Conversational commerce
Conversational commerce — Conversational commerce is selling and supporting customers through chat interfaces — web widgets, messaging apps, voice — typically powered by AI agents that recommend products and resolve support questions in real time.
The term was coined by Chris Messina in 2015 to describe the convergence of messaging apps and ecommerce. A decade on, it covers any commerce flow driven by chat: AI agents on storefronts, WhatsApp shopping, Instagram DM commerce, voice ordering.
The shift matters because shoppers ask questions before they buy — sizing, materials, shipping, fit. Static product pages can only answer questions the merchant anticipated. Conversational commerce answers the question the shopper actually has, in their words.
Modern conversational commerce relies on vector search over product catalogs, intent detection, and confidence-gated handoff to humans. The tools that work are honest about what they don't know — they hand off rather than hallucinate.
See conversational commerce in action
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