fashion comes under discretionary rather than essential expenditure. But the worst hit are brands and retailers overly dependent on offline stores as the shift of consumers to clicks from bricks persists even after lockdowns are lifted.Smart use of digital sales channels and AI tools for everything from customer engagement and personalization to market analytics and virtual tryouts were already starting to separate winners from laggards before covid.
Now, they have become crucial for survival as McKinsey projects bankruptcy for over 40% of brands, and hard times for another 40%, in the year ahead.In such an environment, AI startups with a fashion and retail focus have come into the spotlight.