Fashion and homeware retailer Matalan has adopted generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to help to create product descriptions for customers.
Partnering with digital transformation consultancy Kin + Carta, Matalan’s GenAI and large language model (LLM) tool will create product descriptions for items right across the retailer’s website and app. The was created using Google Vertex AI, and uses product metadata and imagery to produce descriptions.
“As the UK’s first retailer to be leveraging Generative AI in this way, this is a hugely exciting moment for Matalan,” said Ali Jones, Chief Customer and Omnichannel Officer at Matalan. “Not only does it demonstrate innovation into new and, so far, unexplored areas, but it shows our commitment to putting our customers and the shopping experience first – whether they’re shopping on our website or through the Matalan app. This all ladders up to our ambitious business transformation, so it’s a proud moment to be announcing this industry-first, today”.
Importantly, Matalan says that its team of copywriters will continue to oversee the descriptions, ensuring they are accurate. Nonetheless, the retailer expects to see a fourfold increase in productivity, while improving search engine optimisation and conversion rates.
Matalan promises that the introduction of GenAI is the “first of many initiatives” it plans to launch as part of its desire to improve its ecommerce offering and, in turn, its wider omnichannel strategy.
“This new tool is using generative AI to increase operational efficiency in Matalan’s in-house copywriting team and vastly multiply the number of detailed product descriptions Matalan can post onto its ecommerce site every day,” said Ewan Nicolson, Director of AI & Data at Kin + Carta. “This is the type of situation where generative AI is at its best, creating rich, bespoke content in a matter of moments that has a real impact on sales”.
