Conversational commerce
Quick definition
Conversational commerce is buying and selling through conversations, where customers get advice, find products and resolve questions by talking with a person or an AI assistant. It happens on website chat, messaging apps or voice.
On this page
Where the term comes from
The term was popularised by Chris Messina, then at Uber, in a 2015 Medium essay. He described conversational commerce as delivering convenience, personalisation and decision support while people are on the go, through messaging apps rather than websites and forms.
The idea is older than the name: asking a shop assistant for advice is conversational commerce. What changed is that messaging became the main way people communicate, and that software became able to hold those conversations at scale.
What it looks like in practice
A shopper on a product page asks whether a pair of shoes runs small and gets an answer based on the size guide and reviews. Another describes what they need — “a waterproof jacket for hiking, under 150 euros” — and receives three suitable products with links. A customer asks on WhatsApp whether an item is back in stock. After the purchase, the same conversation continues with delivery questions and returns.
The common thread is that the customer expresses a need in their own words and the store responds with something specific, instead of the customer having to navigate menus and filters.
What AI changes, and what it does not
Large language models make it possible to understand free-form requests and answer them in any language, at any hour. Combined with the store's catalog and stock, an AI assistant can act like a knowledgeable sales assistant for every visitor at once.
The fundamentals of selling remain. Recommendations must be accurate — a product that is out of stock or does not match the request costs trust. Prices and promotions must come from the live catalog, not from the model's guesses. And a customer who wants to talk to a person should be able to.
Conversational commerce with AI SmartTalk
AI SmartTalk connects to PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Shopify and Joomla catalogs. The assistant searches products with filters on price, stock, brand, category and variant attributes, shows them as product cards in the chat, and answers questions from product data and the store's policies. It works on the website chat and on messaging channels such as WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, and hands the conversation to the team when needed.
Frequently asked questions
Is conversational commerce the same as social commerce?
They overlap. Social commerce is selling on social networks — shoppable posts, in-app shops. Conversational commerce is selling through dialogue, which can happen on social networks, messaging apps or a website chat.
Which channels are used for conversational commerce?
Website chat widgets, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram direct messages, and voice assistants. The best channel is the one your customers already use to contact you.
Does conversational commerce increase sales?
It can, by answering hesitations before purchase and helping customers find the right product, but results depend on the quality of answers and recommendations. Measure it on your own store rather than relying on generic figures.