Bolt’s Machine Learning Checkout Platform Will Make Forever 21 More Competitive Online
Bottom Line: Bolt’s Checkout Experience Platform relies on machine learning to interpret over 200 real-time signals from each checkout event to improve online buyer’s experiences, making them the platform of choice for Authentic Brands Group’s Forever 21 e-commerce relaunch.
Excellent Experiences Drive More Revenue
Every multichannel retailers’ future is defined by the experiences their e-commerce strategies deliver today. This year, online holiday sales are projected to be three times higher than last year, with 26.1% of retail purchases taking place online, according to online researcher Digital Commerce 360. U.S.-based online customers are projected to spend a $198.73B record this holiday season, a 43.3% jump over the $138.6B for the same November through December 2019 period last year. The pandemic will lead to an additional $40B in additional online holiday revenue between this month and December. Digital Commerce 360 says this level of online sales weren’t expected until 2024. All retail brands are doubling down on e-commerce to stay connected with their customers as they transition to digital channels and multichannel sales, away from stores. The following graphic from Digital Commerce 360 reflects U.S. holiday sales’ rapid growth:
Why Authentic Brands Chose Bolt To Improve Checkout Experiences With Machine Learning
Authentic Brands Group, the most extensive portfolio brand group in the United States that generates more than $14B in annual retail sales, announced today they are standardizing on Bolt’s Checkout Experience Platform. Through the collaboration, Bolt’s modern checkout, payments and fraud technology will be made available to ABG’s global e-commerce network, including well-known retailers such as Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers, Forever 21, Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Nautica and Volcom. Having started with Forever 21 in late October, Bolt provides a hyper-optimized, dynamic, single-click checkout that will transform the retailer’s online shopping experience for its millions of customers. ABG acquired Forever 21 earlier this year. As part of this effort, the company is focused on building out Forever 21’s e-commerce abilities and online experiences to stay in step with customers. The following graphic explains how Bolt’s machine learning based-checkout works:
Authentic Brands Group wants to fast-track e-commerce innovation and capitalize on the latest machine learning technologies to streamline checkout experiences. They also need an integrated platform that could scale across their portfolio of brands yet be flexible enough to provide unique, efficient customer experiences. “We embrace e-commerce innovation. If independent retailers don’t move fast enough and adapt to the rising expectations of online shoppers, they will get drowned out,” said Nick Woodhouse, President and CMO of Authentic Brands Group. “We recognize the importance of meeting the moment and up-leveling the online buying experience for our global retail network and we chose Bolt because they have a proven solution with hundreds of scaling retailers.”
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Keep reading the full Forbes article.
Image: Holiday sales are projected to be three times higher than last year, with 26.1% of retail purchases GETTY
11/18/20