AI agent for retail stores and shops
An agent that answers shoppers about price and stock from your own systems, takes orders, suggests what to reorder for the manager to approve, and sends you the day's numbers each evening.
- Answered 21 questions about prices and sizesDone
- 4 orders recorded for pickup this afternoonDone
- Size M of a best-selling item is almost outAsks a person
- Daily sales and stock summary sentDone
An example. Your agent is built around your own work.
How it works
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Sync the shop's data
Each night, and more often if your system allows, the agent reads your product catalogue, stock by store, prices and the day's sales from the POS, the online store or a spreadsheet.
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Answer shoppers
Customers ask on WhatsApp, Instagram or your website whether an item is in stock, what it costs, when you open and what the return policy is. The agent answers from the data and says when it cannot confirm.
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Take orders and requests
It can take an order, reserve an item for pickup, or send a payment link. Returns, damaged goods and complaints go to a member of staff with the order and the shop already attached.
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Suggest reorders and report
From sales speed and delivery time it suggests what to reorder, which the store manager approves. In the evening you get a short summary of sales, low stock and open requests.
New to AI agents? How they work, in plain words
Real examples, setup steps and tool connections for this agent
An example conversation
An example of how a conversation runs. The grey lines show what the agent does in your systems meanwhile.
- CustomerHi, do you have the black leather jacket, size M, in the Mall branch?
- Checked stock for SKU JK-212-BLK-M at the Mall branch. Last stock update: 18 minutes ago. On hand: 2.
- AgentYes, 2 in size M are in the Mall branch as of 18 minutes ago. The price is 890 AED. Want me to hold one for you until 8 pm?
- CustomerYes please. And can I return it if it doesn't fit?
- Read the returns policy: exchange or refund within 14 days with the receipt, tags attached.
- AgentYes, within 14 days with the receipt and tags on. I have held one in your name until 8 pm. Can I have a phone number for the hold?
- Customer0501234567
- Created a hold in the POS for JK-212-BLK-M, Mall branch, until 20:00. Saved the contact.
- AgentDone, the jacket is held. If your plans change, message me and I will release it.
How it is built
- Where the data comes from
- The agent reads your products, stock per store and sales through the API of your POS or online store, such as Shopify or Lightspeed, or from a nightly export or spreadsheet. Before it uses any of this, it checks that product codes match between your systems.
- Stock answers carry a time
- Every stock answer is based on the latest feed and carries its age. If the feed is older than the limit you set, the agent says 'not confirmed' and offers to check with the store, rather than promise an item that may be gone.
- Prices come from one approved list
- The agent quotes only from the approved price table, with its version date. It cannot invent a price or give a discount. Price or promotion changes are written only from the approved price file, and each change is logged with who approved it.
- A language model talks, your rules decide
- A language model understands the customer's question, in their own language, and writes the reply. What it may do is a fixed list: check stock, quote a price, hold an item, create an order, send a payment link, hand over to staff.
- Reorders need the manager
- Replenishment suggestions are built from sales speed and lead time, capped at a value you set, and sent to the store manager. The agent does not place purchase orders by itself.
- Staff take over
- Returns, refunds, damaged goods and loyalty disputes go to a member of staff in a shared inbox, with the order and store attached. Staff can also step into any chat.
- Logging, review and where it runs
- Every conversation and action is logged. Weekly you see out-of-stock rate, how many suggestions managers accepted, and how many chats needed a person. It can run in the cloud, or on your own server, for example in the head office. Then the agent, its database, its logs and the language model itself stay with you, using an open model such as Llama, Qwen or Mistral, so stock, sales and customer data stay inside. Channels like WhatsApp, Instagram and your online store still pass messages through those services. Local open models are smaller than the largest cloud models. For answering from your stock and price data they are usually enough, and we test on your own cases first.
What you can connect to it
- Shopify or WooCommerce
- Reads products, inventory levels and orders, and creates orders and holds for online customers.
- Lightspeed or another POS
- Reads items, stock per store and sales, and records holds and reservations.
- SAP Business One, Odoo or similar ERP
- Reads stock and sales, and passes confirmed orders to the back office.
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud
- Reads products, baskets and orders for larger online stores.
- WhatsApp, Instagram and website chat
- Where shoppers ask. The agent replies in the same channel and in the customer's language.
- Payment gateway
- Sends a payment link in the chat and confirms the order when payment arrives.
- Accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero)
- Reads daily sales for the evening summary, and sends invoices and receipts if you ask for it.
- Excel or Google Sheets
- For small shops without a POS: the stock list and price table live in a sheet, and the agent keeps the purchase suggestions in another.
- Loyalty or customer list
- Looks up a customer's past orders and points where you keep them, and records new contacts.
Connects to your tools. You stay in control.
- Works with what you have
- POS (Lightspeed and others), online store (Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud), ERP (SAP Business One, Odoo), WhatsApp, Instagram, website chat, payment gateway, accounting software, spreadsheets.
- A person approves what matters
- Payments, orders, discounts or anything you choose wait for approval. Every action is logged.
- Can run on your own servers
- The agent, its data, its logs and even the language model (open models such as Llama, Qwen or Mistral) can run on your servers, so documents and customer data stay inside your network. How that works
What it does not do
- It does not set prices or give discounts. It quotes your price list; discounts and exceptions go to you.
- It does not confirm stock it cannot see, or stock from a feed that is older than your limit.
- It does not place purchase orders. It suggests, and the manager approves.
- It does not decide refunds or settle complaints. A person does.
- It does not message customers who never agreed to hear from you.
Questions
Does it set prices or give discounts?
No. It quotes your prices; discounts and exceptions go to you.
We have one small shop. Is this for us?
Yes. We start with the one job that takes most of your day, often answering customers on WhatsApp or Instagram, and a spreadsheet of stock and prices is enough to begin.
Can it tell customers what is in stock at a particular branch?
Yes, from your stock feed, with the time of the last update. If the feed is older than your limit, the agent says it cannot confirm and offers to check with the store.
Can it be a chatbot for our store?
It does more than a script. It answers from live stock and price data, holds items and takes orders, and hands returns and complaints to staff. It never confirms stock it cannot see.
What if it quotes a wrong price?
It quotes only from the approved price table, which carries a version date, so an old price list is the cause to look for, not a guess by the model. Every answer is logged, so we can see which version it used and fix it.
Can AI help with an online shop?
Yes. Common starting points are order-status answers, product questions and product data cleanup, because they touch the fewest customers and use the cleanest data. It connects through your platform's API, for example Shopify's.
Will it order stock by itself?
No. It suggests quantities from sales speed and delivery time, capped at a value you set, and the store manager approves each one.
Do we need a new POS?
No. It connects to the system you use now, through an API or an export. A spreadsheet works for a first version.
How much does an agent like this cost?
It depends on the task and the systems it connects to. After a first call we give you a clear estimate of cost and time.
Want this agent built around your work?
Tell us in a few lines what the job looks like today and we will set up an online intro call.
Request sent
We will contact you to set up an intro call.