Across three events in eight months, OX has brought together over 200 brand-side operators from fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. Figures are drawn from the registration answers of brand-side operators across all three events.
AI adoption is moving, and moving fast
At OX1, 63% of operators were in regular use or actively rolling AI out across their organisation. By OX3, that number is 77%. The share who had never used AI at work fell from 5% at OX1 to zero at OX3, and regular use in their own workflow rose from 38% to 52%.
The returning operator data pushes it further. Operators who came to both OX1 and OX2 went from 59% in regular use to 82%. A 23% jump in three months from the same group of people.
Stockholm brought a different mix of operators from Manchester and London, so some of the OX3 shift will come from the room as well as from people progressing.
Founders, MDs and C-suite made up 31% of OX3 registrations, up from 13% at OX1.
What operators are worried about has shifted
The free-text answers across three events show a clear change in what operators are bringing into the room.
Reporting and analysis dominated at OX1, showing up in half of all free-text answers. By OX3, that had dropped to 11%. Data and systems has moved the other way, from 10% at OX1 to 22% at OX3. Workflow automation and manual work has eased from 40% to 25%.
Operators are now asking whether their systems are fit for purpose and whether the data moving between them can be trusted. At OX3, accurate data flows between systems was the most selected challenge, chosen by 43% of operators.
Merchandising, buying and planning have grown as a remit across the room too, up 16 percentage points from OX1 to OX3. The operators thinking about AI in the context of stock decisions and range planning are showing up in larger numbers each time.
If data moving between your systems is the problem your team keeps returning to, that is where many of your peers are focused too.
The people who keep coming back
Six operators have been to all three events, across two different countries. The OX community is where these conversations continue between events. Slack, WhatsApp, LinkedIn. The pub after events.
Brand-side operators can apply to join at operatorexperience.ai