Harrods has taken a “hard line” on the use of AI tools, according to Chloe Kerner De Lee, lead product manager at the department store.

Speaking on a panel at the Retail Technology Show on Wednesday, she said that across the business many employees have, as expected, been keen to use AI tools to speed up processes.

“But there are so many tools out there and I don’t think people always understand what they are feeding into the tools and where that information is ending up and who can access it,” she said. “We had an amnesty and people told us what tools they are using and why they are using them.

“We have made it clear that as a business, all the tools we are using have gone through our cybersecurity team and are safe to use.”

Kerner De Lee added that AI tools need a level of governance, adding that she had recently attended an event where a representative from Amazon had spoken about how AI tools could not completely be trusted to produce accurate results, meaning that these tools need active oversight.

The panel discussed the need to change platforms to encourage innovation and take advantage of new technologies.

Harrods has recently changed platforms, with Kerner De Lee saying that while the transition is not quite yet complete, it has allowed Harrods to deploy the “best in breed” for tools, including personalisation.

“We use different suppliers for the different needs, which is the right thing to do considering our customers,” De Kerner Lee said. “We cover 17 countries and use those countries with lower traffic before deploying these ideas more widely.”

Harrods announced the launch of its new e-commerce platform in October last year.

The platform, developed by enterprise commerce platform SCAYLE, aims to "elevate the online purchasing experience" for its global customers through improved customisation and personalisation.

The new platform also facilitates custom brand landing pages for Harrods.

Doug Wooten, IT director at Charles Tyrwhitt, said that the firm is happy with its current platform and has no plans to swap in the near future.

“You can gain so much more working on the relationship you have rather than putting new things in place,” he said “We have reviewed to see what is out there and unless there is a yell or a scream from the business that things need to be changed, stick with it.

“The upheaval of changing should never be underestimated, whatever the salesperson says.”

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