Aussie startup, Trendii wants to help retailers adapt to shifting online purchasing habits of Gen Z’s and Millennials, by using social media images to allow shoppers to purchase trending fashion.
“Everybody wants to buy what Lionel Messi is wearing on his feet or Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots,” says Trendii founder, Aaron Woolf.
“What we’re trying to do is ‘retailify’ image and video content so that when you’re inspired by your favourite influencers, celebrities or sports stars, you’re able to transact.”
Research suggests 62 percent of millennials prefer visual searches over other new technology, while sixty percent of Gen-Z’s, discover products via social media, as opposed to other outlets, such as retailers’ websites.
It’s data that reflects industry observations, as customers increasingly flock to social media to purchase aspirational products featured in trending and high profile posts.
Trendii, which has working arrangements with Nike, Adidas, Lululemon among others, is staking a claim within the growing image recognition market, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and categorize information by pictures instead of words.
It’s an area with significant market potential, estimated to grow to $US38.9 billion by 2021.
“It’s an industry that consumers instinctively understand,” says Woolf.
“Consumers are inspired all day, every day – be it magazines, television, social media, they see images that inspire them and then invariably they switch off from inspiration and switch to searching.”
Trendii, part of the Startupbootcamp Sport & EventTech accelerator program in Melbourne, plans to bridge this gap.
Its mobile app, website, and browser extension, uses AI and machine learning to allow a user to image search for clothing from its two million item database.
“There’s lots of ways that people are hacking it,” says Woolf.
“They’ll take an image from the website, then they’ll get similar images on Pinterest, then they’ll do a Google reverse image search and it will bring up some retailers.”
“But that ends up getting a very similar outcome to what Trendii is able to do on the fly. So searching is the pain point for consumers.”
It’s also the pain point for retailers, who lose an estimated 30 percent of sales due to this friction.
“We’re brand agnostic so it’s about helping consumers discover products they want from brands that they perhaps didn’t know,” says Woolf.
“What we want to try and do is help people buy from brands that are focusing on creating better quality products.”
“The future of retail and e-commerce is better understanding your current and potential audiences, and then using AI to target ads accordingly.
“We are in such an interesting time for retail and ecommerce,” says Woolf, who recently signed 12-month agreements with Yahoo and Urban List.
“There are so many interesting ways for brands to better engage their audiences. It’s an exciting future ahead.”