Walmart (WMT) is hailing the successful use of AI in accelerating the time it takes to design and make new clothes.
Slashing Manufacturing Times
Last month the retail behemoth unveiled a new fully-owned tech solution called Trend-to-Product. It uses both AI and generative AI to scrub the internet for fashion trends and come up with new styles.
According to the company, the new tech is helping it shorten the entire production process from the industry norm of about six months to just six to eight weeks.
The AI tech uses both internal data and external data such as social media posts and videos from runway shows and celebrities at red carpet events. The process helps cut the time designers have to spend researching and coming up with a new style or trend.
Beating Chinese Style
As reported by Fortune, the ability to shorten the production process is vital in helping Walmart compete with low-cost, fast response rivals such as Chinese group Shein and PDD Holdings (PDD) -owned e-commerce firm Temu.
In its most recent annual results Walmart pointed to strong apparel sales in the U.S. with CEO Doug McMillon stating that he wanted to grow market share in fashion by attracting more high-income shoppers.
In the Fortune report Tucker Marion, associate professor at Northeastern University’s College of Engineering and co-founder of Ada IQ, a developer of AI tools designed to assist product development, said AI can lead to a 30% to 50% drop in the time of designing a product. He added that is only going to “accelerate.”
“You need models that are trained on your data, your brand, your brand DNA,” he explained.
Is WMT a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, WMT has a Strong Buy consensus based on 29 Buy and 2 Hold ratings. Its highest price target is $120. WMT stock’s consensus price target is $108.18 implying an 9.16% upside.
