Bath & Body Works Partners with Accenture to Boost Customer Experience with AI

Bath & Body Works is teaming up with Accenture in a multi-year partnership aimed at overhauling the retailer’s technology platforms and bolstering growth through artificial intelligence and personalized customer experiences.

The home fragrance and personal care company announced the collaboration on Thursday, revealing plans to modernize its core digital infrastructure and leverage cutting-edge technologies like generative AI to drive sales.

“Our collaboration with Accenture is about having a strong technology foundation and scaling the power of digital, data, and AI to deliver new levels of customer experiences, agility and performance,” said Gina Boswell, CEO of Bath & Body Works.

As part of the tie-up, the companies will develop innovative capabilities such as a digital “Fragrance Finder” — a generative AI-powered conversational experience designed to help customers identify their perfect scent based on individual preferences.

The move comes as consumer appetite for AI solutions grows, with over half of shoppers already open to using conversational AI, according to Accenture’s Consumer Pulse 2024 research.

“We are focused on leveraging our core strengths in fragrance and augmenting these with cutting-edge technology and AI experiences such as native mobile, headless commerce, MarTech and transformer-based neural networks to deliver hyper-relevant and immersive experiences to customers with greater precision,” said Thilina Gunasinghe, Bath & Body Works’ chief digital and technology officer.

“Our collaboration with Bath & Body Works on its continuous reinvention will help this beloved brand continue to raise the bar on the retail customer experience,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “Together, we will build a strong digital core of cloud, data and AI and innovative gen AI solutions that can help Bath & Body Works create value, foster growth and continually delight their customers in new ways.”

An Accenture Song report found that companies applying generative AI to customer initiatives can expect 25% higher revenue after five years compared to those focused solely on productivity gains.

Julie Sweet, Accenture’s chair and CEO, said the partnership will help the retailer “Our collaboration with Bath & Body Works on its continuous reinvention will help this beloved brand continue to raise the bar on the retail customer experience.”

“Together, we will build a strong digital core of cloud, data and AI and innovative gen AI solutions that can help Bath & Body Works create value, foster growth and continually delight their customers in new ways,” said Julie Sweet.

As retailers race to integrate AI capabilities, Bath & Body Works is making a innovative move that the technology will be key to winning over fragrance lovers.