The Gift Fair opens its virtual doors today – and it’s changing the way retailers search for products.
Forget endless tabs, filters and scrolling. The Gift Fair UK’s new Matchmaker AI lets buyers describe what they’re looking for in their own words – from a specific product brief to more nuanced requirements around price, MOQ, style or retail positioning.
Rather than simply returning a list of results, Matchmaker interprets the brief and helps buyers identify the suppliers that genuinely fit. It can then take the process further, helping with pricing and MOQ information, introductions, meetings and shortlists.
As one independent retailer puts it: “I stopped thinking about it as a search bar. It’s more like handing someone the brief and letting them do the legwork.”
For an industry built on relationships, the aim isn’t to replace them – but to make it easier for buyers to find the right ones.
The Gift Fair UK runs virtually from September 7 to October 23.
Find out more at www.thegiftfair.com
CLICK HERE to read the show preview in the latest edition of Gifts Today
