Forever New turbo-charges product recommendations

Heather McIlvaine

30th Apr 2019

Forever New has seen a sharp uptick in the number of shoppers who end up purchasing the products it automatically recommends on its website.

The fashion brand recently trialled a new product recommendation tool from UK solution provider, Attraqt, which uses artificial intelligence to process image data across hundreds and thousands of SKUs to accurately identify and recommend visually similar products.

And the retailer says it saw a 135 per cent increase in conversion of shoppers who engaged with its “you make also like” call to action as a result. It also saw a 21 per cent increase in average order value, when it showed customers visually similar items, with full-price items more likely to be selected than sale items.

“In looking at the purchasing behaviour of our customers, we discovered they were often buying similar styles from the same category,” Carolyn Mackenzie, Forever New’s managing director, said.

“Based on this, we sought to provide a more seamless online journey for our customers.”

Using the technology from Attraqt, Forever New has been able to automatically recommend products that have a similar pattern, style, colour or silhouette to the products its customers are already attracted to.

At the same time, it can still manually adjust product recommendations based on price, stock and conversion rates to hit the right balance between an optimal online shopping experience and commercial trading goals.

The trial follows a broader upgrade to Forever New’s digital platform. The retailer recently launched a “reserve in store” feature, which allows customers who see an item online to reserve it free of charge, and nominate a store where they can try it on and purchase.