LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM)
today announced that Harry & David®, a leading provider
of premium gift-quality fruit, gourmet food products, is adopting a
full suite of Watson Customer Engagement solutions on the IBM Cloud
including cognitive capabilities designed to help connect customers
with the perfect gift at the perfect time.
Last year Harry and David's parent company, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM,
Inc. introduced the world to " GWYN™" (Gifts When You Need), a
Watson-powered gift concierge that helps customers sift through
more than 7,000 products to find the perfect gift. Given the
success of GWYN--80% of customers asked had a positive experience
and wanted to use it again--the company is expanding GWYN's
capabilities to Harry & David. Thus, customers will be able to
interact online with GWYN using Watson's natural language API to
find the right item, from fruits to chocolates and baked goods, for
the right person at the right time. This personalized and
interactive customer experience is designed to provide customers
with an enhanced shopping experience powered by deep insights from
AI.
For example, customers can simply type, "I'm looking to send a
thank you gift." The service will then interpret the question and
ask a series of additional qualifying questions about the occasion,
sentiment and who the gift is for. GWYN even learns about a
person's unique gifting needs and wants and refines and enhances
the shopping experience over time. Through these interactions, GWYN
sifts through thousands of possible products and shares only the
gifts that are most appropriate, providing an experience similar to
what a shopper would receive from a customer service representative
in a store.
"A brand can only meet its true potential if it's able to
deliver exceptional service to customers along each step in their
journey with the company," said Harriet
Green, General Manager, IBM Watson Customer Engagement.
"That's why cognitive is so imperative. Cognitive is not about
isolated moments, but understanding customers on a human level and
learning about them over time so each interaction delivers them
precisely what they need at that moment."
Harry & David and the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM® family of
brands share a commitment to constantly enhancing its customer
experience and business through new technologies. Whether that
meant being one of the first companies to allow transactions on
popular social media sites or the creation of GWYN with cognitive
capabilities, the brands are constantly looking for new ways to
better serve and delight their clients. Their transition to Watson
Customer Engagement Marketing solutions holds the same promise.
In addition to GWYN, the company is embracing additional IBM
Cloud offering including IBM Payment Gateway. Further enhancing
customer experience and creating a more efficient checkout process
for its customers, Payment Gateway will help support payment
transactions for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. family of brands.
"With 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc, and our family of brands, we offer
customers a 'celebratory ecosystem' of gifts and with the help of
IBM, we continue to stay on the leading edge in everchanging
landscape of today's customers and gift giving needs," said
Arnie Leap, CIO of
1-800-FLOWERS.COM. "The success of GWYN truly demonstrates what is
possible with IBM's cognitive technologies. It also continues our
ongoing transformational journey focused on deploying the latest
innovations that make it easy and convenient for our customers to
deliver a smile."
IBM Watson Customer Engagement powers a full spectrum of
solutions including cognitive engagement offerings delivered as a
service and on premise. Today IBM is the only vendor that helps
companies infuse cognitive technologies into their marketing,
commerce and supply chain capabilities on their terms, when and how
they need.
IBM currently is working with more 17,000 companies around the
world including Amadori Group, American Eagle Outfitters, Boots,
Ermes, Luxottica, Moosejaw Mountaineering, Office Brands,
Performance Bicycle, REI, Sherwin Williams.
For more information follow us at #IBMAmplify and #WatsonCE.
About 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM,
Inc. is a leading provider of gourmet food and floral gifts
for all occasions. For the past 40 years,
1-800-FLOWERS® (1-800-356-9377 or www.1800flowers.com) has
been helping deliver smiles for our customers with gifts for every
occasion, including fresh flowers and the finest selection of
plants, gift baskets, gourmet foods, confections, candles, balloons
and plush stuffed animals. As always, our 100% Smile Guarantee®
backs every gift. The company's Celebrations suite
of services including Celebrations Passport® Free Shipping /
No Service Charge Program, Celebrations Rewards® and
Celebrations Reminders®, are all designed to engage with
customers and deepen relationships as a one-stop destination for
all celebratory and gifting occasions. In 2017, 1-800-Flowers.com
was awarded Gold Stevie "e-Commerce Customer Service"
Award, recognizing the company's innovative use of online
technologies and social media to service the needs of customers. In
addition, 2016 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. was recognized as one of
Internet Retailer's Top 300 B2B e-commerce companies and was also
recently named in Internet Retailer's 2016 Top Mobile 500 as one of
the world's leading mobile commerce sites. The company was included
in Internet Retailer's 2015 Top 500 for fast growing e-commerce
companies. In 2015, 1-800-Flowers.com was named a winner of
the "Best Companies to Work for in New
York State" Award by The New York Society for Human Resource
Management (NYS-SHRM). The Company's BloomNet® international
floral wire service (www.mybloomnet.net) provides a broad
range of quality products and value-added services designed to help
professional florists grow their businesses profitably.
The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. "Gift Shop" also includes
gourmet gifts such as premium, gift-quality fruits and other
gourmet items from Harry & David®
(1-877-322-1200) or www.harryanddavid.com), popcorn
and specialty treats from The Popcorn Factory®
(1-800-541-2676 or www.thepopcornfactory.com); cookies
and baked gifts from Cheryl's®
(1-800-443-8124 or www.cheryls.com); premium
chocolates and confections from Fannie May®
(www.fanniemay.com and www.harrylondon.com); gift
baskets and towers from 1-800- Baskets.com®
(www.1800baskets.com); premium English muffins and other
breakfast treats from Wolferman's® (1-800-999-1910
or www.wolfermans.com); carved fresh fruit arrangements from
FruitBouquets.com (www.fruitbouquets.com); and top
quality steaks and chops from Stock
Yards® (www.stockyards.com). Shares
in 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. are traded on the NASDAQ
Global Select Market, ticker symbol: FLWS.
CONTACT: External Media Relations, IBM, Douglas Fraim, 617-501-6376,
dfraim@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM