Technologies like Data Science and Artificial Intelligence have revolutionised the fashion world and there is no going back; things are now bound to get better and smarter. The use of technology is helping the retailers to understand market demand, consumer buying pattern, trend forecasting and make data driven decision etc. Especially the e-commerce retailers have the advantage of getting abundant data of the shoppers and utilising them to extend personalised offerings. While most of the online retailers today are following a customer-centric approach, SvaKatha, a fashion-technology start-up, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India is leveraging the technology to help the associated brands sell better on the platform and eliminate overproduction.

The company is using data science and machine learning algorithms to help the brands understand their consumers and accordingly plan their merchandise and production plan. This will help them promote the product much preferred by the consumers and also manufacture that what is needed and in right amount. The start-up, leveraging the power of technology, aims to open communication between brands and users. Unlike other e-commerce platforms available today like Myntra and Amazon, which provide very few information about users and their fashion choices to the brands, the company wants to develop a platform that can help brands to decide better production planning and forecast, using user information.

The platform is basically a fashion e-commerce marketplace on which the brands can collaborate to sell their products to the consumers. All the partnered retailers are provided with a complete feedback of the consumer buying behaviour, products which are selling the most, styles etc., through a dashboard that helps them understand how consumers are responding to their products. This would allow them to plan their merchandise better and also eliminate any overproduction.  The brands associating with the fashion tech start-up are not charged any additional fee for the dashboard.

The platform uses data science to help understand the users demand better. “We use more than 200 data points on a single fashion image to understand users’ likes and dislikes. Based on the users’ changing behaviour and patterns, we give him/her suggestion that is most relevant to the user. We also take into consideration what users have in closet and give suggestion and recommendation based on that,” said Vivek Pujari, Co-Founder and CEO at SvaKatha.

The retailers can get associated with the platform based on what product profile they have. Once they start selling, they are provided with a monthly dashboard that gives them details of the sales being made on the platform with details like what colour, style, age, size, silhouette is being sold more. This data will help the retailers in understanding the type of product that needs to be sold on the platform. This is what makes SvaKatha different from the entire existing e-commerce platforms that are present in the market. The platform further helps in better decision making, reducing overproduction and therefore reduces the return rate.

Also Read: Merchandise loss due to shoplifting can now be regulated, thanks to technology

Usually the e-commerce platforms use search analytics to suggest better choice to end-consumers, and the retailers using the platform have no idea about search history of consumers, their preferences, etc. However SvaKatha advises both retailer as well as end-consumer. One of the retailer which has collaborated with the brand is Khushal Clothing, based in Ahmedabad. “The user insight and the data is very informative and it is helping us to produce better fit, style and quality. What I like about SvaKatha is they are not just thinking only about user but also from brand  and manufacturing point of view,” said Nirav Darji, Brand Manager, Khushal Clothing.

Also, each customer visiting the platform is required to create their profiles and their actions are noted for their time on the platform. This includes details like what clothes they are searching for, which brand they prefer and which product do they like. All these details are segregated brand-wise and then the final dashboard is created for each brand. In order to create the customer profile, they are required to like and dislike various images based on which they create a complete profile of the customers and are given product suggestions according to their taste. Moreover, the technology also uses Predictive AI to forecast trends and advice the retailers on what are the trends that are being liked much by the consumers on the platform.

Furthermore, since personalisation and assistance are the major features that the customers are looking up to when shopping from an e-commerce platform, the company has introduced four features including My Closet, Chatbot Shopping, Style Suggestion and Like and Dislike for the consumers that help them in taking better shopping decisions. Also, the consumers visiting the platform can get directly connected to a personal stylist who assists them to find their better fit and products of their choice.

My Closet helps the members to create a digital closet where they can click photographs of the garments they have in their closet and upload them on the platform. The AI along with the personal human stylist helps them to decide and style their clothes in the best possible way. Also, in case a shopper is looking for a new garment like upper or bottom from their closet, they can ask the stylist and it will show them the options from the SvaKatha inventory and they can make the purchase. The Chatbot Shopping helps the consumers to get connected to an AI stylist and get shopping assistance. The consumers can ask these bots for any particular garment and get suggestions for the same. In case the AI feels that the consumers need personal assistance, the conversation will be handed to a human representative/ stylist.

“With our data science team, we can find better fit by understanding user past experiences and other user experience who have similar anthropology. At SvaKatha, users don’t work hard to find best clothes for them but our algorithms do. Based on user experience, they create new suggestion for the user  so that the user can find best possible option without wasting too much time on scrolling things that he/she doesn’t like,” said Vivek.

With all these developments and innovation, the company further aims to introduce 3D and AR feature on its platform. The use of the technology will allow the customers to create their digital avatar using their smartphones and try the garments on that. This would give them a better idea of the overall look of the garment and its size, therefore reducing the return rates and enhancing the consumer shopping experience.