AI shopping assistant for Shopify stores: helps shoppers choose, with live prices

What is an AI shopping assistant for Shopify?

An AI shopping assistant for Shopify is a chat on your storefront that helps a shopper decide what to buy from your catalog. Instead of a search box or a FAQ bot, it holds a short conversation: it finds out what the shopper needs, suggests matching products with reasons, answers questions about them and helps add the right one to the cart.

The phrase is used for two different things. Consumer shopping assistants live in a browser or a phone and search many stores for one person. A store's AI shopping assistant works for the merchant: it only knows and sells that store's products, speaks in that store's voice and hands off to that store's team. Tycoon is the second kind. For the wider category, see the glossary entry for AI shopping assistant. For how it differs from a support bot, see the AI chatbot for Shopify page.

How does Tycoon help a shopper choose?

Tycoon follows the order a good store associate would: it understands the need first, then recommends. If the shopper has not given the deciding detail, it asks one short question built from your own catalog. Once the need is clear, it suggests products, each with a reason tied to what the shopper said.

Here is the flow, step by step:

1. Understand the need. The need is worked out from the shopper's message and her earlier ones, using your store's own option names (size, shade, material). If she already said what she wants, the question is skipped.
2. Ask one question, only if needed. One question at a time, never a form. The question comes from your catalog: a store that sells shoes in widths asks about width; a skincare store asks about skin type.
3. Suggest products, each with a reason. Usually two clearly different matches side by side, so the shopper can pick between them, with more options behind a button. When only one product fits, it shows one.
4. Show product cards. Real images from your store, the live price, the compare-at price when a product is on sale, and the variant she described already selected.
5. Compare two products on request. When a shopper names two products, Tycoon explains how they differ, using only your store's own product information. If your store's text cannot tell them apart, it says so instead of guessing.
6. Add to cart. The shopper taps Add to cart and the product goes into your store's real cart, so the theme's cart count updates. Tycoon never adds anything on its own. A checkout button sits in the chat.

How recommendations are chosen is covered on the AI product recommendations page.

Where do the prices in the assistant's answers come from?

From your store, live, every time. Tycoon reads price, compare-at price and stock from your store for each answer and does not store them. Every reply is written in full and checked before it is sent, with no streaming. A draft whose figure does not match the live data is blocked and rewritten.

This matters most for an assistant that sells. A recommendation is only useful if the price on the card is the price at checkout. The language model is never the source of a price, a stock state, a delivery date or a discount code: those come from your live store or from store facts you approved. Shipping thresholds and return windows, for example, are stated only after you approve them during setup. More on why assistants get figures wrong in AI chatbot hallucinations: prices and stock.

What does a conversation look like?

Below are three illustrations on invented sample stores. They show the shape of a conversation, not real results.

Illustration 1: a sample skincare store, need unclear

Shopper: I need a moisturizer for under makeup.

Assistant: Happy to help. Is your skin more on the dry side, oily, or a mix?

Shopper: Dry, especially in winter.

Assistant: Two good options for dry skin under makeup. The first is a rich cream that sinks in before foundation; the second is lighter, if you prefer less on your skin in the morning. (Two product cards follow, each with its image, live price and the 50 ml size selected.)

Illustration 2: a sample shoe store, need already clear

Shopper: Running shoes for road, size 9, wide.

Assistant: This road shoe comes in a wide fit and is in stock in 9 wide, so I've selected that on the card. If you'd like more cushioning for longer runs, the second option is softer underfoot. (Cards show size 9, wide fit, preselected, with live prices.)

The question is skipped because the shopper already gave size, width and use.

Illustration 3: a sample furniture store, comparing two products

Shopper: What's the difference between the oak side table and the walnut one?

Assistant: The oak table is lighter in color and has a lower shelf; the walnut one is darker and has a drawer instead. If you need hidden storage, the walnut one fits better. Want me to add one to your cart?

The comparison uses only what the store's own product pages say. When an answer could include an offer, Tycoon makes at most one: a matching add-on, a bundle or the nudge that unlocks free shipping. It makes none when the shopper sounds upset, skeptical or hesitant.

What does it ask first in your type of store?

Each type of store has its own deciding detail, and Tycoon asks about that detail first. It learns the options from your own catalog, size charts and FAQ on install, so the question fits the products you actually sell.

Tycoon does not give medical, legal, financial or safety advice, and it does not invent ingredients, certifications or policies.

What else does the assistant do besides recommending?

Choosing is the main job, but shoppers also ask practical questions before and after they buy. Tycoon answers everyday questions around the clock: shipping times, sizing, stock and your returns policy when asked. Shoppers signed in to your store's customer account can check their own recent orders on the Growth plan and up. When a person is needed, it hands off to your team.

• Honest about being AI. The window is labelled "AI assistant", it never pretends to be human, and it always offers a person from your team. You cannot switch this off.
• Human hand-off in one tap. WhatsApp by default, or phone, email or your store's chat app. See integrations.
• 16 languages. It answers each shopper in the language they write in, with right-to-left layouts for Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew. See languages.
• Your rules and an off switch. You can set working hours or switch it off; while it is off, the chat icon is hidden.
• Light on your storefront. It appears through a theme app extension with no theme code edits, and the loader is designed to stay around 10 KB.

The full list of jobs, with the plan each starts on, is on use cases.

How do you choose an AI shopping assistant for your store?

Test accuracy before features. Change a price in your admin and ask the assistant about that product. Ask it for a discount code you never created. Write to it in another language on a phone. Then check how it hands off to a person, how much it adds to page weight, what customer data it reads and what unit you are billed on.

Our 20-point checklist for choosing an AI shopping assistant covers each test, and Shopify AI chatbot apps compared lines up named apps. It is also worth reading what merchants complain about after installing chat apps. In our study of 233 critical merchant reviews of AI chat and help-desk apps, slow or absent vendor support came up most often (81 times), and wrong AI answers came up 23 times.

How much does it cost and how do you try it?

Tycoon is billed through Shopify and priced by conversations a month. There is a Free plan with 25 conversations a month, then Starter at $59 (350), Growth at $99 (2,000), Pro at $119 (6,000) and Tycoon at $299 (12,500), in USD before tax. It never upgrades you automatically and has no overage fees.

At the limit the AI agent pauses until the next month, an upgrade or extra conversations, and the chat stays: shoppers can still reach your team or leave a message. Full details are on pricing. To see how it answers questions about your own catalog before you install anything, open a free demo on your store.

Tycoon is an independent app, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Shopify.

Frequently asked questions