AI for E-commerce: Search, Forecasting, Retention | ATH Infosystems

AI for every part of your online store

ATH builds AI search, demand forecasting and customer retention for online stores, plus the agents that handle content, pricing, support and returns. It connects to Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and Adobe Commerce, and a person approves anything risky.

Start with one fixed-price pilot on your own store data, measured against what you have today.

Store AI activity

6 agents working

Example: six AI agents working in an online store. Search answers a detailed request, forecasting drafts a purchase order that waits for approval, retention queues a win-back offer, a risky order is held, a delivery question is resolved and new products are written up for review.

  1. Search Understood “waterproof hiking boots under $150, wide fit” and showed 14 in-stock matchesAnswered
  2. Forecast Flagged a best seller that will sell out in 9 days and drafted the purchase orderNeeds approval
  3. Retention Found 212 customers likely to lapse this month and queued a win-back offerQueued
  4. Fraud check Held an order with a mismatched address and a card used for the first timeHeld
  5. Support Answered “Where is my order?” with live carrier tracking, with no wait for an agentResolved
  6. Catalog Wrote titles, attributes and alt text for 38 new products from supplier dataFor review
Example activity, Eastern TimeEvery action logged

Shoppers have changed how they find and buy

E-commerce reached 17.1% of US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, according to the US Census Bureau. More of those shoppers now start with an AI assistant, expect the store to understand plain questions and leave when it does not.

693%

Growth in visits to US retail sites from generative AI tools during the 2025 holiday season, from a small base.

Source: Adobe Analytics, January 2026
70%

Average share of online shopping carts abandoned before purchase, across 50 studies.

Source: Baymard Institute
19.3%

Share of US online sales expected to be returned in 2025. Retailers report that 9% of all returns are fraudulent.

Source: NRF and Happy Returns, October 2025
$1T

AI shopping agents could direct up to $1 trillion of US consumer retail revenue by 2030, McKinsey estimates. A store whose products, prices and stock an AI agent cannot read risks being left out of those purchases. Source: McKinsey, October 2025

Everything AI can handle in an online store

77 capabilities across nine areas. Pick an area to see what AI does there, what a person still decides and how the result is measured.

Search and discovery

A search box that understands people is often the fastest win, because shoppers who search are usually ready to buy.

  • Natural-language searchUnderstands “red dress for a beach wedding under $150” and returns products that fit, not just keyword matches.
  • Typos, synonyms and slangFinds “sneekers”, “trainers” and “kicks” without anyone maintaining a synonym list.
  • Visual searchA shopper uploads a photo and sees the closest items you sell.
  • Voice searchSpoken requests on phones and smart speakers get the same accurate results.
  • Personalized rankingOrders results by what each shopper is likely to buy, weighted by your margin and stock.
  • Automatic filtersBuilds filters such as size, material and fit from product data, even where suppliers left gaps.
  • No-result recoveryShows the nearest alternatives instead of an empty page, and reports what shoppers could not find.
  • AI merchandisingPromotes, pins or lowers products by rules you set, such as margin, season or overstock.

A person decides: which products are promoted and the business rules that ranking must follow.

Measured by: search conversion rate, searches with no result, revenue per search.

Personalization and selling

What a good store associate does in person, done for every visitor at once.

  • Product recommendations“You may also like” and “bought together” lists that update with every click.
  • Bundles and complete-the-lookSuggests sets that raise order value, priced by rules you approve.
  • Shopping assistantA chat that answers product questions, compares options and adds items to the cart.
  • Guided sellingShort quizzes that turn a shopper’s needs into a shortlist.
  • Size and fit adviceRecommends a size from past orders, returns and product measurements.
  • Virtual try-on and room previewShows clothing, eyewear, cosmetics or furniture on the shopper or in their room.
  • Personalized pages and emailsHome page, category pages and emails arranged for each visitor.
  • Ad-matched landing pagesBuilds the landing page to match the ad or search that brought the visitor.

A person decides: the brand voice, the claims the assistant may make and when it hands a shopper to your team.

Measured by: conversion rate, average order value, revenue per visitor, return rate.

Catalog and content

Search, ads and AI shopping agents all depend on accurate product data. This is where it gets fixed.

  • Titles and descriptionsWritten from your product data in your brand voice, for thousands of products at a time.
  • Attribute extraction and taggingPulls color, material, dimensions and compatibility from supplier sheets, PDFs and images.
  • Image cleanup and alt textRemoves backgrounds, standardizes shots and writes alt text for screen readers.
  • Translation and localizationAdapts content for each market, with units, sizes and terms converted.
  • SEO data and structured markupKeeps meta titles, descriptions and schema.org product markup accurate.
  • Review summariesA short, balanced summary built only from real customer reviews.
  • Catalog cleanupFinds duplicates, wrong categories and missing fields.
  • Supplier onboardingMaps a new supplier’s feed to your catalog format.
  • Buying guides and articlesDrafts the guides and articles that answer what shoppers search for.
  • Ad and social creativeProduces headline, copy and image variants ready for testing.

A person decides: what is published. You choose whether to review every item or a sample.

Measured by: time to list a new product, catalog completeness, organic traffic.

Pricing and promotions

Prices and offers that respond to demand, stock and competition, inside limits you set.

  • Dynamic pricing with limitsAdjusts prices to demand, stock and competition between the floor and ceiling you set.
  • Competitor price trackingWatches rival prices and stock and alerts you to gaps.
  • Markdown planningTimes and sizes markdowns to clear stock at the best margin.
  • Promotion targetingOffers a discount only where it is likely to change the outcome.
  • Price sensitivity analysisShows how demand for each product responds to a price change.
  • Offer and bundle testingRuns controlled tests and reports which version won.
  • Shipping threshold tuningFinds the free-shipping threshold that raises order value without hurting margin.

A person decides: price floors and ceilings, and whether a shopper’s personal data may ever influence a price.

Measured by: gross margin, sell-through rate, promotion cost per extra order.

Forecasting and inventory

Running out loses the sale. Overstock ties up cash. Forecasting reduces both.

  • Demand forecastingA forecast by product, channel and location from sales history, seasons, promotions and holidays.
  • Reorder alerts and draft ordersWarns you before a product runs out and drafts the purchase order.
  • Safety stock and reorder pointsSets them for each product from its demand pattern and supplier lead time.
  • Warehouse allocationPlaces stock where demand will be, to cut split shipments and delivery time.
  • New-product forecastingEstimates demand for a new product from similar items.
  • Supplier lead-time trackingLearns each supplier’s real delivery times and flags the ones slipping.
  • Returns forecastingPredicts how much will come back and when, so it can be resold.
  • Assortment planningShows which products to add, keep or drop for each season.

A person decides: every purchase order above the limit you set.

Measured by: forecast accuracy, stockout rate, inventory turns, cash tied up in stock.

Marketing and retention

Keeping a customer is usually cheaper than winning a new one. AI finds who is ready to buy again and who is about to leave.

  • Churn predictionScores each customer’s risk of leaving while there is still time to act.
  • Lifetime value predictionEstimates what each customer will spend, so you know whom to invest in.
  • Automatic segmentsGroups customers by behavior and updates the groups daily.
  • Next-best offerPicks the product, message and incentive for each person.
  • Send time and channelChooses email, text or on-site message and the hour each person responds.
  • Cart and browse recoveryFollows up abandoned carts and viewed products with a relevant message.
  • Win-back and reorder remindersReaches lapsed customers and reminds buyers when a product is due to run out.
  • Subscription savesOffers a pause, a swap or a discount before a subscriber cancels.
  • Loyalty personalizationMatches rewards and tiers to what each member values.
  • Ad audiences and budgetsSuggests audiences and shifts budget toward the campaigns that bring repeat buyers.

A person decides: discount limits, how often a customer may be contacted and who must never be contacted.

Measured by: repeat purchase rate, churn, lifetime value, revenue per message.

Service and after the sale

Many support contacts are the same few questions. AI answers those and passes the rest to your team with the details.

  • Order status agentAnswers “Where is my order?” with live carrier data.
  • Returns and exchanges agentChecks your policy, issues the label and offers an exchange before a refund.
  • Product questionsAnswers from your product data, manuals and policies, and cites where the answer came from.
  • Voice agentHandles routine phone calls and transfers the rest with a summary.
  • Reply draftingDrafts replies for your agents to check and send.
  • Multilingual supportServes customers in their own language without a separate team.
  • Delay noticesTells customers about a late shipment before they ask.
  • Review requests and repliesAsks for a review at the right moment and drafts replies to the ones you receive.
  • Feedback analysisFinds the themes in tickets, chats and reviews and reports them to product and operations.

A person decides: refunds above your limit, exceptions to policy and any complaint that needs judgment.

Measured by: share of contacts resolved without an agent, first response time, satisfaction score.

Operations and risk

The work between the order and the doorstep, and the losses that hide in it.

  • Fraud screeningScores each order and holds the risky ones for review.
  • Chargeback evidenceGathers the order, delivery and message records for a dispute.
  • Return-abuse detectionSpots patterns such as serial returners and empty-box claims.
  • Order routingPicks the warehouse and carrier for the lowest cost that still meets the delivery promise.
  • Delivery date promisesShows an accurate delivery date on the product page and at checkout.
  • Address checkingCorrects address errors before the label is printed.
  • Invoice and supplier matchingMatches invoices to purchase orders and receipts and flags differences.
  • Marketplace listing syncKeeps titles, prices and stock consistent across Amazon, Walmart and your own store.
  • Ask-your-data analyticsAnswers plain questions such as “Which products lost margin last month, and why?”
  • Anomaly alertsFlags a sudden drop in conversion, a pricing error or a checkout fault within minutes.

A person decides: whether a held order ships, account bans and supplier payments.

Measured by: fraud loss, chargeback rate, delivery cost per order, on-time delivery.

B2B and wholesale

Business buyers expect the same ease as consumers, with their own prices, terms and catalogs.

  • Quote draftingBuilds a quote from a request, using the customer’s price list and your stock.
  • Customer-specific pricingApplies contract prices and volume breaks without manual lookups.
  • Reorder predictionPredicts when each account will need to reorder and prompts the buyer or the rep.
  • Order entry from email and PDFReads purchase orders that arrive by email or PDF and creates the order.
  • Sales rep assistantBriefs each rep on the account, open quotes and what to offer next.
  • Account health alertsFlags accounts whose order pattern is slipping.
  • Part and compatibility finderFinds the right part in a large catalog from a part number, a model or a description.

A person decides: non-standard pricing, credit terms and contract changes.

Measured by: quote turnaround time, order entry time, reorder rate.

You do not need all of this. An AI readiness assessment ranks these use cases for your store by expected return, so the first pilot is the one most likely to pay for the next.

Search, forecasting and retention: three places to start

These three use cases have clear numbers behind them and work with the data a store already has. Most of our e-commerce projects begin with one of them.

AI search and discovery

Shoppers describe what they want in their own words and see products that fit.

  • Understands plain questions, typos and slang
  • Search by photo as well as by text
  • Results ranked by intent, margin and stock
  • Recommendations and bundles on every page
  • A shopping assistant that compares and advises

Measured by: search conversion rate, searches with no result, revenue per visitor

See bCloud AI

Demand forecasting and inventory

Know what will sell, where and when, before you place the order.

  • A forecast for every product, channel and location
  • Seasons, promotions and holidays built in
  • Alerts before a best seller runs out
  • Purchase orders drafted for your approval
  • Stock placed in the right warehouse

Measured by: forecast accuracy, stockout rate, inventory turns, cash tied up in stock

See StockSense AI

Retention and lifetime value

Keep the customers you already paid to win.

  • Predicts which customers are about to leave
  • Estimates each customer’s future value
  • Picks the offer, channel and time for each person
  • Win-back, reorder and subscription reminders
  • Discounts only where they change the outcome

Measured by: repeat purchase rate, churn, lifetime value, revenue per message

Get your store ready for AI shoppers

Shoppers are starting to ask ChatGPT, Gemini and other assistants what to buy, and some assistants can now start a checkout. This is called agentic commerce. A store has to be readable by these agents to be chosen by them.

Agent-readable catalog

Complete titles, attributes, product identifiers and schema.org markup, so an AI agent can tell exactly what you sell.

Visibility in AI answers

Product and guide content written so AI assistants can cite it, with reporting on the visits and sales they send you.

Agent checkout standards

Support for open standards such as the Agentic Commerce Protocol and the Universal Commerce Protocol, with you as the merchant of record.

Live price and stock feeds

Feeds and APIs that give agents the current price, stock and delivery date, so they do not quote out-of-date details.

Agent traffic controls

You decide which AI agents may browse and buy, how fast, and which fraud checks apply to the orders they place.

Your own store agent

An assistant on your site and in your app that knows your catalog and policies and speaks in your brand voice.

These standards are new and still changing, so we build on the product data and API layer they share. Sources: Agentic Commerce Protocol (OpenAI and Stripe) and Universal Commerce Protocol (Google, Shopify and others).

How it connects to your store

AI is added around your current platform through its APIs. You keep your store, your checkout and your data.

Store platform

Catalog, orders, customers and site activity

Business systems

ERP, warehouse, help desk, email and text tools

AI layer

Search index, forecasting models and agents, each given only the data its job needs

Limits and approvals

Price limits, discount caps, brand rules, privacy filters and human sign-off

Shoppers

Site search, chat, recommendations, email and text

Your team

Dashboards, alerts and draft orders to approve

AI shopping agents

Product feeds and checkout standards

Every action is recorded, so you can see what the AI did and why. Card numbers never reach an AI model, and customer data is shared with a model only as far as the task needs.

Estimate what a small lift is worth

Enter your store’s numbers and the improvement you want to test. The result is arithmetic on your own assumptions, not a promise.

For example, from better search and recommendations.
For example, from bundles and personalized offers.
$20,783

Added revenue per month at these lifts

$249,390

Added revenue per year

$255,000

Your monthly revenue today

Test it on your store An illustration only. Real lift varies by store and is measured in a pilot with a controlled test. Nothing you enter here is stored or sent anywhere.

Works with the platform you already run

No replatforming. We connect through each system’s APIs and apps. ATH also builds and maintains stores on Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce.

Systems AI connects to in an online store
AreaSystems we connect toWhat AI uses it for
Store platformShopify and Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Salesforce Commerce Cloud, custom and headless storesCatalog, orders, customers and site activity for search, recommendations and forecasting
MarketplacesAmazon, Walmart Marketplace, eBayListings, prices and stock kept consistent, and demand from every channel in one forecast
MarketingKlaviyo, Mailchimp, Attentive, Google Ads, Meta AdsAudiences, offers and send times chosen for each customer
Customer serviceZendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk, IntercomRoutine questions answered and replies drafted, with a handover to your team
OperationsNetSuite, QuickBooks, ShipStation, warehouse and 3PL systemsStock levels, purchase orders, shipping and invoices
PaymentsStripe, PayPal, AdyenOrder and risk signals for fraud screening. Card numbers stay with the payment provider
Data and analyticsGoogle Analytics 4, BigQuery, SnowflakeReporting and questions answered in plain language

These are examples of systems we connect to through their published APIs. Product names belong to their owners and do not imply a partnership.

Built to US rules for selling online

AI in a store touches payments, reviews, prices, marketing messages and personal data. Each of those has rules, and the AI has to follow them too.

US rules and standards that affect AI in an online store
Rule or standardWhat it means for store AIWhat we build in
PCI DSS v4.0.1Card data must stay out of systems that are not secured for it. Since March 31, 2025, every script on a payment page must be authorized and monitored.AI search and chat never receive card numbers. A card number typed into chat is masked. AI scripts are kept off payment pages or listed in your script inventory.
FTC rule on reviews and testimonialsFake reviews are banned, including AI-generated ones, and knowing violations can bring civil penalties. In force since October 2024.Review summaries draw only on real customer reviews. AI never writes a review or testimonial, and negative reviews are not filtered out.
FTC Act: truthful advertisingProduct claims, discounts and urgency messages must be true, whoever or whatever wrote them.Generated copy is checked against product data. Low-stock messages, countdowns and “was” prices come from real stock and price history.
CAN-SPAM and TCPAMarketing email needs a working opt-out, and marketing texts generally need prior written consent.AI-triggered messages go only to contacts with the right consent, honor opt-outs and quiet hours, and stay within the limits you set.
State privacy laws, including CaliforniaShoppers can opt out of the sale or sharing of their data. California’s rules on automated decision-making took effect January 1, 2026.Personalization honors opt-outs and browser signals such as Global Privacy Control. A model receives only the personal data its task needs.
New York algorithmic pricing lawSince November 10, 2025, a price set by an algorithm using a shopper’s personal data must carry a clear disclosure.By default our pricing models use demand, stock and competitor data, not personal data. If you choose personalized prices, the disclosure is shown.
ADA and WCAG 2.2The Department of Justice says the ADA applies to business websites. WCAG is the technical standard most often used to judge accessibility.AI search, chat and recommendation widgets work with keyboards and screen readers, and generated images get alt text.
NIST AI Risk Management FrameworkThe voluntary US framework for managing AI risk, widely used as a reference by enterprise buyers.Each use case gets a risk level, an owner, tests before launch and monitoring after.

This table is a planning summary, not legal advice, and laws change. Your counsel decides what applies to your store. For controls and audit evidence, see AI security and compliance.

From first call to live AI in about 90 days

One use case at a time, each tested against what you have today. The next one starts only when the first has shown its result.

Days 1–14

Assess

We review your catalog, search logs, order history and customer base, then rank the use cases by expected return.

  • Data and platform review
  • Ranked use cases with a business case
  • Pilot scope and success measures
Fixed price

Days 15–60

Pilot

We build one use case on your real data and test it on live traffic against your current setup.

  • Working AI connected to your store
  • A controlled test with real shoppers, or a back-test on past sales for forecasting
  • Limits, approvals and logging in place
Fixed price

Days 61–90

Run and expand

We operate, monitor and tune it, then start the next use case on your list.

  • Monthly results report
  • Model updates as products and seasons change
  • Next use case scoped
Monthly fee

Start faster with ATH products

AI search and demand forecasting are available as ready-made ATH products. We can also build to fit when your store needs something different.

bCloud AI

Search that understands what shoppers mean, with typo handling, image and voice search, and product recommendations. It syncs with Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Magento and WooCommerce.

See bCloud AI

StockSense AI

Forecasts demand for every product you carry, warns you before a best seller runs out and drafts the purchase order.

See StockSense AI

  • Online retail75%faster customer responses and 35% higher satisfaction for a global online retailerRead the case study

AI for e-commerce FAQs

Something else? Ask us on a call.

What is AI for e-commerce?

It is the use of AI across an online store: search that understands plain questions, product recommendations, demand forecasting, pricing, customer retention, product content, customer service, fraud checks and more. Some of it is prediction, such as forecasting demand. Some of it is AI agents that carry out tasks, such as answering an order question or drafting a purchase order.

Which AI use case should an online store start with?

The one with the clearest number behind it. For many stores that is site search, if many searches end without a purchase. It is demand forecasting if you run out of best sellers or hold too much stock, and retention if most customers buy only once. An AI readiness assessment ranks the options for your store.

Which platforms do you work with?

Shopify and Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and custom or headless stores. We connect through each platform’s APIs and apps.

Do we need to replace our store platform?

No. AI is added around the platform you already run. Your store, your checkout and your data stay where they are.

How much data do we need?

Less than most people expect. AI search and product content work from your catalog from the first day. Forecasting improves with history, and about a year of orders is a useful minimum for seasonal products. Retention models need enough repeat customers to learn from. The assessment tells you what your data can support today.

How do you measure the return?

With a controlled test. Part of your traffic sees the AI version and the rest sees your current setup, and we compare conversion rate, order value and revenue per visitor. Forecasting is tested against past sales first, then against live results.

How long before we see results?

A pilot takes about six weeks to build and test on live traffic. You see measured results from your own store at the end of it, and the decision to continue is based on those.

Will the AI change prices or send offers without our approval?

Only inside limits you set, such as a price floor and ceiling or a maximum discount. Anything outside those limits waits for a person to approve it, and every action is logged.

How is customer data protected?

Card numbers never reach an AI model. Personal data is shared with a model only as far as the task needs, and personalization honors privacy opt-outs. See AI security and compliance for how we design and test these controls.

What is agentic commerce, and do we need to prepare for it?

Agentic commerce means AI assistants that search, compare and sometimes buy for a shopper. Preparing starts with the basics: complete product data, structured markup, and accurate price and stock feeds. Those improve your own search and ads as well, so the work pays off either way.

Do you offer ready-made products as well as custom builds?

Yes. bCloud AI covers AI search and product recommendations, and StockSense AI covers demand forecasting and reordering. We build to fit when your store needs something different.

What does it cost?

A custom project starts with a fixed-price pilot. We agree the scope and the price on a call before any work begins. After the pilot, a monthly fee covers running, monitoring and improving the system. The ready-made products are priced separately.

Find your store’s best first AI use case in 30 minutes

A free call with a senior AI consultant. You’ll leave with:

  • Two or three use cases worth testing in your store
  • The data each one needs and what could hold it back
  • The scope and fixed price of a pilot