization, stock management, supply chain management, and others. But demand forecasting using AI and trend prediction are considered the essential use cases for machine learning (ML) algorithms application. 

AI Benefits for the Fashion Industry

Basically, there are multiple ways AI and ML benefit all aspects of the fashion industry. Let’s review the substantial ones. 

  • Trend prediction. AI-based forecasting and predicting future trends do the world of good for fashion brands. It helps them adjust to rapid changes in this volatile market. 
  • Automation. AI-driven algorithms help fashion brands automate routine, labor-demanding tasks. It includes quality control examining, color matching, customers’ behavioral patterns inspecting, and others.
  • Customer support. AI-driven chatbots are great assistance to customer support teams. 
  • Inventory and supply chain management. Digital AI tools enable companies to allocate resources dynamically. They are exceptionally helpful in arranging the delivery of goods according to demand prediction. 

Trend Prediction with AI

Smart technologies monitor consumers` preferences and behavioral patterns. They also better analyze retail success compared to conventional statistical tools. AI-driven software also excels in comparing a company’s performance metrics in real-time. 

Basically, in the trends prediction context,  AI in fashion industry greatly facilitates decision-making. 

Personalized Customer Experience

Customers enjoy a unique experience ensured by AI-driven software in fashion. It includes the following possibilities:

  • Virtual fitting rooms. Fashion brands widely incorporate an AI-driven feature — trying clothes on virtually, with the use of phones’ cameras. This way, customers may get a better understanding of whether clothing suits them well or not. 
  • Personalized offers. Smart algorithms excel in analyzing customers’ searches. It makes it possible to generate personalized recommendations for similar products. Algorithms even consider a customer’s size and color preferences! 
  • Digital assistants. You may have heard of Google Home or Amazon Alexa virtual helpers. Customers may talk to one instead of searching fashion items manually. These assistants may be quite helpful and significantly save time. 

These are only a few ways to make shopping more individual and interactive with the help of AI. 

Imperfections Detecting

It is well-known that multiple minor clothing defects are difficult for the human eye to see. AI is of great assistance for Quality Assurance, as it can help detect such imperfections.

AI-driven optical systems are widespread in the production of fashion items. Basically, they review fabricated products using cameras. The system has sets of particular metrics to evaluate products. Sub-quality items are spotted and filtered out. 

So, defective clothing does not deteriorate customers’ experience and a brand image thanks to AI. 

Detecting Counterfeits

Customers usually fail to recognize counterfeit products while buying online. That’s because images that are shown on the websites do not reflect the quality and originality of goods. Consequently, retailers are to detect fake goods themselves.

Similar to the process of imperfections detecting, AI-featured optical systems can spot counterfeit fashion items. This way, retailers may prevent fake goods from entering their warehouses and store shelves. 

Postindustria, for example, widely incorporates ML regularization techniques in the projects to achieve better results. Learn more about our services by following the link.

Want to know more about tech trends?
Sign up to be the first who receive our expert articles

    Success!
    Thank you

    How AI Contributes to Boost Sales Rates

    AI can even boost a company’s sales and marketing processes. Thanks to production optimization, for example. Here are a few aspects of fashion companies’ operating processes that AI-based solutions may empower. 

    Applying AI for Demand and Sales Forecasting

    AI fashion trends prediction is one of the multiple ways to incorporate ML in systems for forecasting in the fashion industry. What’s also essential is that AI allows making accurate demand forecasts and detecting customer buying behavior patterns.

    The principle of demand and sales forecasting is basically the use of data for previous interactions of customers with the company’s business environment — searches and purchases. Then, AI makes conclusions regarding the demand changes and seasonality of sales, for example.

    Consequently, retailers may use prediction in AI to forecast the demand for their particular products at a specific time. It helps to manage stock more effectively and increase sales overall. 

    Operational Processes Automation

    AI goes further than just predicting sales. It directly enhances the production of fashion items by participating in manufacturing, operation, and service automation. The ways AI-based solutions can improve processes are the following: 

    • Simplification of delivering customer support.
    • Complete automation of data entry tasks.
    • Automation of supply chain processes, including order delivery, shipment tracking, etc.
    • Shipment optimization.
    • Enhancement and automation of forecasting.

    Investing in AI Systems

    Another way to increase the business revenue is to replace unproductive labor with AI-driven software and robots. Experts claim that companies that have already integrated AI in their processes increased their sales by more than 50%. At the same time, they reduced operation costs by almost 60%. 

    That’s why AI-powered systems are highly promising investments. Nearly every company will likely employ one shortly. 

    Fashion Giants Who Have Already Applied ML Techniques

    As mentioned previously, large companies are already using AI for demand forecasting. It helps them to keep the lead in the industry. ML is an integral part of smart algorithms as it basically ensures that AI improves over time based on changing factors. 

    Let’s see how two well-known companies, H&M and ASOS, are using modern ML techniques:

    • ASOS

    ASOS implements ML to predict the consumer lifetime value better. Even the minor changes in this indicator may evidence global changes in behavioral patterns. This way, the company always knows how much or how little their customers are willing to pay on an annual basis.

    Such information helps the marketing sector to make better decisions regarding the sales strategy overall. 

    • H&M

    H&M utilizes ML to analyze their customers’ behavior locally. Financial profits of distinct stores, numbers and types of goods sold, and numerous other factors. These are carefully standardized and taken into consideration. 

    While ASOS performs better in predicting global changes in trends, H&M forecasts their local sales more accurately. 

    Book a strategy session_

    Get actionable insights for your product

      Thank you for reaching out,
      User!

      Make sure to check for details.