Asos teams up with Microsoft to expand AI capabilities

Online fashion retailer Asos has signed a new three-year partnership deal with technology giant Microsoft to support “operational excellence” through artificial intelligence (AI).

Asos said its agreement with Microsoft would drive forward “operational excellence, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making,” and would expand its use of Microsoft AI tools such as Power Automate for process automation, Teams Premium for meeting management and Microsoft Copilot, including Microsoft 365 and GitHub that it uses to produce code effectively and efficiently.

Victoria Arden, director of technology operations at Asos, said in a statement: “A core part of our business strategy is driving operational excellence within Asos: making sure we’re as fast, efficient, and effective as we can be, and investing our time and resources in the projects that matter.

“Under this new agreement, we’re helping Asos users safely experiment with generative AI tools that can remove ‘busy work’ from their day, freeing them up to unlock greater creativity and insights and focus on delighting our customers.”

The deal is the latest step in Asos’ ongoing collaboration with Microsoft. In 2022, Asos signed a new five-year agreement to continue using Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform. It uses Microsoft Azure and its AI capabilities to power its digital platforms and support its focus on data-driven decision-making, speed, and efficiency.

In addition, earlier this year, Asos launched customer testing for its AI Stylist: an Azure OpenAI-powered experience that helps customers discover new looks through an easy-to-use, conversational interface, built using early access to Microsoft’s generative AI tools, that authentically reflects the Asos brand and tone of voice.

Papinder Dosanjh, director of AI and machine learning at Asos, added: “AI and Machine Learning are already transforming how we work at Asos, whether it’s supporting better demand forecasting, helping with data-driven decision-making, or powering our recommendation system – delivering billions of product recommendations to our customers per day.

“Working with Microsoft, we continue to drive innovation in this area, always aligned to our principles of safe and responsible experimentation and development.”