ChatGPT for eCommerce is the ultimate “hot” 2023 fashion retailer tool. Whether you’ve been keeping up with the latest news or not, it’s hard to deny that talk about ChatGPT is everywhere, in every aspect of business.

But, with so much discussion about ChatGPT, it’s hard to tell what’s hype and what is here to stay.

In our “Ultimate Guide to ChatGPT for eCommerce,” we’ll go over:

-Are ChatGPT for eCommerce and generative AI all hype or here to stay?

-What are the painpoints ChatGPT is solving for retailers?

-5 quick ideas any fashion retailer can implement

-An honest assessment of the current limitations around ChatGPT for eCommerce

-How does ChatGPT perform when recommending products?

-The future of ChatGPT for eCommerce: How YesPlz AI Stylist Solves Common ChatGPT problems

Let’s dive in!

Is ChatGPT for eCommerce all hype or here to stay?

ChatGPT uses a natural language processing (NLP) model that was trained on massive amounts of data, allowing it to generate responses that seem almost human to nearly any text-based prompt.

It’s an example of generative AI, which is a type of AI that, after training on large data sets, can generate totally new material such as images or text.

We asked three experts their opinion on whether ChatGPT for eCommerce is here to stay, and here’s what they had to say:

“Without a doubt, it’s here to stay. The technology has been here and now we’re only starting to use it the way that we use a pen.”

Christina Stensvaag, Digital Commerce Consultant, when asked during YesPlz AI’s webinar.

“I think ChatGPT is here and we can’t go back from it”

Agnes Kubiak, Trend & Design Consultant

“I think we've only scratched the surface of what ChatGPT can do for fashion. As we have developed ChatGPT Fashion Stylist, we have discovered many powerful use cases, ranging from fashion styling to innovative search capabilities.”

Jiwon Hong, CEO and Founder of YesPlz AI

While it’s clear that ChatGPT for eCommerce is here to stay, according to our experts, there’s also the question of how well retailers will learn to use the tool. 

Because, ChatGPT for eCommerce capabilities go beyond being a simple chatbot, when retailers know how to find tools built on ChatGPT’s underlying technology.

But, without a doubt, expect to see ChatGPT stay in the world of fashion retail, and with many more use cases to come.

What painpoints is ChatGPT for eCommerce solving for retailers?

ChatGPT for eCommerce can easily solve some of the most common pain points for retailers, especially when it comes to customer service, sales, and personalization. 

1. Multi-language, instant support:  Customers don’t need to wait for extended periods of time for support, because ChatGPT can handle multiple inquiries at the same time. Plus, support is offered in multiple languages, leading to faster response times and a more efficient customer service experience.

2. Trend Analysis and Basic Strategy: ChatGPT can provide retailers with information on the latest trends in fashion, and provide a starting point for the “blank page” that often plagues both designers and business strategists alike. For example, when sitting down to brainstorm a new fashion collection, ChatGPT can be a useful tool in assisting with research and development.

3. Quickly Identify Patterns from Large Amounts of Data: Large amounts of data are overwhelming for retailers without the proper tools to analyze them. With ChatGPT, brands can quickly identify patterns in customer behavior, inventory, or purchase history, to make better business decisions and better personalize the shopping experience.

4. Better Automation of Routine Tasks: Whether retailers are struggling to keep up with inventory or customer support, ChatGPT easily provides a solution that allows retailers to streamline routine tasks. In turn, human workers are freed up to focus on more complex tasks to the business. 

5 quick ideas any fashion retailer can implement

You’ve likely heard about the hypothetical use cases of ChatGPT. But, what are some quick ideas that any fashion retailer can implement today?

We brainstormed, and here’s what we came up with:

Idea 1: Combine with AI fashion tagging to generate product descriptions

ChatGPT alone can produce very basic, standard product descriptions to describe a retailer product catalog. However, when combined with AI fashion tagging, ChatGPT for eCommerce becomes an even more powerful tool.

After plugging into YesPlz’s API, retailers can start automatically tagging products. Then, retailers copy and paste the tagging data generated into ChatGPT and ask a simple prompt like “Create a product description with these attributes.”

Tip: You can even take product descriptions one step further by asking ChatGPT to generate the descriptions “as if” if they were someone, like Anna Wintour. 

Idea 2: Create robust, targeted email marketing campaigns

Writing email marketing campaigns can be tedious for overwhelmed fashion brands, but with ChatGPT, retailers can easily come up with a campaign that targets a specific subset of shoppers. We recommend asking ChatGPT to first generate an outline, and based on the outline, refine for your brand, and ask for copywriting.

Idea 3: Generate basic styling suggestions for shoppers

ChatGPT can generate very basic styling suggestions, but doesn’t plug into retailer catalogs, which limits the nature of the suggestions. And, with only text descriptions, AI styling options can only take retailers so far.

If you’re looking for a quick, basic product recommendation, you can use ChatGPT to start the brainstorming process.

But, what if there was an even better way to generate AI styling suggestions, that integrated with retailer catalogs, and was based on pre-trained fashion knowledge?

YesPlz ChatGPT Stylist is powerful tool that can make styling recommendations based on vibe, mood, and any other fashion attributes that you can think of. And, shoppers can choose from pre-built prompts or write their own, in whatever style they want, and receive personalized, accurate styling suggestions in a matter of seconds.

Idea 4: Brainstorm ideas for upcoming promotion on website

ChatGPT for eCommerce works best as a brainstorming tool or assistant–or when simply helping evolve the blank page into text.

For example, if you need more ideas for an upcoming seasonal promotion event, simply ask ChatGPT for “ideas related to an upcoming spring promotion,” and watch as it generates ideas to get you started.

Shopper Behavior and ChatGPT

Currently, fashion brands don’t have a way to openly communicate with shoppers to better understand their search needs. Instead, retailers guess what shoppers really want, without directly engaging, leading to misunderstandings and mismatched product recommendations. 

But, ChatGPT offers retailers the opportunity to conversationalize the shopping journey and gain valuable insights from those chats to better customize the journey. 

ChatGPT for eCommerce can help uncover trends in how shoppers are interacting with products, provide competitive analysis, and use shopper data to build a more relevant customer experience.

While shoppers might be shy to share their silhouette preferences with a human, a chatbot can provide a platform for shoppers to share more details, like “I want to hide my tummy,” which in turn, provides retailers with more information to improve the journey.

The limitations of ChatGPT for retail 

ChatGPT is not a complete solution for retailers, despite much of the hype around it.

Why?

Because it doesn’t integrate with retailer product catalogs, leaving retailers scrambling to figure out how to make use of new technology. 

And, beyond product catalog integration, ChatGPT is trained to be neutral in its opinions, leaving retailers without product recommendations that are usable. 

In addition, ChatGPT responses are in text format, which can be limiting for the visually-focused field of fashion retail.

And lastly, it may be difficult for retailers to immediately use the information that it generates, as it is not immediately able to integrate with catalogs or websites. 

So, where does that leave ChatGPT and retailers?

ChatGPT is a powerful tool for retailers that understand its limitations and are willing to work with it. But, there are also new, emerging tools that use ChatGPT’s underlying technology to make it more usable, integrated, and relevant for fashion eCommerce. 

We’ll explain below.

How does ChatGPT for eCommerce perform when recommending products?

ChatGPT for eCommerce can be disappointing for retailers looking for robust, AI-powered product recommendations because:

1. There’s a lack of creativity: Part of receiving a good product recommendation is the “a-ha!” factor that a shopper has when a recommendation is both stylish and within her preferences.

At YesPlz AI, we create our recommendations based on vibe, mood, and silhouette, so that shoppers receive similar recommendations that never feel too similar.

2. Product recommendations feel uninspired: For example, we recently asked ChatGPT to make suggestions for a “normcore outfit.”

It suggests very basic styles, like a gray or black sweatshirt.

But, it lacks details about brands or specific product attributes–is the sweatshirt a crewneck or v-neck, for example?

3.  ChatGPT doesn’t take a strong opinion: Without a strong opinion, product recommendations using regular ChatGPT are simply too “middle of the road” to appeal to shoppers. 

4. There’s no integration with retailer product catalogs: Because ChatGPT doesn’t integrate with retailer product catalogs, this still requires retailers to manually integrate any information pulled from ChatGPT.

5. It lacks specific fashion-trained knowledge: Unless pushed to give more information about a product, ChatGPT doesn’t have the fashion expertise to provide high quality product recommendations. For example, when asked to provide examples of trending jeans, it responded with basic responses like “wide-leg” or “high-waisted jeans.”

More advanced AI styling tools like YesPlz ChatGPT Stylist, can make more robust recommendations. When asked the same question, YesPlz’s tool responded with “high-waisted straight leg jeans” and “distressed crop jeans,” providing more flavor to one-dimensional product recommendations. 

Why YesPlz’s AI stylist is the future of fashion

YesPlz’s AI styling uses the best of ChatGPT’s technology, along with other fashion AI, to interpret any shopper prompt, and then offer curated styling based on their inputs.

It’s built on:

AI Image Tagging: Our advanced computer vision quickly scans and tags product attributes in catalogs, creating the foundation for superior recommendations.

Generative AI: We utilize OpenAI's technology to create responses to prompts.

NLP: With NLP, we understand various prompts, even incomplete questions like "Trending jeans?", so shoppers don't have to adjust their language.

Fashion Transformer: Unique to YesPlz AI, we've created a fashion transformer that processes OpenAI’s suggestions and product catalogs, finding the best matches. This allows us to efficiently match recommendations for thousands of products in seconds.

How YesPlz GPT Stylist Works:

1. Choose a pre-generated prompt that is created based on popularity. Or, shoppers can write their own prompts.

2. Shoppers hit ‘enter’ and receive full outfit ideas, using retailer product catalogs, along with styling suggestions and clickable images. 

By allowing shoppers to use any input writing style and by curating product recommendations with a unique, fashion-forward point of view, YesPlz’s ChatGPT Stylist stands out in comparison to regular ChatGPT. 

What is the future of ChatGPT for eCommerce?

The future of ChatGPT for eCommerce is contingent upon retailers learning how to work with the technology to make it more valuable for themselves. As we’re all discovering the potential of ChatGPT together, 2023 is an exciting time to be a retailer. 

Expect to see new use cases emerge as innovative technology providers like YesPlz AI continue to push the boundaries of what ChatGPT can do for eCommerce.

Are you curious to try YesPlz’s ChatGPT Stylist?

Schedule a free 20-min demo