Amazon is leveraging its expertise in retail by offering AI-powered shopping technology to other retailers through its AWS platform. This cloud-based product allows competitors to access advanced shopping solutions without the need for heavy investments in technology.
Tapestry, the parent company of brands like Kate Spade New York and Coach, stands out as one of the early adopters of this initiative. The company has developed a generative AI engine utilizing almost 20 different AWS services. The preliminary outcomes indicate that this endeavor is not just another short-lived corporate initiative.
#What is Tell Rexy and How is it Revolutionizing Retail?
The core component of Tapestry’s AI implementation is an application named Tell Rexy. This tool is specifically designed for use by store associates rather than corporate executives. In just its first year, Tell Rexy gathered approximately 30,000 feedback inputs from employees across most North American Coach locations.
The application operates on Amazon Bedrock, AWS's managed service tailored for building generative AI applications. It integrates Amazon Transcribe to facilitate speech recognition and employs Amazon Translate for supporting multiple languages, which is particularly beneficial in diverse markets.
Tapestry managed to build the entire AI solution in only eight weeks, collaborating closely with AWS Professional Services. The company asserts that the reusable components they created can expedite generative AI application development by a factor of ten. Presently, Tell Rexy is active in the majority of North American Coach stores and is on track for deployment in Kate Spade New York locations.
Tapestry has further advanced its AI capabilities by securing its first patent for a platform named Mira, which is an AI-driven data analytics tool.
#How is AWS Expanding its Retail Technology?
AWS's Just Walk Out technology, initially developed for Amazon Go stores, is currently deployed in over 180 third-party locations globally as of September 2024. This successful rollout has established a systematic approach: develop the technology internally, validate its efficacy, and then offer it to external clients. As more retailers adopt AWS's advanced technologies, the retail landscape will likely see significant transformations driving efficiency and customer engagement.