Appier today announced the campaign results of implementing its AI-based marketing personalization cloud for EF Shop, a Taiwanese fashion e-commerce brand, which has worked with Appier since 2019 to create a more engaging and personalized shopping experience. Established over 10 years ago, EF Shop is constantly looking for new ways to facilitate customer engagement and provide a more intuitive shopping experience for its onsite visitors. To this end, EF Shop has teamed up with Appier to initiate three-phases of digital transformation that uses AI to meet and exceed what shoppers may need and want during their customer journeys for a corresponding result enhancement.
In Phase 1, EF Shop improved its web engagement through AIQUA’s multichannel automated marketing that resulted in 4X the subscription rate and 3.6X the active subscriber count of the industry benchmark. In Phase 2, EF Shop used one of AIQUA’s recommendation engines that displays personalized product recommendation at each touchpoint and stage of the customer journey to increase the probability and accelerate the speed of transaction. In Phase 3, EF Shop onboarded five other recommendation scenarios with advanced hybrid algorithms to provide a more detailed personalized recommendation, which performed 3X better than basic recommendation. This indicated that AI product recommendation models that integrate text and images help improve website cross-selling capabilities, more accurately predict the potential needs of customers, create business opportunities and maximize the value of products.
EF Shop’s latest products “Anti-UV environmentally friendly antibacterial series”, are eco-friendly garments made from recycled PET bottles, with excellent sun protection and Japanese antibacterial and deodorant functions. Aside from effectively blocking 90% of UV rays, quickly wicking sweat and reducing odors, the products can also reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 70%-85%. EF Shop also recommended its Anti-UV products based on the characteristics of other new products, such as recommending this new product to users who have purchased sweat-wicking, quick-drying, breathable, and antibacterial materials. At the same time, EF Shop compared consumers who have recently purchased similar styles and recommends additional items on the shopping cart or checkout page to increase the chance of cross-selling.
The fashion e-commerce market is extremely competitive and fast-paced. To stand out, product recommendation has become one of the essential tools for many e-commerce. Common recommendation engines are mostly popular product recommendations based on sales, or similar product recommendations based on product categories. However, in order to meet the diverse personalization needs of customers, e-commerce brands must provide a more diverse product recommendation mechanism in order to seize the ever-changing sales opportunities.
According to the report from McKinsey & Co(1), 35% of what customers purchased from Amazon and 75% of what they watched on Netflix are based on the algorithms of product recommendation. If brands can master the essentials of recommendation, they will have a greater chance to win over customers. The advanced recommendation algorithm may also be able to increase the visibility of all products by displaying more comprehensive products to customers, and e-commerce providers may be able to manage inventories more effectively.
“Appier has always been a trusted and long-term partner for EF Shop. Its AIQUA solution has fundamentally transformed how we engage with customers and the level of personalization we are able to provide. From automation to advanced hybrid algorithm recommendation, Appier's solution empowered us to offer more accurate product recommendations for onsite visitors and boost revenue growth efficiently. We look forward to continuing the partnership with Appier to bring a better shopping experience for our customers”, said Grace Yang, Marketing Director of EF Shop.
Below please find more details about EF Shop’s digital marketing challenges and how Appier’s AI solutions help EF Shop to solve its business pain points.
Three-phase challenges of digital transformation
In general, the challenges of what EF Shop encountered during the three phases of digital transformation are:
Trilogy of implementing digital transformation
EF Shop looked forward to interacting more closely with customers online and providing its diversified product selection. Appier provided suitable solutions for different stages of EF Shop’s marketing processes, and gradually implemented a digital transformation trilogy for EF Shop.
The AI-powered engine continues to learn as a shopper continues to interact with content and products, allowing the experience to become more and more personalized as time goes on. This mechanism accounted for a significant increase from the revenue ratio in Phase 2.
Going beyond engagement and recommendation, Appier is working with EF Shop now on new AI applications for better customer experience.
(1) How retailers can keep up with consumers, Ian MacKenzie, Chris Meyer, and Steve Noble, McKinsey&Co.
EF Shop is a Taiwanese fashion e-commerce platform that offers high-quality yet affordable apparel for women, men and children. Founded in 2007, EF shops stays committed to the best shopping experience for its visitors, and provides a variety of styles, continuous innovation and progress in trend design to meet the diverse needs of consumers. The online shop currently has over 10,000 items for its 1.5 million+ loyal shoppers to browse through. Visit www.efshop.com.tw for more information.
Appier is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to power business decision-making. Founded in 2012 with a vision of democratizing AI, Appier now has 17 offices across APAC, Europe and U.S., and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Ticker number: 4180).