Why It's Time for Fashion Brands to Switch to AI-Powered Image Search

“This does not make sense. What—it’s not available?”

These are just some of the things customers say when your store’s search results are unreliable—mismatches, irrelevant results, no matching results, etc. 

A recent study shows that:

• 58% of consumers can't find Y2K products

• 56% can't find streetwear

• 65% can't find 'clean girl aesthetic' items 

And this is just the hem of the story. There are many other problems in today’s store search engines, causing fashion retailers to lose over a billion dollars in sales annually. 

Is there a fix? Yes, there is, and this article will show you how to eliminate these issues from your fashion store. 

Key Takeaways: 

• AI fixes problems about irrelevant/no matching search results by image embedding, auto-tagging, and more

• AI can mine social media data for trends and automatically apply these trends to your products’ searchability.

• AI is capable of tagging your products based on synonyms, occasion, vibe, misspelled words, etc., thereby boosting your product discoverability.

A single integration is all it takes. But more importantly, why would you need it in the first place?

Why Fashion Brands Need AI-Powered Image Search 

1. To Deliver More Accurate Fashion Results

PROBLEM: Traditional search engines are not optimized for fashion, resulting in available products not showing up.

CONSEQUENCE: Missed sales opportunity despite product availability 

FASHION AI SOLUTION: AI product tagging and image embedding

Consumers use search boxes to look for specific items. Although this feature is not new, most traditional search engines work in a rudimentary way. 

For example, if the search query the shopper searched for is “short skirts,” but your product tags, titles, or search tags do not have these matching keywords, your short skirt product, even if it is available, will not appear in the search results. 

A fashion AI solves using images in two ways:

• Image Embedding – the AI is trained to recognize what a product is based on the image, and return the correct results

• Search tagging – the AI automatically tags products based on the product image and has been updated the search keywords for each product

Behind the scenes, a fashion AI system will automatically tag products for search purposes, as shown here: 

So, how does it help? 

Below is an image of an example. Please pay attention to the search box, where the keyword used is short skirts.

You will notice that the search results are showing irrelevant products. There are sunglasses, caps, denim shorts, shirts, and more. 

After the YesPlz AI Search implementation, this is how it looks: 

All the products in the search results are now short skirts, even if the product titles do not contain the words “short skirt.” 

How this benefits you and the shopper:

• The shopper saves time and effort in searching for products

• The shopper does not get frustrated with getting irrelevant results or no results

• Your shop will show matching results based on keywords, even if you do not use the keywords in the tagging 

• You save time from manually tagging all these products, using various keywords and their synonyms

Ultimately, you will improve your conversion rate. In a situation like this, the shopper is already in your store, which means there is an intent to buy. 

But if the products do not show up, or if the search results are irrelevant, the shopper walks away, and you lose a sale.  Fashion AI search is what you need to prevent this problem from happening.

2. To Show Hard-to-Find Trending Fashion Item

PROBLEM: Trend management is time-consuming and prone to errors 

CONSEQUENCE: Trends die down before you can catch up, so you lose sales

FASHION AI SOLUTION: AI looks for online trends and applies trendy search words to your products

Trends change, and when they do, consumers use new keywords to search for products, which you may not have in your store yet. It’s unfortunate—you have the product, but without the relevant keyword, you may be missing out on sales.

Another problem with trend keyword management is how tedious it is. Traditionally, an eCommerce manager has to scroll through social media to learn about new trends. 

YesPlz AI has the solution to both these problems. It is called Trend Hunter. Here is what it does: 

• The AI goes to social media to mine for trends

• The AI scrubs through your product catalog and changes the product's tags (if applicable)

• The AI matches trend characteristics with your products

• Your store now shows search results in your store for trendy keywords

For example, if the trend is “boxer shorts, you might not have used that keyword in your product tags or titles. Your store will not show any “boxer shorts” apparel to anyone who uses that search term. 

YesPlz fashion AI will fix this. How? 

The AI, after data mining from social media, now understands what 'boxer shorts' means, or its characteristics, such as: 

• Loose fit

• Elastic waistband

• Fly

• Mid-thigh length

Characteristics also include style, occasions, vibe, etc. 

Now that the AI knows the key characteristics and trending keywords, it will match them to your products and tag them accordingly.

So, if a shopper searches for “boxer shorts” in your store, the products already tagged with “boxer shorts” will appear in the search results.

3. To Fix Lack of Contextual Fashion Understanding

A conventional search engine relies on matching, but this matching is too broad. For example, if the search word used is “long sleeves top,” the shopper may see this: 

Are these long-sleeved tops? Not all of them. The two in the middle are short-sleeved tops. Why is the result wrong? It is because the search engine is showing products that have ANY of these words: 

• Sleeves 

• Top

• Long

What does this mean? It means that any product that has any of these three words will appear, even if they are not what the shopper is looking for. 

You can fix this by using a fashion-specific AI that has contextual understanding. It is AI that comprehends user intent. 

Here is a sample search result after implementing YesPlz’s Hybrid AI Search: 

Now, all the results show a long-sleeved top only. No product is irrelevant to the shopper’s search intent. 

The AI understands that the clothing the shopper is looking for is a “top” and that it should have “long-sleeves.” Therefore, the AI will not show a product that is a top but has no long sleeves. 

The beauty of this AI tool is that it can do the same thing for other search intents, like: 

• Style (streetwear, Y2K, Italian, etc.) 

• Occasion (party, sports, formal, etc.)

• Vibe (casual, elegant, etc.)

So, if a shopper types the phrase “long-sleeved blue shirt,” the search results in your store will show all clothing that meets these specific conditions. 

This reduces customer friction. It also makes search results relevant, matching the real search intent of the shopper. 

4. To Get Satisfying Support Experience 

PROBLEM: Many search engine solutions offer complex settings but lack adequate support, making it difficult for busy eCommerce managers to navigate

CONSEQUENCE: Store managers waste time and face frustration, leading to poor search accuracy and lost sales.

FASHION AI SOLUTION: YesPlz offers fast, easy-to-use AI support with a quick turnaround, simplifying store management tasks. Plus, a human eCommerce expert will provide one-on-one support.

It is unfortunate, but true, that many software-as-a-service companies do not provide enough support. The eCommerce store managers who work with them get disappointed, as they cannot get the technical assistance needed to run a fashion store. 

In addition, most AI tools are too complicated to use. There is a steep learning curve, making the entire ordeal a pain to deal with. 

Here are some examples:

• You need to add things to your category tree

• You want to add fashion synonyms

• You want to either fix typos or add them (croptop vs crop tops, whitte vs white)

• You want to, by default, sort search results by brand

• You want to display search results sorted by price, relevancy, new arrival, etc. 

To do all these, you need to contact your tech customer service manager. They can, to some degree, give you instructions on how to do it if the process already exists. If it doesn’t, you may have to wait a long time for a resolution. 

YesPlz prides itself on putting its clients first. All you need to do is contact us and guarantee a fast turnaround time for your requests! 

5. To Receive Fair Pricing on Specialized Fashion AI

PROBLEM: Major search engine providers charge per search query, making business expenses unpredictable.

CONSEQUENCE: Businesses struggle to manage budgets and often discover query costs only after receiving their bills. In particular, unconverted searches still incur costs.

FASHION AI SOLUTION: YesPlz offers fixed pricing that keeps your budget predictable, regardless of the number of queries.

Major search engine providers charge by number of search queries. For example, a company may charge you a certain amount for every 1,000 queries. 

A pricing like this may sound fair, but it just makes it hard for you to manage your business expenses. How will you know how many queries happened in the last 30 days? You will only find out once the bill is due. 

YezPlz will not give you this kind of financial challenge. You will not find yourself in a position where you are not in control of your budget—our price points are fixed, regardless of the query amount!

Summary: Hybrid AI Search for Fashion Retailers

Search systems in fashion stores are changing rapidly. Fashion retailers need to keep up, or others will take the lead, and those who get left behind will lose sales.  

Integrate YesPlz Fashion AI into your store now to exceed what your competitors are doing. Schedule a discovery call with us to see the AI in action!