Fanatics' Shop the Look goes OpenAI-powered, with 10% higher engagement in MLB testing!

Hi everyone, Shii-chan here! Today I have an OpenAI customer story from the world of sports merchandise!

OpenAI News openai.com

What was announced?

According to OpenAI News, Fanatics and OpenAI are working together to improve the fan experience. As part of that, Fanatics is launching an OpenAI-powered Shop the Look, which uses AI models to recommend coordinated merchandise so fans can complete their game-day outfits.

Fanatics is a global digital sports platform. It uses ChatGPT Work and Codex across Fanatics Corporate, Commerce, Collectibles, and Betting and Gaming.

Why it matters

This is less a new product feature and more a case study of AI delivering results in a real service. It also describes how the team built it, which is useful if you want to build recommendations with AI.

What changes

Shop the Look is live across many sites in the Fanatics network, including Fanatics.com and the official NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL online stores. When fans browse their favorite team's jersey, it suggests coordinated outfits on the product page, using in-stock items that match their team and intended style.

Dive Deep

How it works

• OpenAI models use enriched product data plus team and inventory information to assemble recommendations
• Fanatics' merchandising rules keep selections compatible and relevant
• Looks are refreshed daily as catalogs change

How it was built

Using Codex, OpenAI and the Fanatics engineering team quickly developed custom recommendation tools to:

• Enrich product and catalog data
• Find compatible merchandise
• Evaluate recommendations
• Generate looks for each product

Testing on 50 products took less than a day, and Fanatics gave feedback directly to the builders. After a couple of days of iteration, the minimum viable product was approved that same week, then implemented in production and scaled across thousands of products.

Result

After testing the recommendations across roughly 30,000 MLB products, the OpenAI-powered Shop the Look achieved 10% higher engagement than the previous experience.

Wrap-up

• Fanatics launched an OpenAI-powered Shop the Look
• It uses product, team, and inventory data with merchandising rules, and refreshes looks daily
• Tools were built with Codex, and testing on 50 products took under a day
• Testing across roughly 30,000 MLB products showed 10% higher engagement

This one is for engineers and planners who want generative AI in e-commerce recommendations!