Alibaba Cloud, the data intelligence side of Alibaba Group, and El Corte Inglés, the biggest department store group in Europe, are working together on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-driven retail solutions.

Alibaba Cloud’s Image Search and Recommendation Engine will be piloted by El Corte Inglés to personalise the customer experience online. Customers will be able to search more accurately for items using an image, rather than by typing in a keyword into the search box.

Madrid-headquartered El Corte Inglés has also customised discovery, with personalised recommendations based on their interests or needs.

Chief executive Víctor del Pozo said: "The deployment of Alibaba’s AI and cloud driven image search and recommendation engine, could present our customers with a top-level online retail experience, which will continue to give us a competitive edge to maintain our lead in retail across Europe.”

Kevin Liu, general manager for Alibaba Cloud France and South Europe, stated: “Retail in Europe is undergoing transformative changes, with the industry facing a lot of new challenges, ranging from changing customer expectations, the need to migrate to a digital business and the shift to omnichannel platforms.

"Alibaba Cloud is honoured to partner with El Conte Inglés to address these challenges together."

The two companies will continue working to drive digital transformation, with the retailer also looking into leveraging Alibaba Group’s ecosystem for greater opportunities globally.

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