From search field to expert advice: AI assistants as personal shopping consultants

Good advice from knowledgeable staff was long a privilege of the brick-and-mortar store. Retailers worldwide are working intensively to harness the possibilities of conversational AI to inspire and advise customers online as well. Could this also help them reclaim lost ground in e-commerce?

Gift shopping is one of the oldest pain points for customers. Kohl's is now betting that a guided conversation delivers more value than yet another category filter. The new Gift Finder, built on Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience, leads customers through a conversation about the recipient's interests, hobbies, and style before the AI assistant makes concrete suggestions. Customers can even upload a photo to find similar items or spark new ideas, then browse directly within the chat, compare product details, and add items to their cart. Kohl's sees the tool as more than a one-off feature – it's designed as a learning system, with every conversation feeding back into the ongoing development of the shopping experience.

Craft and decor retailer Michaels set out to tackle a different challenge with its AI assistant: translating vague inspiration into a concrete, purchasable idea. Ask Mike developed with Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience and live on the website since May, lets customers describe their creative vision in their own words. In response to prompts like "I'm looking for decorations for a baby shower" or "What current style trend could I use for a photo album?", the AI agent is designed to deliver curated, personal suggestions rather than a list of results from a simple keyword match.

Early numbers suggest genuine adoption rather than mere curiosity: according to Michaels, Ask Mike has already logged nearly 75,000 conversations, with more than 60 percent of interactions centered on product discovery. Heather Bennett, President & Chief Customer Officer, describes the tool as a personal creative partner rather than a simple search box. Michaels plans to expand it further with AI-generated product overviews and contextual guidance built directly into product pages.

DICK'S Sporting Goods aims to combine a genuine strength of specialty brick-and-mortar retail with generative and conversational AI. The new AI assistant, Coach by DICK'S built with Adobe Brand Concierge, brings the kind of advice store associates give into the DICK'S mobile app. The assistant is designed to accompany sports enthusiasts through every stage of their athletic journey – from taking up a new sport to preparing for their next big competition. The AI-powered advisor offers tailored product recommendations and training tips, and is meant to respond to – and learn from – users' preferences and behavior. The rollout within the DICK'S app began in June, with additional features to follow.

German retail platform provider OTTO is likewise turning to an AI assistant as a digital counterpart to in-store advice. The assistant, built on Google technology and gradually rolled out to customer groups since March, conducts natural, spoken advisory dialogues. In doing so, the chatbot draws on detailed knowledge of roughly 19 million items to provide fitting recommendations. CEO Boris Ewenstein sees AI as a path to better customer service through hyperpersonalization – or expert advice from assistants that never run out of patience.

All four retailers share the goal of making their chatbots into more than just a new form of product search bar. Conversational AI is meant to replace the knowledgeable sales staff found in stores – or at least make that expertise available where it usually isn't: online. Beyond that, these tools are attempting to translate a vague human intent into a concrete purchasing decision. Key preconditions for success are the ability to learn from dialogue and feedback, and personalized advice that draws on purchase history as well as spoken or typed input.

For retail in the years ahead, this means the decisive question is no longer whether a company invests in AI-driven advice, but how credibly that advice reflects the company's own USP – be it expertise, depth of assortment, inspiration, or creativity. Retailers who treat generative AI as nothing more than a search field with a chat interface won't deliver any real value to customers. Those who succeed in scaling genuine advisory expertise through AI assistants will carry their competitive edge into online retail – and onto their customers' smartphones.