alby Transforms AI Shopping From Basic Chatbots to Intelligent Shopping Companions

New capabilities elevate AI shopping assistants to proactive guides for personalized, conversational product discovery

NEW YORK, July 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- alby, the AI shopping agent trusted by leading e-commerce brands, today announced four new tools that transform AI shopping assistants from basic Q&A chatbots into true shopping companions. The new capabilities enable alby to proactively guide shoppers like an experienced in-store associate, anticipating questions and concerns to provide confidence throughout the buying journey, while capturing insights to optimize future experiences with the brand.

"Today's shoppers expect personalized guidance and increasingly use AI agents to help them find what they need," said Fayez Mohamood, CEO of Bluecore (alby’s parent company). "These new features help retailers exceed these expectations with an AI agent that's an expert in their products, brand language, and real-time shopper conversations. We're moving from reactive chatbots to proactive shopping companions that preempt questions, give shoppers the confidence to buy, and take real action to drive purchases."

The four new advancements—Product Advisor, Playbooks, In-Session Context, and Recommendations—enable deeper customer engagement, increased operational efficiency, and measurable revenue growth while giving brands unprecedented control over what their AI agent is able to do.

• Product Advisor: Transforms product discovery into a conversational, human-like exchange, guiding shoppers to exactly the right products through insightful questions. Like an experienced in-store associate who understands what customers really want, Product Advisor moves beyond simple searches to creating meaningful dialogue that uncovers true shopping intent.
• Playbooks: Empowers brands to easily coach their AI agent using simple, natural-language instructions. Rather than just answering questions, alby can now confidently handle specific shopping scenarios, taking proactive actions that turn conversations into conversions. This feature allows retailers to coach their agent on helping shoppers find the right size jeans or pick out a gift.
• In-Session Context: Creates seamless, personal connections by enabling the AI agent to remember what shoppers have already browsed, clicked, or searched during their session. This makes every conversation feel tailored and relevant, eliminating the robotic or repetitive interactions and questions that are common with traditional chatbots. For example, the agent knows you wear size 7 shoes from your browsing and will only suggest that size.
• Recommendations: Moves beyond generic suggestions to serve contextual product recommendations that shoppers genuinely appreciate. These intelligent suggestions feel timely, relevant, and personalized, adding true value rather than creating additional noise in the shopping experience.

"We're excited to explore the new capabilities alby is announcing this launch week. At DXL, understanding and proactively meeting the needs of every customer is at the core of our strategy," said Jim Reath, Chief Marketing Officer, DXL. "With features like Product Advisor and In-Session Context, alby will empower us to create even deeper, more personalized connections that guide our customers through their shopping journey. Bluecore and alby continue to be a strategic partner who not only bring innovative technology but actively contribute to the success of our business."

"OLEADA is the premier workstyle brand that goes beyond business as usual: crafting thoughtfully engineered handbags that are as versatile and inspiring as the women who carry them. The new features from Alby fit right in with our approach," said Tiffany Zhou, Founder, Creative Director, OLEADA. "We're excited to see how Alby will simplify the shopping experience and go beyond business as usual, by helping our customers find the exact pieces to complement their WorkStyle."

These features represent alby's continued evolution from answering shopper questions to proactively and intelligently guiding them toward purchase decisions. The AI agent learns what shoppers care about most in every conversation and shares those insights to help marketers and merchandisers improve their experience and increase revenue.

You can learn more about alby's full platform at alby.com.

About Bluecore and alby
Bluecore's suite of retail marketing technology creates personalized shopping experiences across all consumer-facing digital channels—transforming anonymous shoppers into known customers along the way.

With its AI shopping agent alby, Bluecore is enabling retailers—from enterprise to SMB—to predict and answer shoppers' questions, significantly increasing their likelihood of purchase. alby integrates directly into retailers' product catalogs, anticipates their intent and progresses them through the buying journey. It simultaneously equips retailers with an entirely new dataset: the questions shoppers ask right before they buy. This data fuels their ability to personalize future interactions across every channel. Through alby, Bluecore is preparing retailers for the agentic future of commerce, where both AI agents and humans shop together.

More than 400 leading retailers, including Wayfair, Tapestry, Express, Lenovo and Alo Yoga, and a growing number of Shopify brands trust Bluecore to accelerate profitable growth. Learn more at Bluecore.

SOURCE alby