Discover the most relevant industry news and insights for fashion’s e-commerce and technology professionals, updated each month to enable you to excel in job interviews, promotion conversations or perform better in the workplace by increasing your market awareness and emulating market leaders.
BoF Careers distils business intelligence from across the breadth of our content — editorial briefings, newsletters, case studies, podcasts and events — to deliver key takeaways and learnings tailored to your job function, listed alongside a selection of the most exciting live jobs advertised by BoF Careers partners.
Key articles and need-to-know insights for e-commerce and technology professionals today:
1. How Google Aims to Transform Shopping with AI
Google has announced a suite of updates aimed at helping the masses to find the products they’re seeking at the best prices. The new features include an AI-powered guide that gives shoppers relevant information about products, like what to look for when choosing the best puffer jacket; a personalised shopping feed that uses a customer’s past activity to show them items and information Google thinks will be of interest; and tools to help find the best deals on products and brands. They will begin rolling out to US users over the next weeks and will expand to other markets over time.
Shoppers might not mind the help. In the US, 60 percent of US consumers say making the right purchase decision requires more effort than it used to, according to Google. IBM found in a separate survey that 86 percent of consumers who hadn’t yet tried AI for shopping wanted to see how it could help them research products or get information.
Related Jobs:
Regional E-Commerce Specialist, On — London, United Kingdom
Digital Tech Product Management Lead, Gucci — Milan, Italy
Site Merchandising Director, Bloomingdale’s — New York, United States
2. Eyewear’s Disruption by Smart Glasses May Have Already Begun
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses created in partnership with EssilorLuxottica have been a bigger hit than the companies themselves anticipated. In a July earnings call, Zuckerberg said demand continued outpacing their ability to build them. Market intelligence firm IDC estimates Meta has shipped more than 700,000 pairs, while Bernstein analyst Luca Solca surmised earlier this year that revenue from the glasses could approach $100 million in EssilorLuxottica’s 2024 fiscal year.
The $299 glasses, which are widely available through select EssilorLuxottica retailers including LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut, as well as through the Ray-Ban and Meta websites, could be fairly deemed the first commercially successful smart glasses, marking a potential turning point for a category that the tech world has been trying — and failing — to popularise for more than a decade. If they are the start of a new era, it could signal upheaval for eyewear.
Related Jobs:
E-Commerce Manager, 16Arlington — London, United Kingdom
Principal Retail Engineer, Tory Burch — New York, United States
Commercial IT Manager, Burberry — Hong Kong
3. AI Can Now Authenticate Sneakers by Their Smell
Osmo, a start-up that uses AI to map and create scents, believes these olfactory signatures are the key to being able to tell authentic shoes from fakes. If it’s right, it could provide a powerful new weapon to the resale industry, which devotes vast resources to authentication, and potentially to brands beyond footwear looking to protect their products.
Indeed, some human authenticators at companies like StockX will do sniff tests as one means of identifying knockoffs. Because factories producing counterfeits usually get their raw materials from different suppliers using different — often cheaper — ingredients or chemicals, their shoes can have markedly different bouquets. […] The company has already conducted a pilot with a major sneaker resale company (it can’t yet disclose which one) and had greater than 95 percent accuracy distinguishing fakes, according to Mehta.
Related Jobs:
Senior Software Engineer, Deckers Brands — London, United Kingdom
E-Commerce & Testing Analytics Engineer, Chico’s — Fort Myers, United States
Senior E-Commerce Executive, Chalhoub Group — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
4. Shopify Is Winning Salesforce Clients, Stoking E-Commerce Rivalry
Over the past 15 or so years, Shopify Inc. has established itself as the go-to for mom-and-pop businesses looking to set up shop online. Now, in a dramatic shift, the Canadian company is targeting larger companies and, in doing so, looking to wrest e-commerce customers from Salesforce Inc. Shopify says it has lured hundreds of Salesforce clients, including big brands like Mattel Inc., Toys R Us and mattress seller Casper, and is encouraging other companies to “join the mass migration.” Its key selling point is lower prices for its suite of e-commerce services and it has been cheekily calling out Salesforce’s penchant for wining and dining potential clients.
Salesforce eagerly clapped back, saying its platform offers functions that Shopify doesn’t, including customer service, and can better handle traffic surges. Like Amazon, Shopify benefitted from shoppers’ stampede online during the pandemic, but suffered once they returned to their regular shopping habits. The company also abandoned ambitions of building a logistics operation that would have helped it grow by selling more services to customers it already has. Without that, Shopify needs to find new clients.
Related Jobs:
ESB Tech Lead & Engineer, Ralph Lauren — New York, United States
E-Commerce Coordinator & Copywriter, Couverture & The Garbstore — London, United Kingdom
Principal Omni Architect Director, Tapestry — Tokyo, Japan
5. After Months of Designing with AI, Norma Kamali Isn’t Looking Back
Kamali’s new AI-assisted dresses and the earlier styles they reference stand near the entry to a new installation by the designer in New York intended to give viewers a glimpse into how she’s using the technology. It’s called Fashion Hallucinations, referring to the term for the warped or inaccurate outputs AI can yield. In the space are eight-foot cutouts of stretched-looking AI-generated models frozen in motion, while a video with a voiceover by Kamali explaining her use of AI plays at intervals.
The AI Kamali uses is capable of refining the images until their flaws have been stripped away, but she chose to use the unrefined versions in the installation, showing how AI can be used to “evolve and enhance the imperfect images,” according to a panel in the space. Designers who have begun experimenting with the technology have pointed to hallucinations as a strength when using it for creative purposes. If it replicates things too perfectly, it’s no longer providing fresh ideas, which is why as the technology improves and hallucinations are reduced, it could diminish AI’s creative power.
Related Jobs:
Digital Data Engineer, Moncler — Milan, Italy
Technical Product Manager (Machine Learning & AI), On — Berlin, Germany
CRM Associate, Tapestry — Singapore, Singapore
6. Case Study | The Strategy That Brought Adidas Back From the Brink
In interviews with The Business of Fashion at Adidas’ global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, chief executive Bjørn Gulden and other members of Adidas leadership revealed the secrets and strategies behind the company’s unlikely comeback. They included making faster decisions, leveraging the power of athletes to market products and inspire consumers, and allowing internal teams freedom to focus on the quality of their output without fear of falling short of commercial objectives. While the company had some tailwinds at its back, like resurging consumer interest in its Samba and terrace sneakers, it had to make the right moves to capitalise on its opportunities.
“Turning around a company has three components: It’s luck, it’s timing and it’s effort,” Gulden said. “I don’t know how much of each of these things contributed at any point in time, but it was obvious to me [from day one] we had good things bubbling that people hadn’t realised.”
Analysts and insiders attribute much of the turnaround to Gulden — a former pro footballer who had previously worked at Adidas in the 1990s, became chief executive of rival Puma in 2013 and ultimately took the top job at Adidas in January 2023. They cite his genuine love for sports and his approach to Adidas’ business, which varies starkly at moments from that of his predecessor.
7. The Start-Up Turning AI Designs Into Real Products
Accessories start-up Arcade launched its AI product creation platform in September with the promise to “turn your thoughts into things.” Customers are able to generate jewellery designs as if they were using an AI tool like Midjourney or Dall-E — except in this case they can choose different options for sizing and materials, such as sterling silver or 14k yellow gold, get a price for their item and actually have it made. Depending on the piece, it takes about two weeks, according to co-founder Mariam Naficy.
The company has raised $17 million from investors including Reid Hoffman and Brit Morin of Offline Ventures, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, Karlie Kloss, Colin Kaepernick and others. But while Arcade’s premise sounds simple, making it work wasn’t. It shows both the potential in AI-generated products and how much labour is required behind the scenes to build an AI platform shoppers can use. A strength of generative AI is that it can allow anyone to easily produce realistic imagery, for example, but that imagery might also defy the laws of reality.
Related Jobs:
Head of E-Commerce, Ashcorp — London, United Kingdom
Digital Supply Chain Product Manager, Hugo Boss — Metzingen, Germany
CRM Manager — Americas, Aesop — New York, United States
8. Buy Now, Pay Later Firms Cash in on the Plastic Surgery Boom
When bankers packaged $250 million of cosmetic procedure loans into a bond earlier this year, debt investors placed so many orders that the deal was upsized to $400 million. The riskiest slices of the bond were even made cheaper, a sign of ravenous investor demand. All of the loans in the deal were issued by Cherry Technologies, a buy-now-pay-later company laser-focused on healthcare. Cherry breaks down treatment bills ranging from $200 to $10,000 into smaller instalments for customers and is one of several financing options available at clinics.
It was the first time Cherry assembled a loan book big enough to tap the broader financial markets after having done smaller, private financings in the past. The growth comes as prices for the procedures soar: The average price of a breast augmentation increased 13 percent from 2022 to 2023; Brazilian butt lifts went up 19 percent to $7,264; and facelifts 22% to $11,395.
Opens in new window
