Hannah Munden2024-07-31

The Top 11 Chatbots for Retailers: Features and Benefits

The retail world often feels like a gamble. For every step forward, there are six steps back. During the COVID-19 pandemic, trends that should have taken years to develop became part of our lives in weeks, and consumer expectations skyrocketed. This shift highlighted key flaws in merchants' strategies and sped up the digitalization of shopping and payments.

AI is fundamentally changing retail driven by these new consumer expectations. It automates many traditionally manual tasks, improves customer service, manages inventory, and offers personalized shopping experiences.

As retailers adapt, they're increasingly turning to AI-powered chatbots. These chatbots for retail enhance customer service, streamline operations, and encourage sales. In this article, we'll explore the top 11 chatbots for retail, showcasing their unique features and benefits.

How AI technology investment is driving retail growth

Retailers are diving into digital transformation to stay ahead. In 2019, spending on retail tech hit over $200 billion. Investments in AI and conversational e-commerce are boosting profits by enhancing the customer experience.

AI helps retailers optimize operations and create new opportunities. It streamlines inventory management, customer care via chatbots, search and discovery, data analytics for personalized shopping experiences, and logistics for order fulfillment and payments.

Conversational e-commerce, using chatbots, voice assistants, and messaging apps, is changing the game. Machine learning algorithms that understand speech context and consumer intent are key. The conversational commerce market size is snowballing, from $9.29 billion in 2023 to $11.04 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.8%.

What is a retail chatbot?

A retail chatbot is usually an AI-powered shopping assistant that engages with customers. It offers personalized shopping experiences, answers service questions, and enhances the shopping experience. These chatbots for retail can be integrated into websites, mobile apps, and with some specialist providers - messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp for a seamless experience. They deliver tailored recommendations and streamline interactions by analyzing user data and boosting sales. It's worth noting too, that no matter an organization's size, a chatbot will scale to cater to audiences of all sizes.

Retail chatbots handle various tasks, from providing store hours to assisting with complex inquiries and guiding customers through purchases. They effectively understand and respond to customer queries using AI technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning.

Retail chatbot use cases

Retail chatbots have a wide range of uses that help improve customer service and increase sales:

Customer support:

Retail chatbots provide quick and accurate answers to common questions, handle orders and returns, and offer 24/7 support, significantly reducing the workload on human support agents. For example, Walmart’s chatbot helps customers track orders, find products, and get answers to frequently asked questions.

Product recommendations:

Chatbots for retail analyze customer preferences, browsing history, and purchasing behavior to deliver personalized product suggestions. This helps customers discover products that fit their tastes, increasing the likelihood of purchase. AI-driven recommendations significantly boost sales, as seen with Sephora's Virtual Artist, which uses AI to help customers try on makeup virtually.

Order tracking:

Chatbots can update customers about their orders' status through real-time notifications, ensuring transparency and building trust. Zalando’s chatbot, for example, provides real-time updates on order status and estimated delivery times.

Loyalty programs:

AI chatbots can manage loyalty points and provide personalized shopping experiences with offers and rewards to customers. They help track customer engagement and encourage repeat purchases by offering incentives and reminders about loyalty points.

Feedback collection:

Retail chatbots conduct satisfaction surveys and collect feedback to improve product ranges and services. Chatbots can gather in-depth insights regarding their retail experience by engaging shoppers in conversations. The conversational nature of these surveys makes responding more accessible and attractive for customers, increasing the likelihood of participation compared to traditional surveys, which customers often ignore. This higher response rate gives you more comprehensive and actionable data to improve your offerings.

Store locator:

The customer care chatbot helps customers find nearby stores, check product availability, and get information on store hours. This functionality is handy for customers who prefer shopping in physical stores but want to check details online first.

Placing orders:

Customers can place orders directly through the chatbot, simplifying purchasing and reducing cart abandonment rates. For instance, Staples' integration of IBM Watson’s chatbot lets customers place orders via Facebook Messenger, Slack, and SMS.

Personalized shopping experiences

Chatbots for retail send updates and notifications about new products, discounts, and promotions based on customer preferences and past behavior. This personalized communication keeps customers informed and engaged.

Complaint management:

Customer service chatbots handle customer complaints by registering details about incidents and providing immediate responses, helping to alleviate customer frustration and improve satisfaction.

Customer education:

AI chatbots can provide information about products, return policies, promotional campaigns, and more through FAQ widgets, making it easier for customers to find the information they need without human intervention.

The Top 11 Chatbots for Retailers

1. MyLINK Connect

[ Top Features, Channels, and Support for All Needs]

LINK Mobility offers a comprehensive chatbot solution through its MyLINK Connect platform. This no-code application allows businesses to design, deploy, and manage chatbots across various channels (such as websites, SMS, WhatsApp, and much more) without extensive technical expertise. MyLINK Connect uses AI technology to enhance customer interactions, providing a seamless and personalized shopping experience. Their unique mobile app also provides live human chat agents the power to interject into conversations from anywhere. Additionally, LINK has a strong local presence across Europe and offers a hand-holding process that guides businesses through their setup, ensuring a smooth and efficient implementation. Especially great for those looking to get started, or seek advice to improve their current set-up.

Features:

Flow Builder: MyLINK Connect provides an intuitive visual flow builder, enabling users to create chatbots easily. Brands can either build the chatbot themselves or utilize LINK’s specialists to get the job done.

Deployment Channels: MyLINK Connect supports various deployment channels, including websites, SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, MS Teams, Slack, Alexa, Voice, and more. This ensures businesses can engage with customers on their preferred platforms without having to design a bot twice for different channels too.

AI Zone: Advanced AI capabilities, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), help the chatbot understand and respond to user queries accurately and contextually.

Integrations: Use custom APIs or pre-built connections with partners to sync your chatbot's behaviors with your existing customer data.

Rich Media: The platform supports engaging content such as images, videos, and GIFs, enhancing user interaction.

Fallback Interactions: Provides backup responses to ensure smooth and reliable user interactions.

Benefits:

Personalization feature: Connect can personalize interactions based on user preferences, browsing history, and purchase behavior, driving higher engagement and satisfaction.

Scalability for growing businesses: The platform is designed to scale with a business, supporting increasing demand levels without compromising performance. It also allows for the addition of new features and integrations as needed.

Comprehensive analytics and reporting: MyLINK Connect offers advanced analytics and reporting features, enabling businesses to monitor chatbot performance and gain insights into user interactions to optimize the chatbot’s effectiveness. Users can also personalize dashboard views for various business roles, building analytics dashboards according to the specific data they want or need to see.

Real-time live conversations: The MyLINK Connect App helps retailers to access live conversations across all deployment channels and reply manually in real-time! This is ideal for shop assistants handling online personal shopping requests or queries, ensuring quick and personalized customer service.

Flexible pricing: LINK Mobility allows retailers to pay for what they use, without being restricted to fixed monthly packages. This flexible chatbot pricing model ensures you only pay for the features and services you need, offering great value for your investment compared to other providers!

Customer Spotlight:

ComiCon PR: A real LINK customer reported significant improvements in customer support efficiency with their chatbot, which answered thousands of queries that would have otherwise overwhelmed their support team. The campaign's engagement rate hit 89%, with an ROI of 11:1 and a journey completion rate of 27%​​​​.

By leveraging LINK Mobility’s MyLINK Connect, retailers can enhance customer service, streamline operations, and provide personalized shopping experiences that cater to customers' needs across multiple platforms.

2. Drift

[ AI Website Chatbots ]

Drift is an AI-powered buyer engagement platform that provides personalized experiences for website visitors. This chatbot helps retailers engage with customers in real time, facilitating immediate responses and boosting overall customer satisfaction.

Real-time Engagement: Allows businesses to instantly interact with website visitors, answering queries and guiding them through sales.

Automated Scheduling and Notifications: Automates meeting scheduling, sending reminders, and notifications to streamline sales and customer support operations.

Seamless Integration: Integrates with various CRM systems, email marketing tools, and other business software to ensure a cohesive workflow.

Customizable Conversation Flows Offers customizable chat flows to tailor interactions based on user behavior and preferences.

Enhanced Lead Generation: Captures and qualifies leads more efficiently, improving conversion rates and sales.

3. Intercom

[ Customer Service Focus ]

Intercom is a comprehensive AI-first customer service platform that enhances customer experiences and operational efficiency. It offers tools for customer communication and support.

User-friendly Interface: Provides an intuitive interface that makes it easy for teams to collaborate and manage customer interactions.

AI-powered Chatbots: AI is used to handle common customer inquiries, provide instant responses, and reduce the workload of human agents.

Customizable Workflows: Enables businesses to design customized communication workflows to meet specific needs and objectives.

Integration with CRM and Other Tools: Seamlessly integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and other business tools to enhance data flow and customer insights.

Scalability: Scales with the business, accommodating increasing volumes of customer interactions without compromising service quality.

4. Gleen AI

[ Generative AI for Customer Service ]

Gleen AI a generative AI-based customer service solution that provides accurate and contextually relevant responses, enhancing customer support and driving high ROI.

High Accuracy in Responses: Delivers precise and relevant answers to customer queries, reducing the need for human intervention.

Adaptive Learning Capabilities: Continuously learns and adapts to improve response accuracy and handle a broader range of inquiries.

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed analytics and reporting to track performance and identify areas for improvement.

Customer Support: Offers strong support from the Gleen team, ensuring smooth implementation and ongoing optimization.

ROI Improvement: Typically delivers a significant return on investment by reducing support costs and improving customer satisfaction.

5. Zendesk Support Suite

[ AI Customer Service ]

Zendesk is an AI-powered customer service chatbot that simplifies customer support operations and enhances service quality.

Ease of use: User-friendly interface that allows for quick setup and deployment for customer service teams

Integration with other software: Integrates seamlessly with various business tools to streamline operations and improve data accessibility.

Enhanced customer service: Improves the quality of customer service through efficient ticket management and cross-departmental collaboration.

6. Kore.AI

[ AI for Complex Conversation Flows]

Kore.ai retail assist is a conversational AI platform that uses advanced automation and analytics to support customer engagement and employee experience.

Seamless Integration: Integrates with multiple platforms to provide a unified customer interaction experience.

Advanced Automation: Automates complex workflows and processes to enhance efficiency.

Comprehensive Analytics: Offers in-depth analytics to monitor performance and improve customer interactions.

User-friendly Interface: Easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface for creating conversational flows.

Multi-language Support: Supports 10+ languages to cater to a diverse customer base.

7. Birdeye

[ Website Experience Chatbots ]

Birdeye is a digital customer experience platform that manages online reviews, social media, and customer interactions.

Review Management: Consolidates reviews from various platforms into one place for easy management.

Social Media Integration: Manages social media interactions and enhances online presence.

Responsive Customer Support: Provides excellent customer support to resolve issues quickly.

Customizable Features: Allows customization to fit specific business needs.

Lead Generation: Captures leads from website interactions and improves conversion rates.

8. Qualified

[ AI Pipeline Generation]

Qualified an AI pipeline generation platform that helps sales teams identify, engage, and convert essential website visitors. Which is especially useful for B2B retailers. 

Intelligent Chatbots: Provides intelligent chatbots that can engage visitors and gather lead information.

Live Chat System: Enables real-time chat with prospects to enhance engagement.

Meeting Scheduling: Simplifies scheduling meetings with potential leads.

Website Visitor Tracking: Tracks visitor behavior to provide insights and improve targeting.

Exceptional Customer Support: Offers hands-on support to ensure successful implementation and usage.

9. Tidio

[ Customer Service Chatbots ]

Tidio is an all-in-one customer service platform that combines live chat, chatbots, and email marketing to enhance customer engagement.

Live Chat Widget: Easily accessible live chat widget for real-time customer support.

AI-powered Chatbots: Automates responses to common queries, saving time for customer service teams.

Integration with Platforms: Integrates with e-commerce platforms like Shopify for seamless operations.

User-friendly Interface: Simple and intuitive interface for easy navigation and management.

Customer Support Automation: Reduces the workload on support teams by handling frequent questions and issues.

10. SendPulse

[ Marketing Automation ]

SendPulse is a marketing automation platform that includes email marketing, SMS, web push alerts, and chatbots.

Multi-channel Marketing: Combines email, SMS, and web push notifications for comprehensive marketing.

AI Chatbots: Provides AI-driven chatbots for customer engagement and support.

User-friendly Interface: Intuitive platform that is easy to navigate and use.

Powerful Tools: Offers a range of tools to create connected experiences across multiple channels.

Excellent Customer Support: Provides firm support to assist with any issues and ensure smooth operation.

11. Smartupp

[ Live chat ]

Smartsupp is a chat integration tool designed to drive online sales through automated conversations and live chat, it’s especially geared towards e-commerce stores. 

User Tracking: Tracks user behavior on the website to provide personalized interactions.

Chat History: Maintains chat history for better customer support and follow-up.

Automated Messages: AI is used to send automated messages and responses.

Customizable Chatbots: Allows customization of chatbots to fit specific business needs.

Lead Generation: Effective in capturing leads and enhancing customer communication.

Picking the right chatbot for your retail business can greatly improve customer satisfaction, sales, and overall efficiency. Here are some essential tips to help you find the best one:

Define your Objectives

Start by figuring out what you want the chatbot to do. Is it for customer support, generating leads, helping with sales, or maybe a mix of these? Knowing your primary goals will make finding a chatbot provider that fits your needs easier.

Integration Capabilities

Ensure the chatbot can work with the systems you already use, like your CRM, CMS, eCommerce platform, and payment gateways. Good integration means the chatbot can pull the correct data and give customers a smooth experience. For example, if you use Shopify or WooCommerce, look for a chatbot that can easily connect with these platforms to handle product info and orders.

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Look for a retail chatbot with NLP features. These allow it to understand and respond to customer questions in a natural, conversational way. It's especially useful for dealing with complex queries and providing accurate answers. Also, make sure it supports multiple languages and can understand different dialects and slang.

Personalization

Good chatbots for retail should be able to personalize interactions based on user preferences, browsing history, and purchase behavior. This makes the experience more engaging for customers and can help boost sales.

Ease of Use and Deployment

Check how easy it is to set up and use the chatbot. A platform with intuitive tools and a user-friendly interface can save you time and help your team get up to speed quickly. No-code or low-code solutions are great if you have limited technical expertise in-house.

Customization Options

Your customer service chatbot should match your brand's tone and style. Make sure you can customize its appearance, conversation flows, and functions to create a consistent and branded customer experience.

Scalability

As your retail business grows, your chatbot will need to keep up. Look for a solution that can handle more interactions without losing performance. As you scale, consider the chatbot's capacity for user support, AI usage, and annual costs.

Analytics and Reporting

Choose a customer service chatbot with solid analytics and reporting features. These will help you track performance, user engagement, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction. Detailed insights will enable you to improve the chatbot's effectiveness continually.

Security and Compliance

Security is important, especially when dealing with sensitive customer information. Ensure the retail chatbot platform complies with regulations like GDPR and has strong security measures to protect data from breaches and unauthorized access.

Provider Support

Finally, consider the level of support offered by the chatbot vendor. Good customer support is invaluable, especially during setup and ongoing maintenance. Look for vendors that provide comprehensive support, including documentation, thorough onboarding, and direct assistance.

Create shopping experiences that impress!

Choosing the right chatbot can significantly enhance your retail operations and elevate customer experiences. After reviewing our top chatbot picks, take the time to evaluate your options thoroughly. Testing different chatbot builders firsthand and requesting demos will help you find the one that best aligns with your business goals and is easy to use.

LINK Mobility's retail chatbot is a comprehensive solution with its unique mobile messaging possibilities, NLP capabilities and local 1:1 build support. This chatbot can help you engage customers effectively while streamlining your operations. We encourage you to explore MyLINK Connect and see how it can transform your retail business. Contact our sales team today to learn the benefits firsthand.

FAQs

1. What are the main benefits of using chatbots in retail?

Chatbots offer many benefits for retail businesses, including enhanced customer care, increased operational efficiency, and personalized shopping experiences. They can handle customer inquiries, manage inventory, and process orders, freeing up staff to focus on more strategic tasks. Additionally, chatbots can provide 24/7 support, ensuring that customers receive assistance whenever needed.

2. How do retail chatbots improve customer engagement?

Chatbots improve customer engagement by providing instant, personalized responses to customer inquiries. They use advanced AI technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, to understand and respond to customer queries in a human-like manner. This enhances the shopping experience by making it more interactive and tailored to individual customer needs.

3. Can chatbots integrate with my existing retail systems?

Yes, many chatbots are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing retail systems such as CRM, eCommerce platforms, and payment gateways. For instance, LINK Mobility's chatbot can integrate with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, enabling efficient retrieval of product information and order processing.

4. What should retailers consider when choosing a chatbot?

When choosing a chatbot, retailers should consider specific objectives, such as customer support, lead generation, or sales assistance. Key factors to evaluate include integration capabilities, natural language processing (NLP) features, personalization options, ease of use and deployment, customization, scalability, analytics and reporting, security, and customer support.

5. How can I get started with LINK Mobility's retail chatbot?

Getting started with LINK Mobility's chatbot is easy. Just reach out to their sales team for more info and a demo. They'll chat with you about your needs and show you how their chatbot can be customized to fit those needs. Plus, they'll help you through the whole setup and deployment process.