Tech Tactics: Bluecore Brings AI Shopping Assistant Alby to Shopify Retailers
Tech Tactics is Sourcing Journal's series with brands and technology companies to discuss their latest innovations.
Bluecore is making its artificial intelligence-powered shopping assistant more accessible to retailers.
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On Thursday, the New York-headquartered retail technology company announced the expansion of Alby—which it acquired in 2024— its generative AI agent designed to answer shopper questions both in real time and preemptively. Via a new integration, retailers can now access Alby directly through global e-commerce enabler Shopify. Bluecore noted that this will enable any retailer—from small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to global enterprises like Tapestry, Express and Lenovo—to 'seamlessly power conversational AI shopping experiences that are unique to their brand and customers.'
This expansion comes as the global AI chatbot market experiences rapid growth, with projections estimating it will reach $46.64 billion by 2029, according to Research and Markets. As part of this trend, 76 percent of online retailers have either implemented chatbots or plan to do so as part of their customer experience strategies.
'We have been addressing the unique needs of enterprise retailers for over 10 years with our technology—and we're now expanding our expertise to the thousands of SMB retailers on Shopify,' said Fayez Mohamood, CEO and co-founder of Bluecore. 'As all retailers navigate this new AI-powered landscape, we're offering them the tools to not only understand how AI is evolving consumer behavior but take action on it with Alby. We want every retailer to be able to openly experiment with AI and start to unlock a vast trove of new data that leads to higher engagement and conversion.'
Shoppers can interact with Alby directly on a brand's website to ask questions about any product. Once activated, the AI agent will learn, make decisions and act on a brand's behalf—pulling from product data, brand assets and the company's tone of voice to ensure accurate responses.
Instead of relying on lengthy natural language queries, the technology anticipates the kinds of questions consumers are likely to ask. For apparel, that might include inquiries like, 'What is this sweater made of?' or 'What's the warranty on this jacket?'
'People don't shop the way they use ChatGPT. When you go to ChatGPT, you have a long-form query in your head that you're trying to get help on, some complex task you're trying to accomplish,' Max Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Alby—also co-founded Bluecore—previously told Sourcing Journal. 'That's not how people shop. People shop in between things. People shop on the go. People shop when they're on the train, scrolling. The needs for the human being engaging in that activity are very different.'
Alby also supports global, multilingual customer service and provides around-the-clock assistance, ensuring shoppers receive 'timely answers no matter where or when they're browsing.'
One retailer already seeing success with Alby's new expansion is mattress company PlushBeds.
'Adding an AI shopping agent to our website to help guide shoppers from discovery to purchase was a priority for us, but it wasn't until Alby that it was actually possible,' said Michael Hughes, CEO of PlushBeds. 'We integrated Alby on Shopify to guide our shoppers to their perfect mattress based on their sleeping preferences. Now, Alby answers 6,000 product questions a month, engages 15 percent of website traffic and achieves a five-time higher conversion rate.'
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