THG beauty is gearing up to launch an AI academy as it focuses on being a “digital first” retailer, Retail Week can reveal.
THG Beauty boss Lucy Gorman told Retail Week that AI and tech is important to bring the customer journey to life, as well as upskill staff.
“We’re close to onboarding a third party partner who will support the launch of our AI academy to make sure our workforce is equipped not just to play around with AI, but actually have a real business impact,” she said.
“Some other companies have launched similar things and we’re close to doing this. It’s really important in upskilling the workforce, taking those skills and applying them to work.”
Other retailers such as All Saints and Debenhams have launched their own versions of AI academies.
Gorman added that there is a lot of competition in the omnichannel space and the team is looking to get back to its roots of being the “leading digital-first retailer”.
This will be in the form of leveraging AI for customers and staff, and doubling down on its social commerce offering.
She explained AI is being used for speed, efficiency, optimisation, content creation, customer service, data and insight.
“There’s lots of small initiatives on how we are using AI and working with AI partners to be more efficient internally, then we’ve got the online customer experience, and I think that ties into personalised customer journeys.”
On social commerce, Gorman said the group is “really leaning” into social channels as that’s where customers are discovering beauty.
“We’ve really doubled down on the investments that we’re making across the multiple social platforms, and we are now the biggest beauty retailer on TikTok Shop.”
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