On Monday, January 24, Dr. Mirja Kroschke from the Otto Group was a virtual guest in the course "Consumer Behavior". In her presentation, she gave students insights into the use of artificial intelligence to holistically improve the customer experience at the Otto Group. Dr. Kroschke works as a project manager and business intelligence strategist in the Otto Group's Data Lab. She is also a familiar face at the Chair of Marketing Management, having earned her PhD there in 2017 and served as a Postdoc until 2019.

While some may still associate the Otto Group with outdated catalogs, the company is well equipped with modern data analytics tools and offers a digital customer journey in various online stores. Attracting and retaining customers in particular has become a challenge in recent years, and the Otto Group is meeting this challenge by creating relevance through data-driven optimization of its online stores. In her presentation, Dr. Kroschke used illustrative examples to present the way to improve the customer experience with three AI-based services - Deep Query, Aggregated Reviews and Personalized Product Ranking. With these methods, the Otto Group is able to facilitate the shopping journey for consumers, offer relevant information and point out products that are suitable for customers in order to increase customer lifetime value.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Mirja Kroschke once again for her very interesting and informative guest lecture.