Puma is sprinting into the world of advanced ecommerce with new experiences developed in partnership with Google Cloud and Meta. Using Google Cloud generative AI technology, the sportswear brand can now personalize its online product images, and the company offered a sneak peek of a new virtual reality shopping experience it’s developing in partnership with Meta.
Product Images Personalized by Customer, Region
Puma is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud to use the platform’s most advanced image-to-text generative AI model in order to create more personalized product imagery in its online stores around the world.
Puma was among the first brands to deploy Google Cloud’s Imagen 2 to modify and enhance its online product imagery with elements like background images tailored to the item, customer and region. Puma will soon begin testing the latest version of the model, Imagen 3, to expand this effort.
Using Imagen 2, Puma already has seen improved click-through-rates and accelerated time-to-market speeds for its digital campaigns. While the technology is available globally, Imagen on Vertex AI allows marketers in individual Puma regions to tailor content to their specific market. For example, customers from Japan may see a lifestyle shoe worn on the streets of Ginza or a trail running shoe on the foothills of Mount Fuji. Beyond image generation, Imagen on Vertex AI can also be used for image editing, aiding Puma content editors with time-consuming tasks such as shadowing, composition, color accuracy and product positioning.
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“At Puma, all product creations always start with the consumer first in mind, and we have the ambition to be as personal as possible in each interaction with our consumers,” said Arne Freundt, CEO of Puma in a statement. “Google Cloud’s generative AI has allowed us to create an immersive experience that is tailored to each consumer, and we are already seeing the benefits.”
Puma migrated its ecommerce ecosystem to Google Cloud earlier this year. In addition to testing out the expanded image capabilities of Imagen 3, Puma also plans to roll out Google Cloud’s Vertex AI Search for Retail to more of its subsidiaries.
A New Virtual Shopping Experience for Meta Quest
At the Meta Connect conference for developers last week, Meta and Puma gave a sneak peek of a new XR (extended reality) shopping experience that will launch on the Meta Quest VR device this fall.
The collaboration is designed to enhance the way consumers shop in virtual reality environments by integrating advanced XR technology with intuitive user experiences to create robust product storytelling opportunities. In the upcoming Puma experience, users will be able to change a product’s color with a swipe, which also will transform the environment they see around them.
