Let’s be honest, running an e-commerce brand is tough. Your customers want instant, 24/7 support and shopping experiences that feel personal. Even the best support teams can’t be everywhere at once, which can lead to long waits, unhappy customers, and lost sales. This is why AI chat has shifted from a "nice-to-have" to a must-have for any growing brand.
This guide will walk you through the top 6 AI chat solutions for e-commerce in 2025. We’ll help you pick the right tool to increase sales and make support more manageable, without the headache of overhauling your entire tech stack.
What is AI chat for e-commerce?
When we talk about ai chat for e-commerce, we’re not talking about those clunky, rule-based bots from a few years ago. A modern AI chat solution is a smart assistant that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Generative AI to understand what customers are asking. It can hold a normal conversation and securely pull from your business data to give helpful, accurate answers.
Think of it less like a FAQ page and more like your best sales associate. It can:
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Answer pre-sales questions about product sizing, stock, and shipping policies.
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Suggest products based on what a customer is looking for.
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Track orders and help process returns or exchanges automatically.
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Re-engage visitors who are about to leave their cart with a timely offer.
The biggest difference is between a basic chatbot that just recites pre-written answers and an integrated AI agent that connects to your other tools to actually get things done for a customer.
Why your brand needs AI chat for e-commerce
Adding an AI chat tool does more than just lighten the load on your support team; it can have a real effect on your revenue. Here’s why it’s become so important for online stores.
Boost sales & conversion rates with AI chat for e-commerce
When customers have questions, they want answers immediately. Forcing them to wait or dig through help docs often leads to an abandoned cart. AI chat gets rid of that delay by giving instant answers. In fact, customers who use chat are 8% more likely to make a purchase, and some businesses have seen up to a 232% increase in conversions after adding a retail chatbot.
Provide 24/7 customer support with AI chat for e-commerce
People shop at all hours, not just during your business day. An AI chat solution is always available to handle common questions like "Where is my order?" or "What’s your return policy?" This 24/7 customer support availability keeps customers happy and lets your human agents save their energy for the more complicated issues that need a human touch.
Improve customer engagement using AI chat for e-commerce
A good AI chat tool can act like a personal shopper. It can greet visitors on important pages, guide them to products they might like, and even offer a discount to encourage a purchase. This makes your website feel more like a helpful, interactive store and less like a static catalog.
Gather useful customer data with AI chat for e-commerce
Every chat is a chance to learn something new. You can see what questions pop up most often, where people get stuck in the buying process, and what they’re looking for. This feedback is incredibly useful for improving your products, marketing, and the overall shopping experience.
How we evaluated the best AI chat for e-commerce solutions
To figure out which tools are actually worth it, we judged them based on what growing e-commerce brands really need. We didn’t just look at a list of features; we considered how these tools would fit into a real business.
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Integration depth: How well does the tool play with the systems you already use? We focused on a key question: does it make you switch from your current helpdesk, like Zendesk or Gorgias, or can it work on top of them?
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AI & training quality: An AI is only as smart as its training. We looked for solutions that can learn from more than just a public help center. The best tools learn from your old support tickets, internal agent notes, product catalogs from platforms like Shopify, and private documents in Confluence or Google Docs.
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Automation & action capabilities: Can the AI just talk, or can it do things? We looked for tools that can perform tasks like automatically tagging tickets, processing refunds, or looking up live order information.
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Ease of use & scalability: How long does it take to get started? We preferred platforms that let you start small, test things out, and then scale up as your business grows.
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Value for money: Pricing can be all over the place. We looked at whether the cost is based on how many human agents you have or on how much the AI is used, to see which model makes the most financial sense.
Quick comparison: the best ai chat for e-commerce tools
| Tool | Best For | Pricing Model | Key Integration | Standout Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eesel AI | Adding AI to existing helpdesks | Interactions-based | Zendesk, Gorgias, Shopify | Trains on past tickets; AI Actions |
| Gorgias | All-in-one Shopify helpdesks | Ticket-based | Shopify, Instagram | Deep e-commerce order management |
| Intercom | Proactive customer engagement | Seat-based | Salesforce, Marketo | Proactive messaging & campaigns |
| Tidio | Small businesses & startups | Per-seat / Free tier | Shopify, Mailchimp | Affordability & ease of use |
| Botpress | Custom, developer-led builds | Usage-based | Custom APIs | Open-source & highly flexible |
| ManyChat | Social media marketing | Contact-based | Facebook, Instagram, SMS | Automating social media chats |
The 6 best AI chat for e-commerce solutions in 2025
After our review, here are our top picks for AI chat solutions that can help your e-commerce brand grow.
1. eesel AI
eesel AI works by adding a layer of intelligence on top of the tools you already use, so you don’t have to switch platforms. It connects directly with your helpdesk (like Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Gorgias) and knowledge sources to give you one unified AI. Its AI Chatbot is built on the same engine as its internal AI Agent and AI Copilot, so you get a consistent and capable experience everywhere.
What really sets eesel AI apart is how it learns from your most valuable data: your historical support tickets and agent notes. This helps it generate accurate, natural-sounding responses that actually solve customer problems. It can also perform AI Actions, like calling an API to check an order status or automatically tagging a ticket for escalation. This makes it more of an automation tool than just a simple chatbot.
Pricing: Starts at $239/month (billed annually) for the Team plan, which covers up to 1,000 monthly AI interactions and includes all core products.
Pros:
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You don’t have to get rid of the helpdesk you’re already comfortable with.
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It trains on your past tickets and private docs for much better accuracy.
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It can take action to resolve issues, not just give answers.
Cons:
- The interactions-based pricing might be a new concept if you’re used to paying per agent.
2. Gorgias
Gorgias is a helpdesk platform made specifically for e-commerce, with a very strong connection to the Shopify ecosystem. Its chat and automation tools are powerful, letting agents see a customer’s full order history and even process refunds or edit orders right from the chat window.
It’s on our list because it’s the top choice for teams that live and breathe Shopify and want an all-in-one tool. If your goal is to have customer service, sales chats, and order management all in one place, Gorgias is tough to beat.
Pricing: Starts around $50/month for its Basic plan, which covers 300 tickets. The price goes up based on usage.
Pros:
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Excellent, deep integration with Shopify.
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Brings chat, email, social media, and voice into one unified view.
Cons:
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It’s a full helpdesk replacement, which is a big project if you like your current setup.
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Its AI primarily learns from your public knowledge base, so it can’t learn from the context of past tickets like some other tools.
3. Intercom
Intercom is a customer communication platform known for its tools that proactively engage visitors. It’s more than a support tool; it’s great at turning website visitors into customers with targeted messages, product tours, and its "Fin" AI chatbot.
This is a solid option for larger e-commerce brands focused on lead generation and marketing. If you want to build detailed, automated campaigns to engage users throughout their customer journey, Intercom has the tools to do it well.
Pricing: The "Essential" plan starts at $29 per seat per month (billed annually), but costs can climb for bigger teams or more features.
Pros:
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Great for proactive, targeted messaging and user engagement.
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Has a clean user interface and powerful tools for building campaigns.
Cons:
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It can get expensive, especially as your team gets bigger.
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Like Gorgias, it’s a full platform that requires a big migration project to adopt.
4. Tidio
Tidio offers a straightforward and affordable live chat and AI chatbot solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It combines live chat, chatbots, and some email marketing features into one easy-to-use tool.
The biggest draw for Tidio is its accessibility. It has a solid free plan and a simple visual chatbot builder, making it one of the easiest ways for e-commerce brands to try AI chat without a big budget or a steep learning curve.
Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans start around $29/month.
Pros:
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Very affordable with a useful free tier, which is great for new businesses.
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The visual chatbot builder is simple and easy to get the hang of.
Cons:
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Its AI isn’t as advanced and can’t learn from unstructured data like past support tickets.
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Integrations are more limited than what you’d find on enterprise-level platforms.
5. Botpress
Botpress is a flexible platform for developers who want to build highly customized AI chatbots. It’s known for its open architecture, which gives you a ton of control and lets you build almost anything you can imagine.
This is the right choice for e-commerce businesses that have developers on staff. If you need to build complicated, unique chat workflows that connect to your own backend systems or need custom logic, Botpress has the power and flexibility to make it happen.
Pricing: Has a free plan for individual builders, with team plans starting at $89/month.
Pros:
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Extremely customizable and can be tailored to unique business needs.
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Has a strong developer community for support and shared resources.
Cons:
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You need serious technical skills to use it well.
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It has a much steeper learning curve than the other platforms on this list.
6. ManyChat
ManyChat focuses on automating chats on social media and messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and SMS. It’s a go-to tool for chat marketing, helping brands use their social DMs to drive sales.
If your e-commerce strategy relies heavily on social media for finding and selling to customers, ManyChat is a key tool. It’s great for setting up automated flows to reply to comments, run promotions, and recover abandoned carts right inside the apps your customers use daily.
Pricing: A free plan is available to start. The Pro plan starts at just $15/month and goes up based on your number of contacts.
Pros:
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The top tool for automating Instagram and Facebook Messenger chats.
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Excellent for building chat marketing campaigns and getting leads from social media.
Cons:
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It’s focused on social channels, not your website’s chat.
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The automation is more rule-based and doesn’t have the advanced conversational AI of other platforms.
3 essential tips for choosing your AI chat for e-commerce solution
Feeling a little lost? Keep these three things in mind to find the right fit for you.
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Decide if you want to add on or replace. Before you even schedule a demo, figure out your strategy. Do you want to add AI power to your current helpdesk, or are you ready to move your whole support operation to a new platform? A tool that layers on top, like eesel AI, can give you powerful AI without the massive headache of a system change.
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Look closely at the training data. An AI is only as useful as what it learns from. The most important question you can ask a vendor is: can your AI learn from our actual past customer conversations? This is the key to getting nuanced, human-like answers that solve real problems, instead of just spitting out generic FAQ responses.
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Look for "Actions," not just answers. The next wave of AI support isn’t just about giving information; it’s about solving problems on its own. Focus on tools that can take action, whether that’s looking up order details in Shopify, creating a return label, or escalating a ticket with the right tags to the right team.
The best AI chat for e-commerce is one that learns from you
Choosing the right ai chat for e-commerce isn’t about finding the tool with the longest feature list or the flashiest design. It’s about finding one that fits into your workflow and, most importantly, learns from your unique business data. While plenty of platforms can give you a chatbot, the real value comes from an AI that understands the history of your customer conversations and can actually solve problems.
Don’t just answer questions resolve them. eesel AI connects to your existing helpdesk and learns from your past tickets, private docs, and Shopify store to provide frontline support that’s truly built for your business.
Frequently asked question
Modern AI tools are highly customizable, allowing you to set a specific brand voice and tone with simple instructions. This ensures the chat experience feels natural and consistent with your other marketing, not like a generic bot.
A good system has a seamless handoff process built in. When the AI detects a complex issue or the customer asks for a person, it automatically escalates the conversation to a human agent with the full chat history for context.
Not necessarily. You can choose between all-in-one platforms that require you to migrate, or "add-on" tools that integrate directly with the systems you already use, like Zendesk or Gorgias.
It acts like a digital sales associate by proactively engaging customers, recommending relevant products, and even offering timely discounts to prevent cart abandonment. This turns passive browsing into an interactive shopping experience that drives conversions.
Reputable providers prioritize security with features like data encryption, GDPR compliance, and clear privacy policies. Look for vendors who state they won’t use your business data to train their general models, ensuring your information stays private.
The ROI comes from increased conversion rates from instant answers, higher sales from proactive engagement, and lower support costs from automating common queries. Many brands see a positive impact on both revenue and customer satisfaction within the first few months.
