Burberry Turns to Chatbots to Fuel Purchases at London Fashion Week

“See now, buy now.” That’s a philosophy that most any retailer can likely get behind, and for Burberry, it’s taking this concept to a whole new level with its newest move at London Fashion Week.

It’s putting together a Facebook Messenger-based chatbot that allows the company to effectively sell items as soon as they hit the runways of London.

With the Facebook Messenger chatbot in place, users will not only be able to watch the London show, but will also be able to more closely inspect the images of that apparel, and even request a connection to a live human, who will then be able to process orders.

Burberry isn’t exactly a trendsetter on this point; while “see now, buy now” is still just getting started in a lot of ways, fashion brands from Ralph Lauren to Tommy Hilfiger have gotten in on the action, offering similar chat mechanisms at the New York Fashion Week show that took place back in August.

Fashion Institute of Technology professor Shawn Grain Carter commented “All of a sudden, the brands are realizing: We don’t have to wait for an editor to anoint this item as a bestseller.

If they can whet consumers’ appetites and get them to buy now, that’s brilliant. The key is to manufacture quickly enough.”

That’s got some in the field concerned; if “see now, buy now” really takes off, that could put some significant demands on manufacturing processes. Even if fashion’s manufacturing is up for this challenge, will that have the added effect of turning fashion into a commodity?

Scarcity is something of a bonus for this market, and if fashion suddenly becomes the kind of thing that can be churned out on demand, will the cachet and perceived value of the clothing go down?

By like token, could Burberry et al expand from here, using mobile payments systems to connect to these chatbots and allow customers access to the wonders of Fashion Week from any mobile device, to be delivered to their homes later? It’s not out of line, but will it ever actually exist?

The great news here is that there are plenty of possibilities afoot, and we’re starting to see some of them take shape now. It’s been pretty exciting so far, and what the fashion industry does next could be even better.