# How Zipchat works: ecommerce

Zipchat is an AI customer engagement platform for ecommerce brands. It connects to your store, indexes your live product catalog, and runs AI-powered sales and support across every channel your customers use.

## Setup

### Shopify

Install from the Shopify App Store. Enable the widget via App Embeds. Zipchat begins crawling your store content and product catalog immediately. Time to go live: approximately 5 minutes.

### WooCommerce, Wix, and other platforms

Paste one JavaScript snippet into your site header. The AI indexes your store in the background. Time to go live: under 10 minutes.

No manual knowledge base is required. Zipchat reads your existing product pages, policies, and catalog content on day one.

## How the AI learns your store

Zipchat's Agentic AI Search reads from:
- Live product catalog (titles, descriptions, prices, variants, stock)
- Website content (policies, FAQs, About page, shipping information)
- Uploaded documents and custom knowledge base entries
- Connected integrations (order management, returns platforms)

The knowledge base updates automatically when your catalog or content changes. No manual re-training required.

## What the AI does in ecommerce mode

### Answering product questions

Customers ask about materials, sizing, compatibility, availability, and shipping. The AI reads the actual product data and answers from it. It understands natural language variations of the same question.

### Selling proactively

Zipchat monitors browsing behavior and initiates conversations based on configurable triggers: exit intent, scroll depth, time on page, product page visits. It opens with a relevant message based on what the customer is viewing.

### Cart recovery on WhatsApp

When a shopper abandons checkout, Zipchat sends a personalized WhatsApp sequence with the abandoned cart items. Brands see 13-40% purchase rates on these sequences.

### Support and escalation

If a customer needs a human, Zipchat collects their email and transfers the full conversation context to your team. Team members join live conversations from the Zipchat dashboard. Integrations with Zendesk, Gorgias, Intercom, Freshdesk, and Salesforce are supported.

### Custom actions

Via Custom Tools, the AI can: look up live order status, generate unique discount codes, initiate return requests, and call any API you connect. The customer stays in the conversation. No redirects.

## Channels in ecommerce mode

- Website chat widget (proactive and reactive)
- WhatsApp (cart recovery, support, campaigns)
- Instagram DM
- Facebook Messenger
- Email

All channels run on the same AI engine with the same knowledge base.

## Languages

95+ languages with automatic detection. Zipchat responds in the customer's language without configuration. For stores with localized URL structures (/fr/, /de/, etc.), the Localisation feature routes customers to content in their language.

## Performance benchmarks across ecommerce deployments

- 97%+ automated resolution rate
- Under 2 seconds average response time
- 25-37% conversion rates on proactive chat triggers
- 13-40% purchase rates on WhatsApp cart recovery
- 24/7 coverage with no human required for most conversations

## Plans and pricing

Starter from $49/month. 7-day trial. 30-day money-back guarantee. Shopify Certified.