Latest news with #Akeneo
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Retail's AI Revolution Hinges On Consumer Trust & Data Quality
As AI continues to saturate our personal and professional lives, it's clear that technology has evolved far beyond the realm of futuristic fantasies. No longer confined to the imaginations of sci-fi writers, AI is now an indispensable force permeating and shaping nearly every facet of our lives. In the retail space, this shift is especially apparent, as intelligent automation is influencing every stage of the consumer journey. This includes everything from how and when we shop to what we search for and where, as well as how we interact with products and services during commerce journeys. AI is redefining the way we experience commerce, with no signs of slowing down. A recent survey from Akeneo, a product experience company and provider of product information management (PIM) solutions, found that 75% of U.S. consumers have already noticed AI recommendations in their product experiences. This will only increase, as Forrester predicts that in 2025, one in five U.S. and EMEA retailers will launch customer-facing generative AI applications. So, if it's no longer a question of 'if' but 'when' AI technology will be fully integrated into the search experience, then the focus needs to shift to how customers are viewing this new frontier of shopping - and how they're going to react. Many consumers are still hesitant about the rise of AI Despite retailers and brands continuing to invest in AI across the online shopping journey, consumers remain skeptical about how and when it's being used. The same survey from Akeneo found that 60% of consumers are at least somewhat concerned about how data is being used for AI, and only 27% believe brands are honest about how they use AI for recommendations. Beyond that, consumers are also hesitant about the reliability of AI experiences – according to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 40% of consumers are concerned AI can provide wrong information (hallucinations) and 32% don't believe AI has their best interests in mind Unfortunately, customer hesitation and concern surrounding AI is not without reason. Powering AI with incorrect or incomplete data leads to customer confusion and frustration. In 2024, a customer messaged Air Canada's virtual assistant regarding the company's bereavement fares and was provided with the wrong instructions on how to access the fare from the chatbot. Once the customer purchased the ticket and submitted a refund claim as instructed, the airline rejected the claim and cited that bereavement fare cannot be claimed after purchase. This instance, and several other AI blunders, have led to companies such as McDonald's and Klarna rolling back on AI policies. If customers perceive AI as a black box that compromises their data or can't provide them with the right information, they'll walk away. Brands that fail to prioritize transparency and reliability in their AI strategy risk higher bounce rates, lower conversion and engagement, diminished brand credibility, and missed revenue opportunities. And yet, personalized recommendations, 24/7 customer support, and intuitive search experiences are some of the most common expectations from customers today. In this regard, brands face a paradox: consumers want better experiences (accuracy, relevance, ease, personalization) that are often powered by AI but won't fully embrace AI unless it's trustworthy. Transparency, data integrity, and trust will define the winners in AI-powered commerce Being transparent and consistent in how you collect, use, and communicate about customer data is paramount, and consistently testing AI to ensure accuracy is the key to maintaining trust. Clean, consistent, enriched product information is the foundation for AI-driven tools to work properly; without it, the user experience suffers, and trust erodes. Before investing in AI, businesses must ask themselves: (a) Is our product data structured and comprehensive enough to power AI?, (b), are we enriching our data with customer feedback and context?, and (c), can we confidently explain how AI uses this data to personalize the experience? The AI Opportunity The retail space is uniquely equipped to capitalize on AI solutions, as it is already ahead of many industries in capturing relevant customer data. For example, according to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, while people across the board prefer to talk to a live person versus an AI chat program when they need assistance, online shopping is the one area where they are most open to using AI chat programs. Still, successful AI depends not only on consumer trust, but also on data quality. And not all retail data strategies are created equally as many organizations are plagued with data silos, subpar data quality, inconsistent data, and other challenges. The first step to capitalizing on AI is for retailers to get their data house in order. Reliable data means reliable AI outputs, which means reliable search experiences for customers. Once that is complete, the opportunities are limitless. From influencing product recommendations, search, chatbots and personalization, AI can directly impact the path to purchase and build trust with consumers. Businesses who boarded the AI train early are already starting to reap the benefits; JC Perreault, a leading Canadian furniture and appliance retailer, leveraged AI functionality to increase its online product range by 4X, growing from 3,000 to 12,000 products while reducing time-to-market from two weeks to just 24 hours. Improved data quality and accuracy also directly enhanced customer experience, with users spending more time on product pages, and bounce rates declining. This is a real-world example of where AI, applied thoughtfully to the customer experience and powered by enriched and accurate product data, can directly impact the sales pipeline and increase revenue opportunities. 'As the world continues to navigate uncertainties, consumer confidence is waning while skepticism is on the rise,' said Romain Fouache, CEO of Akeneo. 'Customers want more information than ever, relying on detailed product insights, personalized experiences, and user recommendations to purchase with confidence. AI isn't just about cutting costs, it's about building brand loyalty – helping customers make the right purchase, at the right time – every time.' Still, AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Those looking to get in on the AI action need to carefully consider the right solutions, and areas of their business where AI can have the most immediate positive impact, without succumbing to the risks. AI may be the engine of modern commerce, but data is the fuel. To deliver customer experiences that are both cutting-edge and credible, businesses must prioritize data quality and transparency. With enriched product information and responsible AI strategies, brands can create experiences that are intelligent, trusted, and human centric.
Fashion United
06-08-2025
- Business
- Fashion United
Customer expectations – how to meet and exceed what shoppers demand
In a retail environment where normal is defined by fierce competition, fleeting loyalty and high expectations, the fight to win customer trust is no longer limited to price or speed. It's about clarity, consistency and credibility across every channel, explains Justin Thomas, VP Sales, EMEA North at Akeneo. Shoppers expect complete, accurate and transparent product information whether they're browsing your website, checking a third-party marketplace, asking questions via chatbot or standing in your store aisle. If they encounter conflicting product specs, missing images or incorrect availability, the damage is a missed sale and a hit to your brand's trustworthiness. This is why product experience has become the foundation of customer experience. And meeting rising expectations requires a shift from reactive content management to a proactive, AI-enhanced, centralised strategy, one that ensures every product detail, across every channel, is accurate, enriched and optimised for the customer journey. Retailers have traditionally relied on fragmented systems, manual uploads and one-off spreadsheets to manage product data, but they are now buckling under the weight of modern customer expectations. Instead, businesses need a unified, cloud-based platform that allows them to centralise, enrich, activate and optimise product content at scale. This platform becomes the single source of truth for all product data - descriptions, images, specs, availability and even customer sentiment. Data drives collaboration By centralising product information, teams can collaborate more efficiently across product development, marketing, merchandising and ecommerce, while suppliers can onboard and enrich product data in a consistent, structured way. Businesses thus reduce the risk of errors, duplication and data silos that frustrate both internal teams and external customers. The real competitive advantage comes when product content is not just managed, but enriched with intelligence and context, specifically Artificial Intelligence which is already transforming how brands, manufacturers, retailers and distributors process, classify and improve product information to drive better experiences. Instead of spending hours manually updating listings, teams can also benefit from AI to automatically categorise products based on customer intent and attributes, identify missing or low-performing content and get recommendations for improvement, and connect real customer feedback, such as reviews and sentiment data, directly to product pages to guide optimisation. When enrichment is powered by AI, it is both scalable and self-improving; every click, view or return becomes a data point that helps refine the next product interaction. Great product content is only valuable if it reaches customers at the right place and time. That means activating enriched product experiences across all touchpoints, from eCommerce sites and social platforms to marketplaces, apps and in-store displays. This is where a truly composable product experience management (PXM) platform really contributes. It enables businesses to tailor and syndicate content based on the requirements of each channel, while maintaining consistency. That might mean optimising image formats for a marketplace, localising descriptions for international stores or adapting tags and keywords for search relevance. A strong PXM strategy ensures that wherever your product appears, it will be accurate, engaging, contextual and conversion-ready. And with built-in analytics, businesses can continuously measure how product experiences perform across channels, enabling faster, data-informed decisions. Closing the loop with customer feedback Too often, product content is created in isolation, without a direct link to how customers actually respond to it. Advanced platforms now allow teams to connect product information with real-time customer signals like click-through rates, reviews and returns. This creates a powerful feedback loop: high-performing products and pages inform best practices, while underperforming listings highlight where updates are needed. By embedding customer sentiment into product information, businesses can build better experiences, faster and foster greater customer experience at every step. Scale is then possible through smart supplier collaboration. For retailers and distributors managing hundreds or thousands of SKUs as well as onboarding supplier data is a critical, and often painful, process. Misaligned formats, missing attributes and inconsistent standards cause delays, errors and margin loss. Modern PXM solutions include supplier data management capabilities, allowing suppliers to upload and enrich product information in a guided, consistent way. This speeds up onboarding and also ensures that every product meets your brand's content standards before it ever reaches the digital shelf. Ready for AI commerce Looking further ahead, existing product experience insights should now be complemented by tools that can optimise product visibility across AI shopping assistants and Google Shopping, giving brands actionable insights to boost relevance, performance, and ROI. New AI agents now dramatically accelerate product data modelling (from months to days) by automatically generating and evolving flexible, governable data models, while new features like AI-powered product enrichment, composable products and attribute type migration increase agility and control. For brands, manufacturers, retailers and distributors looking to assess where they are on the path to product experience excellence, a self-assessment can be a useful first step. These tools offer a clear benchmark of current maturity, along with strategic and operational recommendations to move forward, whether you're just starting to centralise your product data or already deploying AI to optimise listings dynamically. Today's customers demand more because they have more choices. Retailers must therefore not simply meet but exceed their expectations , every time. And the only way to do that consistently, across every channel, is with a modern, AI-powered, centralised product experience strategy. Credits: Justin Thomas, VP Sales, EMEA North at Akeneo About Akeneo Akeneo is the product experience (PX) company and global leader in Product Information Management (PIM); creating a world where every product interaction is an experience that guides consumers and professionals to the best purchase, anytime, anywhere. Akeneo empowers business leaders with software, education, and an engaged community all focused on the practice of product experience management. Leading global brands, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, including Chico's, TaylorMade Golf, Rail Europe, Kering, and more trust Akeneo to scale and customise their omnichannel commerce initiatives. Using Akeneo's intelligent Product Cloud, companies can create elevated product experiences with user-friendly and AI-powered product data enrichment, management, syndication, and supplier data onboarding; as well as a comprehensive app marketplace and partner network to meet business and buyer needs. For more information:
Techday NZ
30-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Akeneo unveils first AI agent & analytics tools for product data
Akeneo has announced the launch of its Data Architect Agent (DAA), its first artificial intelligence agent, as well as enhancements to the PX Insights Channel Analytics Suite, with a focus on preparing businesses for developments in AI-powered commerce. The Summer 2025 announcement brings a set of updates that aim to streamline the implementation of Akeneo's Product Information Management (PIM) and Product Cloud solutions. The new technologies are specifically designed to reduce the time and complexity associated with building and evolving product data models, and to enable ongoing optimisation based on shopping signals from digital commerce channels. AI for product data modelling Central to the release is the Data Architect Agent, described as leveraging Akeneo's experience in product modelling to produce accurate, manageable data models in a significantly shorter timeframe. DAA aims to allow companies - including brands, retailers, and manufacturers - to launch or restructure their product catalogues at scale without loss of data quality or control. Andy Tyra, Chief Product Officer at Akeneo, explained the impact of the new technology: "Our agentic AI is purpose-built to solve the single biggest pain point in product data management - modelling. DAA lets teams design flexible models once and adapt forever, turning product data from a slow-moving liability into a fast, flexible, strategic AI-powered asset." The company states that the enhancements to Akeneo Product Cloud extend the capabilities of the Data Architect Agent, specifically in governance, flexibility, and adaptability. Among the features are AI-Powered Product Enrichment, which extracts structured data from images and PDFs to automate and speed up SKU creation, thus reducing manual work. The addition of Composable Products offers a new method of modelling product bundles, kits, and modular components, shifting from traditional associations to a more scalable system that supports enterprise needs. Attribute Type Migration enables conversion of attribute types - such as moving from plain text to localised rich text or measurement attributes - during the product lifecycle, helping businesses respond to evolving requirements without needing to define a perfect model at the start. These combined updates are targeted at allowing commercial teams to maintain accurate and well-governed product data while reducing time and manual effort. Improving product visibility in AI-driven commerce Updates to Akeneo's PX Insights Channel Analytics Suite further bolster data-driven product management. PX Insights connects customer behaviour, sentiment, and real-world shopping data directly to business product records, giving companies a measurable way to improve engagement and performance. The Summer 2025 update introduces AI Discovery Optimisation, which analyses the way products are understood and recommended by generative AI shopping assistants, including platforms using AI conversational agents. This enables teams to refine product content and structure so that it is better suited to visibility and relevance within AI-powered recommendation engines. An additional feature, the Google Shopping Optimisation Dashboard, has been designed to highlight data gaps in product listings and campaign performance. By leveraging these insights, organisations can make targeted improvements to boost conversion rates and return on investment. The company said these enhancements reflect Akeneo's focus on building product experience capabilities that adapt to the persistence of AI and intent-based discovery in commerce channels. According to Akeneo, these new capabilities aim to ensure that product data governance and enrichment keep pace with changes in consumer shopping habits and AI-assisted product discovery. Rollout details Akeneo reports that its Summer 2025 Release - including access to the AI agent and upgraded analytics features - will be available to customers of its Product Cloud solution globally from 12 July 2025.
Fashion Network
14-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
New system allows fashion marketplace accelerator The Agent to 'cut return rates by 10%'
Fashion marketplace accelerator The Agent has adopted Akeneo's Supplier Data Manager (SDM) system to 'streamline and enhance' the uptake of its supplier product data. Results have already included reducing return rates by 10%, doubling the volume of products onboarded, and accelerating time-to-market by a third, it claims. The Agent, which works for brands by optimising and scaling their presence on digital marketplaces for both emerging and established apparel, accessories and footwear (including Le Coq Sportif, Herschel Supply Co and Aigle), said the shift to Akeneo's SDM has allowed it to streamline how product information is 'collected, cleaned, enriched and shared'. Through a structured portal and workflow, brands now upload their product data directly, 'following clear steps to ensure it meets the specific requirements of each marketplace'. Aude Guillome, client success manager at The Agent, said: 'Our brands now complete a guided workflow of four steps uploading and enriching product data, before our team takes over to complete the process. This allows for much faster integration, improved accuracy, and ultimately, better customer experiences.' She added: 'As online marketplaces become more demanding, with some requiring up to 180 unique product attributes for a single SKU, high-quality product data is now a critical asset in ensuring sales success. The return on investment of Akeneo's SDM is clear—better data, faster onboarding, and a 10% reduction in returns. Akeneo CEO Romaine Fouache also said: 'With marketplace sales accounting for approximately €225 billion in online sales across Europe in 2023/24, delivering high-quality, marketplace compliant product data in a timely manner is critical to ensuring commercial success on these channels. By using SDM, The Agent ensures that its brand partners are marketplace-ready with the content necessary to reduce returns and boost visibility.'
Fashion Network
14-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
New system allows fashion marketplace accelerator The Agent to 'cut return rates by 10%'
Fashion marketplace accelerator The Agent has adopted Akeneo's Supplier Data Manager (SDM) system to 'streamline and enhance' the uptake of its supplier product data. Results have already included reducing return rates by 10%, doubling the volume of products onboarded, and accelerating time-to-market by a third, it claims. The Agent, which works for brands by optimising and scaling their presence on digital marketplaces for both emerging and established apparel, accessories and footwear (including Le Coq Sportif, Herschel Supply Co and Aigle), said the shift to Akeneo's SDM has allowed it to streamline how product information is 'collected, cleaned, enriched and shared'. Through a structured portal and workflow, brands now upload their product data directly, 'following clear steps to ensure it meets the specific requirements of each marketplace'. Aude Guillome, client success manager at The Agent, said: 'Our brands now complete a guided workflow of four steps uploading and enriching product data, before our team takes over to complete the process. This allows for much faster integration, improved accuracy, and ultimately, better customer experiences.' She added: 'As online marketplaces become more demanding, with some requiring up to 180 unique product attributes for a single SKU, high-quality product data is now a critical asset in ensuring sales success. The return on investment of Akeneo's SDM is clear—better data, faster onboarding, and a 10% reduction in returns. Akeneo CEO Romaine Fouache also said: 'With marketplace sales accounting for approximately €225 billion in online sales across Europe in 2023/24, delivering high-quality, marketplace compliant product data in a timely manner is critical to ensuring commercial success on these channels. By using SDM, The Agent ensures that its brand partners are marketplace-ready with the content necessary to reduce returns and boost visibility.'
