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Walmart has introduced a generative AI tool that can help the retailer determine fashion trends and pivot its manufacturing in record time.
Why It Hits: Temu and Shein became wildly popular because of their ability to pump out trending clothing faster than anyone else and at a bargain-bin price point (although that’s changing). But with tariffs and the end of the de minimis shipping exemption, there’s a vacuum for eager customers that Walmart wants to fill while still maintaining better sourcing standards for its materials.
Behind the Looks: Walmart hopes to get ahead of the trend curve.
- It’s developed the “Trend-to-Product” tool over the past 18 months.
- The “trend-sensing” design tool “analyzes trends by pulling information from the internet and social media,” according to Axios.
- It then builds “mood boards,” which designers and Walmart-affiliated merchants can access to manufacture new products.
- Per Walmart execs, the tool, which is powered by a proprietary AI, is able to cut down the production timeline from six months to six weeks.
Checkout: Trend-to-Product is already actively being used by Walmart. The company has leveraged it to create pieces for its in-house No Boundaries brand, which was valued at $2 billion just this past February. If all goes well in the fashion sector, Walmart plans to expand the tool to other product categories, including “trending seasonal items” and “general merchandise products.”
At this pace, don’t be surprised if Walmart starts entire in-house brands around trending topics.
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