Chat to Buy: The Future of eCommerce Is Conversational

eCommerce has come a long way, but so have customer expectations. Let’s be honest, shopping online still isn’t as seamless as it should be and often requires too many clicks and questions that go unanswered. As a result, shoppers drop off.

In contrast, conversations feel easy. When we need advice, we ask a friend; it’s the same with wanting a recommendation from a store. A growing share of product discovery (over 70% for ChatGPT users) now starts in chat. Not on a homepage or a search bar, but in a conversation. Amazon, Zalando, and other global retailers are already piloting buying via conversational commerce, the practice that lets customers shop through real-time chat powered by AI.

At scandiweb, we believe this is the biggest shift in eCommerce since mobile. And we’re not just watching it happen, that’s not how we like to do things around here! We are making it happen.

What is conversational commerce?

Conversational commerce is exactly what it sounds like: shopping through conversation. But not just any conversation, one that’s powered by AI, personalized in real time, and available everywhere your customers are.

Instead of navigating a maze of menus, filters, and product pages, customers can simply type:

“I need a jacket for rainy weather.”

AI picks up the request, asks a follow-up question or two, checks real-time stock and prices, pulls data from past orders, applies loyalty perks, suggests the perfect product(s), and keeps the conversation going. Each interaction becomes a high-converting sales moment, not a support ticket like we’re used to in relation to chatbots. Conversational commerce drives faster decisions and repeat purchases.

Here’s conversational commerce explained in more detail.

Steps of an AI-powered buying journey

Let’s break down what happens in these chats:

1. Discovery

A shopper sends a simple message: “Need something for a DIY deck project.”

2. Understanding

The AI recognizes intent, even if the request is vague or misspelled, and pulls context from past orders, location, and preferences.

3. Personalized offer

Based on product data and real-time availability, the AI recommends options, upsells smartly, and bundles products for convenience.

4. Assistance & guidance

The AI answers sizing questions, compares features, and explains return policies, just like a helpful salesperson would.

5. Ongoing relationship

AI can reingage, or the next time the customer comes back, in chat, your site, or in-store, the conversation picks up where it left off.

But most conversational tools today offer isolated experiences, like a chat widget on a website, a messaging bot in one app, or a support assistant with limited replies that rarely remembers who the customer is when the channel changes, and they almost never close the loop on the sale.

Chat to Buy brings one continuous, engaging conversation to every channel. The same AI assistent follows the shopper, remembers their history, understands their behavior, and helps them complete their purchase.

Introducing Chat to Buy

Chat to Buy is scandiweb’s conversational commerce solution made for omnichannel retailers. It connects every customer touchpoint – web, apps, messaging, kiosks, and in-store – into a single ongoing conversation powered by AI. No matter where someone shops or what they need, the experience is context-aware, personalized, and consistent.

And more importantly, it’s also a way to sell.

While most chat tools stop at product suggestions or support answers, Chat to Buy guides the whole journey from re-engagement and discovery to real-time stock checks, upsells, and completed purchases, all within the same thread. It’s designed to increase order value and reduce drop-off, without interrupting the customer experience or adding work for your team.

How Chat to Buy makes selling easier

Traditional eCommerce often resets the customer journey every time someone returns. Their preferences and cart disappear, and questions get asked and re-asked across different channels. Chat to Buy keeps the conversation alive, connecting every touchpoint with a single AI-driven system that remembers the customer and makes it easy to complete a purchase. Here’s the impact it has:

• Higher conversion rates – when customers can ask questions and get answers about products, stock, delivery, or policies in the moment, they’re more likely to buy.
• Bigger order value – AI introduces relevant bundles and higher-margin items naturally within the conversation.
• Bring back inactive customers – Chat to Buy uses purchase history and behavioral signals to reach out via WhatsApp, SMS, or email at just the right time.
• Fewer returns – when customers get real-time help during the decision process, they’re less likely to send products back. 
• Lower support load – routine questions, such as order status, returns, loyalty balance, are handled automatically.
• Unified channels – Chat to Buy remembers the whole history, regardless of whether a customer starts on your website, switches to WhatsApp, or walks into a store.
• Faster checkout help – customers get the clarity they need about payment options, delivery times, etc., right when they need it.
• Smarter campaigns – what people ask and convey in these chats can be turned into smarter segmentation and more relevant targeting.
• Lasting competitive edge – Chat to Buy helps you capture and retain first-party data that no one else has, giving you an advantage in personalization and retention.

Why alternatives fall short?

How Chat to Buy works

Chat to Buy is built in three layers: the core AI engine, the business logic that forms how it works for your goals, and the interfaces that meet your customers wherever they shop.

Foundation layer: core platform & AI

At the core is a powerful AI engine trained on your store data and customer behavior, making the experience feel personal, relevant, and reliable in any language and at any time. The AI agent can:

• Pick up on vague, incomplete, or typo-ridden messages with 95%+ accuracy in 100+ languages
• Remember customer past orders, preferences, loyalty points, and other data
• Support 50+ behavioral signals and cross-channel memory
• Pull live pricing, stock, delivery options, and loyalty perks from your systems
• Track everything via built-in conversation logging, privacy controls, and performance reporting to help you measure impact and stay compliant.

Features layer: your unique needs

No two retailers use Chat to Buy the same way. The second layer adapts the experience based on your priorities, including:

• Automatically reaching out at the right time with relevant reminders and personalized offers to re-engage inactive customers → ~20% reactivation in the first month (10x better than email).
• Suggesting upgrades and bundles naturally within the conversation, not as a last-minute push → 15–30% higher average order values.
• Answering questions about order status and more → 40–60% reduction in support tickets.
• Adding any features you need, such as connecting to your CDP, running onboarding flows, or handling store-specific rules.

Interface layer: sales & customer touchpoints

Your customers don’t shop in one place, and they shouldn’t have to start over every time they switch channels. Customers can ask a question at the store, later receive a follow-up via email, and then chat and reorder through WhatsApp, without ever repeating themselves. The interface is powered by the same AI and memory throughout and brings Chat to Buy to all your touchpoints:

• Website
• WhatsApp
• Mobile app
• SMS
• Email
• Voice
• Kiosks
• In-store devices
• …or anywhere you want it!

Chat to Buy in practice

Solving complex DIY needs

Our client, a leading DIY and home improvement retailer from the Nordics, wanted to support customers working on complex projects without increasing their support team or sacrificing personalization. With thousands of SKUs and seasonal surges in demand, many shoppers needed step-by-step help, like:

“What do I need to build a deck?”

“Which screws work with this board?”

“Is this paint outdoor-safe?”

“How much wood do I need for 12 square meters?”

“Can I pick this up in-store tomorrow?”

Instead of sending them to a support page or hoping they’d figure it out, we helped our client launch an AI-powered project assistant using Chat to Buy, trained on real customer journeys and common DIY builds, and connected directly to the live catalog.

Results

• One intelligent conversation that guides users through entire projects
• 5x longer average session time
• Increased conversion rates and AOV
• Less dependency on seasonal staff.

Re-engaging churned customers

Zorro offers premium pet food and care products for dogs and cats. They cater to pet owners who value purity, dietary specificity, and premium quality, often serving customers whose pets have sensitive or selective needs. With a loyal customer base but a naturally spaced-out reorder cycle, Zorro faced a familiar DTC challenge. How to win back churned customers and increase repeat purchase frequency? But do so efficiently, without over-relying on generic emails or broad remarketing campaigns.

Using Chat to Buy, Zorro launched an AI-powered WhatsApp sales concierge integrated with their CDP and purchase data. It allowed them to:

• Identify lapsed customers based on timing and order history
• Send highly relevant messages at just the right moment
• Carry out the full conversation (product discovery, questions, suggestions, upsells, and reorder) inside WhatsApp, without losing context.

For a brand built on quality and care, Chat to Buy became a natural extension of their customer experience.

Results

• 32% reactivation of churned customers
• Repeat purchases driven through ongoing, personalized chat engagement
• Live in just 2 weeks from kickoff to launch.

The future is conversational

Traditional eCommerce expects customers to figure it out on their own, and that experience costs businesses in missed sales and low retention.

Chat to Buy brings together the tools and context needed to support a purchase from the very first question. It understands what each customer is looking for and keeps the conversation going with relevant data, no matter where they shop.

For brands, that means higher conversions, larger baskets, more returning customers, and fewer support tickets.

For customers, it feels like having a helpful assistant that already knows them and what they want.

The time to act is now. Ready to launch a better way to sell? Get a personalized demo and see how Chat to Buy works with your goals. Prefer to start with a conversation? Reach out to [email protected], and let’s talk!

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