Case study
A shop full of treasures, and someone to help you find yours.
Context
This concept was first prepared as a proposal for an independent gift and lifestyle store with a wide, playful range: decoration, stationery, jewellery, toys, small gifts. The shop and its products have been replaced here by fictional ones.
The problem
A large, eclectic catalogue is part of the charm in a physical store. Online, it can feel like an Aladdin’s cave: visitors scroll, hesitate and leave without finding the right gift.
Design choices
- A friendly entry point: one “Besoin d’un conseil ?” button that stays out of the way until the visitor needs it.
- Five starting intentions: a gift, something for the home, an occasion, something original, or a precise budget.
- Tap or type: answers are buttons, but visitors can also write freely, for example “mon amie aime le rose et les paillettes”, and the assistant picks out the useful words.
- Three suggestions at a time, each with a short, human description and a link to the product page.
- The shop’s own colours and tone, so the assistant feels part of the store, not a generic chatbot.
What the demo shows
The guided flows, free-text understanding (recipient, colours, style, budget), budget filtering, product cards and a restart option. It runs on simple rules over a small fictional catalogue, in French.
What a real version needs
The shop’s real catalogue and stock, its tone of voice, testing with real customer questions, a link to each product page, and a decision on whether an AI language model would add value over simple rules.