Most virtual shopping assistants help customers find what they’re looking for. The new artificial intelligence assistant at a Buckhead boutique is helping them find their new scent.
Indiehouse Modern Fragrances, a perfume store in Phipps Plaza, has launched a collaboration with EveryHuman, an AI algorithm-based perfume company that allows customers to create their own custom fragrance through questions about their lives, their memories and experiences they want to convey through their perfume. This perfume customization experience costs $140.
For Indiehouse founder Carrie Hadley, the partnership represents a new way of making the sometimes exclusive world of perfumery accessible to more consumers.
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
“In this country, we get sold fragrances in a commercial setting, in a transaction,” Hadley said. “I’ve always been more fascinated by the art behind fragrance.”
Traditionally, becoming a master perfumer takes decades of training. Hadley said AI helps remove some of those barriers by allowing anyone to craft their own perfume.
“This technology allows people to tell their story and translate it immediately into a really personal, beautiful, unique fragrance. It lets anybody be an artist,” Hadley said.
The growth of AI, generally, has triggered fears among many consumers about the potential for job loss or displacement. Indiehouse’s fragrances show the new ways the technology is being deployed to produce custom products and experiences for customers.
The system begins with a series of prompts that ask customers about memories, moods and scent preferences. The AI then generates a custom formula using a library of more than 50 fragrance ingredients. A machine inside the store then blends the perfume.
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Riddhi Bhagat, a customer who attended a debut event, said she was surprised by how intuitive the experience felt.
“It was super easy, super quick,” Bhagat said. “I like how it gives you suggestions of what to put into it if you don’t know.”
Bhagat had previously read about AI-created perfume experiences in larger markets like New York and she said she was excited to see the technology arrive in Atlanta.
For others, the experience is less about technology and more about storytelling. Deborah Pittman, a longtime supporter of Indiehouse, used the platform to re-create a memory of traveling with her husband. After answering questions about the trip, the AI produced a fragrance she described as feeling like a spring day with notes of florals and Champagne.
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
“It created a scent out of a beautiful memory,” Pittman said. “It was incredibly fun.”
Hadley said she believes emotional connections are what make a fragrance uniquely suited for an AI-assisted position. She said part of the joy comes from watching customers connect a scent to a forgotten memory or feeling.
“A fight over politics has never broken out over the perfume table. It’s something that fits everyone,” Hadley said. “Everyone can enjoy it and bring their own perspective.”
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