Selectika: Leading the Future of Personalised E-commerce

Read about Selectika in the Women’s Street Business Journal!

Selectika is a cutting-edge AI styling system seamlessly integrating into e-commerce websites. By leveraging advanced Image Recognition and Data Science, Selectika extracts rich product attributes from your catalogue—such as fabric, shape, neckline, style, and occasion—and analyses them against shoppers’ preferences, including body proportion, personal style, and emotional state. With its sophisticated styling algorithms, Selectika provides each shopper with a personalised digital assortment, while offering your marketing team actionable insights to enhance customer experiences, drive conversions, and reduce costs.

Interview with Tali Bezalel Hamdi, Founder and CEO of Selectika

Your business is in Retail Tech, offering brand impersonation to make customers’ experiences “enjoyable and perfectly pertinent at all times”. As data optimisation for customer experience becomes more widely integrated, how do you believe Selectika will stay at the forefront of innovating the in-store experience?

We constantly envision the future, questioning how people will shop for clothes in the next 5 to 10 years and determining what we can do to position retailers ahead of the innovation curve. It is our mission to fully prepare our clients for the future.

The e-commerce sector is booming, with new online stores launching at an unprecedented pace. However, they all present similar value propositions and expanding catalogues, which can overwhelm shoppers, even with filters. There must be a better way to shop than sifting through thousands of items.

The shift towards digitalisation and changes in consumer behaviour have highlighted the challenge of creating a personalised online experience. Knowing who the customer is, what they are looking for, and understanding their intentions and motivations is crucial. Although there are several companies in this field, none offer a fully comprehensive solution.

Selectika uses Image Recognition and Data Science to extract detailed product attributes from retailers’ catalogues and employs a fun quiz to analyse shoppers’ preferences. Based on our styling algorithms, we provide each shopper with their optimal digital assortment.

How have your professional goals changed since co-founding Selectika? Can you think of an important lesson you have learned throughout the process?

Reflecting on my journey, I realise I was initially quite naive, focusing solely on the solution. Now, I understand that human resources are the most crucial aspect of starting a company. I am fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing, smart, qualified, and professional team. Selectika has grown beyond its original idea thanks to the passion, persistence, and expertise of this team. My professional goals are to expand our company and lead my team to success, aiming to create the world leader in online personal experience.

What is it about your role at Selectika that inspires you daily to continue innovating? What does ultimate success look like for your company?

I never envisioned becoming an entrepreneur. As a child and young adult, I imagined an executive role in a large corporation. However, my family inspired me to step out of my comfort zone. My son’s participation in an entrepreneurship programme taught me to believe in myself and that there are no limits to what I can achieve.

I founded Selectika out of personal frustration with the lengthy process of searching for clothes online. My initial vision was to help people shop more efficiently using advanced technology, but it has since evolved into a comprehensive styling system.

We regularly reassess our perception of success. Currently, launching the first version, collaborating with leading brands, winning prizes, pitching Selectika at high-tech conferences worldwide (including New York, London, and Berlin), and receiving positive feedback from customers and our team is our success. Being a role model for young and female entrepreneurs and giving back to society is my ultimate goal.

Understanding the customer is an important function of many organisations; how do you find you are best able to build your customer base? Who are they, typically? Also, have you found the current pandemic has positively or negatively affected your ability to build your customership?

The year 2020 accelerated digitalisation and the adoption of new technologies, making it an exciting year professionally. Online shopping became the primary channel for businesses, prompting owners and managers to enhance their digital presence and implement technological solutions to assist shoppers. Leading brands such as Express, Ralph Lauren, Ann Taylor, Farfetch, and Desigual have shown interest in our technology, wishing to test our solution. This growing interest continues even after physical stores reopened.

However, the inability to meet customers face-to-face poses a challenge. I miss the interactions, changes in scenery, and cultural exchanges that came with travel for conferences and meetings. Nonetheless, technology has enabled us to connect with anyone globally with just one click.

For more information on how Selectika is revolutionising online shopping, visit Selectika. Explore more about our innovative approach in the Retail Tech Journal.