The retail sector confirms its interest in generative artificial intelligence technologies. After Cdiscount and Castorama, it is the turn of the DIY brand Bricorama – a brand of the Les Mousquetaires group – to launch.
Bricorama announces the launch on its e-commerce site of pAInt, an assistant using AI Gen to advise buyers in the choice of paint. A decision that can be complex without the assistance of an advisor.
The conversational assistant is the building block of omnichannel logic
pAInt is therefore a robot “designed to inspire and guide customers through every stage of their projects, from inspiration by proposing trendy styles to purchasing materials, to how to carry out the implementation.”
According to Bricorama, this new service allows it to support its customers in their so-called “Do It Yourself” projects. This trend in the DIY field is also explored by its competitor Castorama.
Last month, the brand opened access to its assistant, initially focusing on the category of portable electrical appliances. The stated ambition: “transpose the advice given in store onto the site thanks to precise and individualized recommendations.”
Bricorama is pursuing the same strategy with pAInt, a conversational tool. The virtual advisor offers choice support features and practical advice. The goal remains the sale. Thus, generative AI is directly integrated into the purchasing process.
pAInt connected to the basket to transform help into purchase
“Customers have the possibility to add products directly to the basket in one click,” specifies the company, whose assistant will draw data from the product catalog to answer questions.
In order to provide assistance, the agent is also connected to the existing video content database. Operating like a search engine with a conversational interface, pAInt provides the “most relevant tutorials from the brand, thus offering concrete demonstrations.”
On the technological side, Bricorama relied on the expertise of Accenture and its agency Accenture Song. As part of a project approach, the two actors analyzed and mapped use cases of generative AI.
Other applications are also to be expected. “The use of generative AI is intended to be extended to other product categories,” specifies the Mousquetaires brand. Note that pAInt is not limited to the Internet.
Other AI Gen use cases to come
At the point of sale, employees will also be able to use the tool to advise customers. On the technical side, the virtual assistant runs on a private Microsoft Azure cloud instance of OpenAI.
For learning, Bricorama took advantage of its data assets. pAInt was trained with patented content produced by Bricorama, “which allowed it to acquire an extremely high level of expertise”, it is further specified.
“Our customers expect a personalized, professional response, regardless of the channel they choose. With pAInt, we offer a tailor-made online experience, which can subsequently be available in store, as an extension of its omnichannel logic,” reacts Laurent Pussat, president of the DIY brands at Groupement Les Mousquetaires.