If you scroll through Instagram stories these days, you might notice something: photos of vacations, engagements, and kids’ birthdays are giving way to targeted ads. They’re not there just to spam you—they actually work. The old shopping journey looked like this: need → search → buy. Today, that flow has flipped. People often make purchases without ever intending to shop in the first place. Using the latest technologies, brands match products to individuals, and customers end up buying things they didn’t even know they needed, like a lightweight enamel mug for that camping trip you just booked.
Now, AI agents are pushing the next big shift in e-commerce. These tools promise to transform the customer journey yet again. Brands that don’t get on board risk losing valuable opportunities (and sales). The fact is: consumer expectations are evolving. By 2030, over 55% of purchases will be influenced by AI-friendly buyers, according to research from Cognizant.
As CEO of a company that builds AI agents—and uses them internally—I’ve seen how powerful they can be. Here’s how your business can tap into them to boost sales and level up the customer experience.
Automate And Personalize Your Online Storefront
Many years ago, when I built my first website, adding e-commerce functionality was a Byzantine process. I needed an experienced web developer to help hammer out the details. Today, platforms like Shopify make it easy and affordable for businesses of any size to sell online. And now, AI agents are making customizable storefronts even more accessible.
When you install an agent like Juphy, Smartbot, or Shopify Sidekick, it will train itself using your business’s data. You can decide what the agent does and how it interacts with customers. If you want it to handle customer service, you can assign it a support phone number and instruct it to answer calls. If your business serves multiple countries, your agent can translate webpages and offer support in different languages. You can also choose which pop-ups to display to guide users as they browse and shop. What’s more, you can set it all up without writing a single line of code.
A growing number of startups are taking the guesswork out of visual design as well. Phot.AI, for example, is an agent platform that independently handles tasks like image editing and design for e-commerce brands. Its agents learn which designs perform best for different product categories and marketplaces, reducing manual effort and costs for business owners by up to 80%.
AI agents are like designing the brick-and-mortar store of your dreams, but without needing an architect or interior designer.
Tailoring The Customer Journey
AI agents make it easier than ever to design and customize your e-commerce site. But what about the experience on the other side of the screen? Research shows that 75% of buyers find online shopping frustrating. If you’ve ever sworn off e-commerce after a botched return or an endless gift search, you’re not alone. Maybe the shoes you ordered for a wedding arrived two sizes too big, and the return process was cumbersome. Or perhaps you set out to buy your nephew a birthday present and got lost down the rabbit hole of Nintendo Switch options.
This is where AI-powered assistants come in. Agents can guide shoppers step-by-step, smoothing over the snags that often jam up the purchase journey. They answer questions, like what to buy, when it will arrive, and whether it fits the budget. And over time, they learn a buyer’s preferences: goals, timing, history, and price sensitivity.
For instance, if you need that present for your 12-year-old nephew by Friday, an agent will intuit that a digital gift card to his favorite gaming store, delivered instantly, is the best option.
Always-On, Scalable Support
Even if the product search has gone off without a snag, one glitch in the process, like a question or concern that pops up and doesn’t receive immediate attention, can mar the entire experience. As Scott Hendrickson, chief revenue officer of the agentic AI merchant network firmly, recently noted, “What consumers really want is for commerce to happen immediately. People’s time has never been more valuable, and they expect things to be frictionless.”
Integrating AI agents into your e-commerce site can help transactions become frictionless. Agents are ready to answer questions around the clock, 24/7. An agent can engage in natural, responsive, human-sounding conversations, ensuring potential customers never slip through the cracks due to unanswered calls. And because they are linked directly to the back-end of your business—data, inventory, and more—you can rest assured that the information it provides will be up-to-date. It won’t offer unrealistic shipping timelines, only to frustrate disappointed customers. It won’t suggest products that aren’t in stock. But if a product is out of stock, it will suggest alternatives based on the buyer’s preferences and history.
And as your business grows, agents are a cost-effective solution to help manage all of the business parts that grow in tandem, like more products, more customers, and a higher volume of transactions.
In short, AI agents help scale your business, ensuring every customer interaction is fast, informed, and friction-free.
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