AI Firms Join Forces With eCommerce Giants to Improve Shopper Conversion | PYMNTS.com

Coveo’s recent partnership with Shopify highlights a trend of artificial intelligence (AI) companies teaming up with eCommerce platforms to enhance customer engagement.

Through this new collaboration, Shopify merchants gain access to Coveo’s AI for personalized search and product recommendations, helping online stores improve customer journeys and streamline operations. Experts say such partnerships are redefining the competitive landscape in eCommerce as AI-powered tools for discovery and personalization become essential for attracting and retaining customers in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace.

“Ecommerce brands are perfectly positioned to create responsive shopping journeys by analyzing customer behavior in real time, particularly at the moment of purchase,” Katelyn Daniell, co-founder of Precision Retail, an AI-powered retail survey plug-in that integrates with Shopify, told PYMNTS. “AI integration with eCommerce platforms like Shopify is allowing SMBs to offer a similar level of personalization as larger players without the need to retain a specialized tech team.”

Getting Personal

Coveo’s recent integration with Shopify Plus reflects a broader trend in retail toward advanced personalization. Coveo’s technology, which includes machine learning-based search and content recommendations, enables Shopify merchants to tailor results and recommendations in real-time based on customer behavior, preferences and search habits.

For instance, Coveo’s system interprets specific search terms and vague or inconsistent queries, making product discovery more accurate and reducing the likelihood of “no results” pages, which can lead to customer drop-offs.

This partnership arrives amid intense competition in online retail, where platforms are pressured to deliver user experiences that feel as personalized as those of major players like Amazon. By embedding Coveo’s AI within Shopify Plus, merchants can offer customized shopping journeys without needing extensive in-house tech resources. Coveo’s system automatically adjusts search relevance and product visibility, analyzing patterns and responding to trends, such as seasonal preferences or recent spikes in demand, without merchants needing manual tuning.

Salesforce’s partnership with Amazon and Google Cloud’s work with H&M are other signs of AI teaming up with retail giants to reshape online shopping. These alliances equip retailers with advanced tools for personalized search and recommendations.

“By leveraging data from across the entire customer journey, AI creates a more holistic and intuitive shopping experience, improving conversion rates and customer satisfaction,” David McInerney, commercial manager of data privacy at Cassie, told PYMNTS. “As these partnerships deepen, eCommerce platforms are not just reacting to customer behavior but anticipating needs, driving a more dynamic and personalized approach to online shopping.”

Keeping Customers Loyal

Brand loyalty is essential for boosting revenue, McInerney explained, and partnerships can play a key role in this. Acquiring new customers costs five times more than retaining existing ones, making it crucial for brands to build strong relationships through respectful data practices and a sense of customer value. In retail, partnerships with AI and eCommerce platforms help brands deliver the personalized experiences customers now expect.

“As eCommerce brands race to keep pace with expectations on personalization and privacy, buyers are growing increasingly uneasy about their personal data security,” he added. “Automated decisions by AI are also a cause for concern, as they leave consumers feeling powerless regarding the data they consent to share.”

Partnerships between AI companies and major eCommerce platforms like Shopify enable smaller online businesses to offer personalized experiences, leveling the playing field with larger brands, Greg Zakowicz, senior eCommerce expert at Omnisend told PYMNTS. However, he cautioned that businesses should view AI as a tool rather than a complete solution to all their challenges.

“Brands need to utilize other tools in conjunction to help create a unified shopping experience, such as marketing channels like email and SMS and remarketing channels like Meta and Google,” he added. “Hoping on-site AI tools will convert all shoppers is a fool’s errand. Tools can help, but a holistic marketing program is still required to achieve maximum success.”