Fanatics and OpenAI Streamline Fan Game-Day Outfits
Fanatics has teamed up with OpenAI to introduce an AI-powered version of its online commerce feature, Shop the Look, designed to help sports fans easily complete their game-day outfits.
Radwan AbdulhadiEditor and technology writer
Enhancing the Fan Experience with AI
Fanatics and OpenAI are collaborating to improve the fan experience across major sports leagues. As part of this digital transformation, Fanatics is launching an OpenAI-powered version of Shop the Look, which relies on advanced AI models to recommend coordinated merchandise to help fans complete their game-day outfits. Further details are available from OpenAI News in the original source material.
The platform is now live across many sites in the Fanatics network, including Fanatics.com as well as the official online stores for the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. When fans browse for their favorite team jersey, Shop the Look suggests coordinated outfits directly on the product page using in-stock items that align with their team and intended style.
How the Recommendation Engine Operates
The underlying OpenAI models draw upon enriched product data, team details, and inventory information to assemble relevant recommendations. To ensure quality, Fanatics applies merchandising rules that keep the selections compatible and relevant, with looks being refreshed daily as catalogs change.
Global digital sports platforms often require robust internal tooling to manage vast inventories. Fanatics utilizes ChatGPT Work and Codex across multiple operational areas, including Fanatics Corporate, Commerce, Collectibles, and Betting and Gaming.
Rapid Development and Deployment
Building and testing the initial batch of looks happened at a swift pace. Utilizing Codex, OpenAI and the Fanatics engineering team rapidly developed custom recommendation tools designed to enrich product and catalog data, find compatible merchandise, evaluate recommendations, and generate looks for each individual product.
Testing the new approach on the first 50 products took less than a day to complete. Fanatics reviewed the looks and provided direct feedback to the builders. Following a couple of days of iteration, the company approved the minimum viable product that same week.
OpenAI helped design the overall solution, which enabled Fanatics to successfully implement the new Shop the Look experience into their production environment and scale the capability across thousands of different products.
Proven Results and Testing Metrics
The new commerce feature launched just in time for the busy fall sports calendar. Prior to the full rollout, recommendation testing was conducted across roughly 30,000 MLB products.
According to the reported metrics, the OpenAI-powered Shop the Look experience achieved a 10% higher engagement rate than the previous iteration of the feature, demonstrating clear value in using AI to streamline sports merchandise shopping.
Sources
- OpenAI NewsHow Fanatics and OpenAI streamline the fan experience
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