EBay Uses AI to Deliver Personalized Recommendations to Fashion Shoppers

EBay has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) enhancement that helps fashion consumers “shop the look.”

This feature uses consumers’ shopping history to present them with items and outfits that match their style preferences and are available from sellers on the platform, the company said in a Tuesday (April 9) blog post.

“We designed shop the look to evolve with the tastes of our customers by taking cues from their shopping habits,” Raul Romero, a product manager at eBay, wrote in the post. “Their style recommendations are made up of images and items that are personalized, ensuring a tailored fashion experience.

“With this approach, we offer a shopping experience that not only understands our customers’ preferences, but also evolves with them over time,” Romero added.

The “shop the look” feature is available on iOS for eBay customers in the United States and the United Kingdom, according to the post. Android will be added later this year.

While the feature is focused on fashion, the company is considering expanding it to other product categories, the post said.

“Shop the look” will be displayed to shoppers who have viewed at least 10 fashion items in the previous 180 days, according to the post. Those shoppers will see it both on the eBay homepage and the fashion landing page.

“Shop the look is one of the many ways we are improving the user experience for enthusiasts,” Romero wrote in the blog post. “It allows users to visualize how potential additions will complement their current wardrobe.”

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that 44% of consumers are at least somewhat interested in integrating AI technologies into shopping experiences.

That share is higher among younger generations, with 69% of Gen Z consumers and 54% of millennials and bridge millennials reporting that they are interested, according to “AI-Enabled Payments Enhance Customer Options,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and ACI Worldwide collaboration.

In another recent deployment of the technology, Etsy said in January that it launched a hub that uses both AI and human curation to help shoppers find gifts for any occasion.

The platform’s Gift Mode allows shoppers to enter information about the recipient and then browse items available from Etsy sellers that have been selected by the company’s machine learning technology.