To help its customers during one of their favorite pastimes, the Castorama brand has launched a conversational agent based on AI, a sort of ChatGPT DIY.
“ At Casto, there is everything you need », Said this famous slogan which remained in the same collective. “ And even an AI-powered chatbot », we could add today, breaking the rhyme a little! Castorama stands out by launching the very first conversational agent based on generative artificial intelligence in the field of DIY and home improvement. This innovation is part of the brand’s ongoing efforts to improve the online experience of its customers.
The first DIY AI chatbot
The Castorama brand, aware that 80% of its customers are now starting their purchases online, is launching with this conversational robot using generative AI, an intuitive tool that offers individualized product recommendations and advice on DIY projects. , initially covering portable electrical appliances, before extending to the entire catalog of products and services.
Developed in test & learn mode, the Hello Casto chatbot, thanks to its ease of use, transposes in-store advice onto the site. Soon, it will even be able to analyze photos to conduct visual research, and thus answer specific questions such as choosing a drill or installing a work surface.
For Romain Roulleau, marketing, digital and customer director at Castorama, it is important to emphasize “ the immediacy, personalization, and reliability of the conversational agent’s responses “. The innovation aims to make DIY accessible to beginners and DIY enthusiasts, but also to answer technical questions from experts, supporting customers remotely in all their projects.
Hello Casto is well established, even don’t be too demanding
The Kingfisher group, parent company of Castorama, has developed Athena, a platform aggregating several language models (LLM). Athena manages the conversations generated by the conversational agent, and its mission is to ensure the protection of the data of Castorama and its customers, an issue which is important in the emergence of chatbots. The technology also includes a moderation function, to guarantee a secure customer experience and avoid possible abuses.
To implement this conversational agent, Castorama collaborated with the company Razorfish, the digital agency of the Publicis Group. In any case, the Kingfisher group is not stopping itself from extending the conversational agent to its other brands, such as Brico Dépôt.
From what we were able to see during our few tests, Hello Casto provides coherent answers, and seems to have adopted the advice posture. On the other hand, when we tickle him by asking him, as we would a human advisor, to choose between this or that tool for a particular need, he reminds us that he has no opinions. Frustrating at the time, but reassuring when you think about it.
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