Fanatics deploys AI shopping tool with OpenAI for sports merchandise sales

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Fanatics AI shopping tool

Highlights

Fanatics collaborated with OpenAI's Codex to launch Shop the Look, an AI tool recommending coordinated, in-stock sports merchandise from a catalog of over 1.5 million SKUs.
Shop the Look increased recommended product views by 10% after rollout, supporting Fanatics Commerce's scale of more than 45 million items manufactured and sales in over 180 countries.
CEO Michael Rubin projects Fanatics' commerce revenue will exceed $7 billion in 2024, outpacing its $5.5 billion collectibles business as AI-powered retail gains traction.

AI feature targets large catalog discovery

As reported by CNBC, Fanatics says it worked with OpenAI's Codex to build Shop the Look, a feature that recommends coordinated, in-stock merchandise on product pages across its sports league and team retail sites. The tool matches items by team and intended style, aiming to help fans navigate a product catalog that spans more than 1.5 million unique SKUs.

Justin Tsai, chief product officer at Fanatics Commerce, says the company's scale has made product discovery harder for shoppers, who often spend more than 30 minutes browsing its sites. He says the challenge has grown as Fanatics adds more than 1,000 new products each week, while traditional curation methods such as photo shoots cannot keep pace with fast-moving launches like championship apparel.

The company says random recommendations are especially ineffective in sports retail because team and player alignment matter closely to customers. Shop the Look uses catalog and product data to identify compatible items and refresh suggestions, which can include accessories such as hats and socks to complement a jersey under consideration.

Commerce growth and retail AI push

Team merchandise remains Fanatics' largest revenue source even as the company expands across the broader sports industry. Founder and CEO Michael Rubin said earlier this month that Fanatics' commerce business will exceed $7 billion in revenue this year, compared with about $5.5 billion for its collectibles unit, which includes Topps trading cards.

Fanatics Commerce manufactures more than 45 million items each year and sells to customers in more than 180 countries, underscoring the operational scale behind the recommendation tool. Tsai says the rollout of Shop the Look has increased views of recommended products by 10% and is helping shoppers feel more confident about purchases by showing how items fit with other team gear.

For OpenAI, the Fanatics launch adds to its broader push into shopping applications. Rosemary DeAragon, head of industry go-to-market at OpenAI, says AI can improve personalization by making more deterministic product matches, addressing a long-standing retail problem in which past purchase history and other signals do not always produce relevant suggestions.

Our earlier article examined how major retailers are increasingly being held accountable for AI adoption as they try to prove returns on growing AI spend. We highlighted Ralph Lauren’s move to tie part of executive bonuses to AI literacy and enablement—signaling a broader shift in retail where AI goals are beginning to influence leadership roles and incentive plans.

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