We recently participated in the Chinese
stop-over of Startupbootcamp FashionTech FastTrack, held on October the 17th in the
auspicious offices of Prada in the heart of Shanghai: an event through which
the company continues – together with its partners,
its global travel in the search of new, disruptive and innovative businesses
set to affect the Fashion world.
With over 17 mentors from varying regions and varying skill sets, the prospects from the Asia Pac region gave their pitches to the team, looking for advice and feedback on how to improve, expand or make a dent into the selective market of Fashion and Apparel.
The proposals came from numerous angles, as
diverse in their proposals as in their specific opportunities, all very
professional and all giving the mentors reason to think and consider the impact
they bring.
From QR Codes, CRM, Factory consolidation, blockchain,
new product creation and onward, the main theme related to the impact that AI
will be seen to improve the complete end-to-end processes involved in the
Fashion world.
In fact, AI in the Asia Pac region is the
buzzword and it is the focus of many businesses, not only start-ups, in how
this new(ish) technology will be influential in the future of all markets, not
only Fashion.
AI,
like Omnichannel, can have different connotations to different people. In some minds, it is set to be a revolution that will make the Sales Assistant redundant in the Store, enhancing the Customer experience without the need for human intervention. For others, it is a tool to better enable the Sales Assistant, not replace them, giving them insightful information around shopping habits and proposing products based on the multiple factors of the Customer life and lifestyle.
AI is certainly going to be an important player in the market, not only in Bricks and Mortar stores, but backwards across the whole supply chain, from helping to define new products, efficiently managing the process from design to end product, and where to distribute them to ensure better return on investment, but, and there is a but, these AI applications are dependent on the algorithms provided by humans.
So, AI is evolving and becoming more
effective across multiple markets, the Fashion world needs to keep a close eye
on the growth and maturity of this technology, and the opportunities it can
bring to the brand to ensure continued success for years to come.
The capability to collect and integrate
information coming from different countries, devices and cultures into a single
system that ensure the unique management of each item is crucial for global
Fashion companies.
This combination of solidness and freshness
– traditional
supply chains and AI – is also one of the key elements beneath our participation in the Startupbootcamp
initiative: we aim to mix firmness and innovation into a new combination of
skills and solutions that can improve the way IT companies support Fashion
brands in their global expansion strategy.
Our role of mentors in this path speaks up
of a company path that is rooted into the Fashion world: Dedagroup Stealth has been working for a long time
with the biggest Fashion brands, in Italy and abroad.
At the same
time, the research for the freshness that I mentioned above has been one of the
objectives of our Group’s corporate
open innovation and co-creation approach: evolving our solutions, expertise and
strategies is strictly connected to both the growth path of our clients and to
our own growth path.
And that’s, of course,
connected to our willingness to cooperate with startups too, through which
Startupbootcamp is one of our main initiatives but not the only one. Through
this approach Dedagroup is keen on creating an open innovation ecosystem -
widespread and collaborative - which combines products, skills, methodologies
and business models: we called it “Dedagroup as a Digital Hub”.
As StartupBootCamp continues its travels, more and more will be heard around the subject of AI.
How will it change the Fashion market, we wait and see.
In the meantime, we keep on working with the most famous international Fashion brands to ensure their supply chain – and the global information that lies within – are always updated, punctual, on time: that’s how we guarantee that our clients can deliver the right item to the right customer, everywhere in the world.
