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AI Shop Assistant (Chat Widget)

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What is the AI Shop Assistant?

ExpertRec’s AI Shop Assistant is a ChatGPT-powered conversational shopping widget that you can embed on your store. It acts as a virtual shopping assistant, helping customers find products through natural conversation — turning your storefront into an interactive, AI-guided shopping experience.

Instead of forcing customers to type precise keywords into a search box, the AI Shop Assistant lets them describe what they need the way they would talk to a store associate. The assistant interprets intent, asks follow-up questions, and recommends relevant products from your catalog in real time.

Key Capabilities

  • Conversational product discovery: Customers can describe what they’re looking for in natural language (e.g. “I need a waterproof jacket for hiking in cold weather under $150”).
  • AI-generated product recommendations: The assistant suggests products based on conversation context and catalog relevance.
  • Natural language query understanding: Handles complex, multi-part requests — size, color, budget, use case — in a single message.
  • Context-aware follow-up questions: Remembers conversation history to refine results across multiple turns.
  • Product comparison assistance: Can compare features, specs, and pricing across products the customer is considering.
  • Multi-language support: Understands and responds in multiple languages to serve international shoppers.

How to Install

  1. Log in to your ExpertRec dashboard.
  2. Navigate to AI Shop Assistant settings.
  3. Configure the widget appearance — colors, position, and greeting message.
  4. Copy the embed code snippet provided on the settings page.
  5. Add the snippet to your store’s theme, just before the closing </body> tag.

Shopify Installation

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes > Edit code, open theme.liquid, and paste the embed snippet above the closing </body> tag. Save the file.

Custom Sites

For custom-built stores, add the script tag directly to your HTML template, for example:

<script src="https://assistant.expertrec.com/widget.js?id=YOUR_API_KEY"></script>

Configuration Options

  • Widget position: bottom-right or bottom-left of the viewport.
  • Primary color and theme: match your brand’s look and feel.
  • Custom greeting message: set the first message the assistant shows visitors.
  • AI behavior settings: tone of voice, response length, and recommendation style.
  • Product display format: choose how products appear inside the chat — card, list, or compact view.

Technical Details (for Developers)

  • Backend: FastAPI on Python for low-latency API serving.
  • Database: PostgreSQL with the pgvector extension for semantic product search.
  • Caching: Redis for session management and conversation state.
  • Embeddings: Product catalog is embedded with a transformer model for semantic understanding and retrieval.

Summary

The AI Shop Assistant brings conversational commerce to your store with minimal setup. Once installed, customers can chat their way to the right product, while you get a differentiated shopping experience that works across Shopify and custom storefronts.

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