Retailers Turn To Silicon Valley To Lure Customers

In the age of Amazon.com Inc., other retailers are scrambling to find a way to keep consumers shopping on their sites and in stores. The trick? Personalization, via data and tech. Sunglass Hut is employing deep learning and image-recognition technology from San Francisco-based Sentient Technologies Holdings Ltd. for its e-commerce site. When a shopper clicks on a pair of shades, the “see similar styles” option uses image recognition to show other sunglass choices, instead of predicting what the person might want based on what other people have purchased. Personalization “is the Holy Grail,” says Salesforce Commerce Cloud Chief Executive Jeff Barnett, who works with brands including L’Oreal and Under Armour. With online pricing and inventory easily accessible, consumers are increasingly becoming brand and retailer agnostic. So retailers are turning to Silicon Valley for everything from artificial intelligence to data to draw consumers in. Deep-pocketed Amazon has been investing in technologies like these for years, aiming to make it easy to find items and click buy. Tech providers are filling that gap for other traditional retailers that don’t necessarily have the means to do the same. Even the smallest changes online—facilitated by artificial intelligence and algorithms—can make a difference in sales, retailers are discovering. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.