710267Klue for Fashion: Developing and Testing ‘Narrative Curation,’ a Smart UI for Helping Users Navigate Complex Product AssortmentsClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKWhen it comes to shopping for nuanced products online, such as fashion, shoppers often struggle to articulate their priorities, seeking intangible qualities like 'comfort.' Today’s retailers solve this problem either by making their entire product catalogue accessible to shoppers or by providing social curation from others in shoppers' networks. We are developing Klue as a digital shopping detective that enables shoppers to use what they know — for example, where they plan to wear something, what they’d like friends to say — as the starting point for finding what they seek. Combining methods from choice psychology and Big Data analytics, Klue lets shoppers use natural language to search in a step-wise fashion. Building a ‘narrative’ around what they like or dislike, shoppers select from incrementally more accurate shortlists, emulating in-store shopping with an astute personal shopper. Working for the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA), we developed an approach for forecasting unprecedented events by identifying and measuring leading indicators instead of relying on historical trends. We realised the same approach could be used to identify and measure leading indicators of buying intent. Critically, we found that this approach could be used to predict what a shopper is looking for without knowing their purchase history. The current project will support ongoing R&D to use eye tracking to validate the usability advantages of the Klue interface, refine its features, and prepare for commercialisation on both the web and mobile devices. In order for online retailers to attain the double digit conversion rates typical of offline boutiques, a step-change is needed in how people shop online for nuanced products like fashion. With the UI we are developing for Klue, it will be possible for shoppers to find exactly what they seek, more quickly and intuitively, helping ensure they leave with what they came for.