Home Retail & Consumer eBay Launches AI-Powered 'Shop the Celebrity Look'

eBay Launches AI-Powered ‘Shop the Celebrity Look’

As a follows – up on its partnership with Mashable, a media outlet, to allow shoppers to “shop the look,” eBay unveiled plans to launch a similar venture with Time Inc.

Dubbed Shop the Celebrity Look, the venture will revolve around celebrities.

The AI-powered service intends to not only allow shoppers to point their phones at custom-made articles in Time’s publications but also purchase the clothes worn by the featured celebs or even look for similar and more affordable ones.

eBay is acknowledged for creating the AI technology that powers the Shop the Celebrity Look service.

Other than providing a pre-selected set of available products on the site, the service promises to genuinely match the items in the pictures to same ones on sale through eBay or go for other similar ones.

The recent endeavor by eBay comes after the company sealed a similar deal with Mashable.

READ MORE: 10 Powerful Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Retail

READ MORE: How Ebay Utilizes AI to Connect Sellers and Buyers

It was aimed at allowing the media outlet’s readers to browse, shop, and buy products that match the ones presented on Mashable without having to exit the site. As such, the same thing will happen with the AI-driven Shop the Celebrity Look involving Time Inc publications.

Each article will be centered on a given trend and include shoppable pictures of celebs sporting their style.

By leveraging eBay’s “Shop the Look” technology, which was unveiled in 2016, customers will be in a position to scroll through the celebrity pictures before clicking the shopping tags in a bid to look for matching pieces on eBay or other affordable options.

The unveiling of Shop the Celebrity Look makes it the first-of-its-kind in the global marketplace.

It serves as part of eBay’s continuing focus on creating a creative and engaging shopping experience for its customers.

Even so, the recent move adds to the company’s growing line up of collaborations with media entities to begin bypassing search and even going further to utilize eBay directly.

Why is this Move Interesting?

To start with, the Shop the Celebrity Look service means that eBay is taking a step back from selling goods via its site.

Instead, it allows third parties to do so via its platform.

Doing so transforms the dynamics that exist between the retailer, brand, media, marketplace and marketing and provides a simpler way of shopping while carrying out other things.

The eBay-Times publications tie-up represents a shift towards distributed marketplaces whereby shoppers can shop wherever and whenever. Furthermore, this move changes the position currently held by brands and retailers in the shopping journey.

Pushing Marketplaces to become part of Omni-channel

Aside from the possibility of ushering a new way to shop, eBay’s move could potentially give competitors a run for their money.

It also poses a considerable impact on brand and retail e-commerce, which could force brands and retailers to utilize eBay in a bid to appear in this groundbreaking shopping paradigm.

Regardless of such possibilities, eBay’s move not only drives marketplaces into the omnichannel mix but also strengthens the role of mobile phones as a vital shopping portal.

Over half of e-commerce currently takes place on mobile while more than half of the sales are conducted on marketplaces. That is why eBay’s move could be an industry game-changer.

Source Tamebay

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KC Cheung
KC Cheung has over 18 years experience in the technology industry including media, payments, and software and has a keen interest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks and its applications in business. Over the years he has worked with some of the leading technology companies, building and growing dynamic teams in a fast moving international environment.
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