Victoria’s Secret & Co. (VS&Co.) has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud to create more personalized and inclusive online shopping experiences, improve customer and associate experiences and drive operational efficiencies through the use of AI and generative AI technologies.
“The integration of Google Cloud’s AI and generative AI technologies will not only improve the online shopping experience for our customers, but also will empower our internal teams to drive innovation across various business functions,” said Chris Rupp, Chief Customer Officer at VS&Co. in a statement. “This partnership signifies a new era for Victoria’s Secret & Co., where cutting-edge technology meets our passion for enhancing the customer journey and reinforcing our position as a leader in retail.”
The Victoria’s Secret website now drives more than 500 million annual visits, so a key priority for the company is to leverage new technologies to create personalized customer experiences at scale. In December 2022, Victoria’s Secret acquired DTC lingerie brand Adore Me, with the goal of leveraging Adore Me’s technology and expertise to continue to improve the Victoria’s Secret and Pink customer experience and accelerate the modernization of VS&Co.’s digital platform. Adore Me has already been using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform and Duet AI for Google Workspace for generative AI efforts, so this new partnership will create even more synergy across the brands and allows VS&Co. to more easily and quickly integrate large language models (LLMs) created and used by Adore Me.
Through the partnership with Google, VS&Co. will explore a new generative AI-powered conversational assistant, created with Google Cloud’s AI platform Vertex AI. The goal of the conversational chatbot is to provide shoppers with tailored product recommendations and helpful advice based on personal preferences and life experiences — for example, whether a customer is a sports enthusiast, a nursing mother, a breast cancer survivor recovering from a mastectomy or simply ready for a new bra.
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The company also hopes to enhance its website and mobile app by implementing Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Search for Retail technology in order to provide Google-quality search and recommendations capabilities. This effort will build on VS&Co.’s recently introduced, AI-powered visual search feature, which uses Google Cloud’s Vision API Product Search technology to help users find a specific product by simply dropping an image into the website’s search bar.
VS&Co. also plans explore ways to integrate Google Cloud AI-based technologies to elevate its internal operations across marketing, analyzing customer sentiment, supply chain optimization, associate onboarding and training programs and more.
“We are strategically implementing AI to help us better use data to benefit our customers and enhance internal processes,” said Murali Sundararajan, CIO at VS&Co. in a statement. “We’re excited about the potential use cases, including international expansion planning to marketing development and supply chain optimization. These initiatives could not only streamline our operations but also enable us to better meet the needs of our customers and associates.”
Since its spinoff from former parent company L Brands, Victoria’s Secret has been making a concerted effort to revamp its image and its business. Other recent moves include a new VS & Pink Collective combined loyalty program, the debut of a digital-only tween brand, the introduction of a platform dedicated to women- and minority-owned or -led brands, bringing its lingerie and apparel offerings to Amazon and the return of its iconic fashion show as a streaming event on Amazon Prime in late 2023.
