“We want to improve the shopping experience”.
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The service will be customized by location to tell customers where the shoe department is in a particular store, or whether that branch has a certain size in stock.
The tool, which the nation’s largest department store chain calls a “mobile companion”, can be accessed through a browser and will accept questions in 10 USA locations about products, services and facilities, in natural language.
You can access “Macy’s On Call” online.
The retailer is piloting a web tool powered by IBM Watson, the computing system of Jeopardy! fame, and Satisfi, an intelligent engagement platform.
By interacting with Macy’s On Call, Watson’s artificial intelligence assures that the bot gets smarter about the needs and frequently asked questions at each location.
Potter said Macy’s worked with sales associates to compile the most common inquires per store.
“At Macy’s, we remain focused on identifying, testing and supporting new ideas and approaches that will help elevate service to our customers through technology”, said Peter Sachse, Macy’s chief growth officer. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. Additionally, at select locations, the interface is available for customers in Spanish, via Watson Language Translation, as Macy’s tests language capabilities, functionality and consumer interest in preferred languages.
As the program progresses, Macy’s aims to closely study and gauge other potential uses of the technology, with the goal of implementing Watson’s full cognitive dialogue capabilities. The system will evolve as it learns more about each store’s customers. Five of the locations serve as the base learning stores, with the Watson implementation deployed exclusively as a customer led self-serve initiative. At five other Macy’s locations, the pilot will also include the ability to ask to speak face-to-face with an actual employee. Since the pilot was quietly launched last month, the number of queries ballooned to the low thousands per store.
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For now, the service is available in 10 test locations, including Bethesda, Md., Woodbridge, N.J., Portland, Ore. and Miami, Fla.
