The Very Group selects AWS to transform the shopping experience with generative AI

The Very Group (‘Very’), a leading UK online retailer, today announced an expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate retail innovation with generative AI.

As part of the collaboration, Very will launch a new Gen AI Innovation Lab powered by generative AI, machine learning, and storage capabilities to deliver interactive and personalised digital shopping experiences to millions of customers.

The Gen AI Innovation Lab will trial new generative AI-powered retail solutions to revolutionise how customers shop on the ecommerce platform, combining advanced cloud and generative AI capabilities with Very’s retailing experience and insights. It will help create new products and immersive ecommerce offerings that will power more relevant, timely and personalised experiences for Very’s customers, and enable better decisions at scale for its colleagues.

Very engineers and data teams will work closely with experienced specialist teams from the newly launched $100 million AWS Generative AI Innovation Centre to leverage AWS generative AI capabilities through Amazon Bedrock. AI experts will help Very securely use generative AI at scale, navigate technical challenges, and roll out new experiences for customers faster and with less heavy lifting.

“We want to be recognised as one of the UK’s leading AI-powered retailers. To keep our customers satisfied and transform our business operations, we've chosen to build on our existing strategic relationship with AWS and incubate new generative AI-powered products with a trusted collaborator and innovator who understands how we work with data at scale," said Matt Grest, CIO at The Very Group.

“We are proud to be selected by The Very Group to create innovative retail solutions using AI. Using Amazon SageMaker, Very is already leveraging machine learning to transform its business operations. Incorporating new generative AI capabilities like Amazon Bedrock will further enable the company to deliver the personalised experience that customers want to meet their shopping goals,” said Jeff Johnson, General Manager UKI at AWS.

Ornella Urso, Head of Retail Insights Europe, added: “The Very Group’s innovative approach, developed using AWS technology, sets a great example for the industry on the power of leveraging AI and ML capabilities in retail. Fueled by generative AI, the opportunities for retailers to use data and analytics to improve both the customer experience and internal processes are enormous.

“At IDC, we see improving product data as a top use case for retailers today, and The Very Group taps into that with its initiative to use generative AI to improve product descriptions and images. Long-term, tapping into generative AI not only brings innovation at the forefront of the retail industry, it is also aligned with The Very Group’s continuous efforts to improve the buying experience for their customers.”

The Very Group has already successfully implemented AI to enhance its business operations. The company uses AI to forecast product demand and plan inventory, which led to better product availability and enhanced customer satisfaction. The collaboration between Very and AWS is a significant step forward in the use of AI to enhance customer experience in the retail industry.

About The Very Group:

With annual revenue of £2.15bn, The Very Group is a unique digital business that combines online retail and flexible payments. Our digital retail brands, Very and Littlewoods, help to bring over 2,000 desirable labels within easy reach of more customers.

Across electrical, home, fashion and more, we sell everything our 4.4 million customers could need, except food. And our flexible payment options, which are provided responsibly via our Very Pay platform and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, help our customers manage their household budgets.

We have over a hundred years of history behind us, but at our heart there is a passion for change – to constantly improve what we do, to innovate with data and technology at our core and to be the best possible place to work.