In early 2024, a fast-growing online fashion retailer faced a challenge common in mobile commerce: strong traffic, good product interest — but cart abandonment stubbornly high, with over two-thirds of shoppers leaving before checkout.
Standard fixes like email reminders and discount retargeting barely moved the needle. The real issue ran deeper: the mobile storefront experience was breaking the flow between discovery and purchase.
Customers, discovering the brand through Instagram and TikTok, were ready to act — but being redirected into a traditional mobile site or app introduced friction. Browsing slowed down. Decision-making stalled.
The retailer realized something critical: On mobile, the storefront isn’t just the website. The storefront is the conversation.
A Shift to Conversational Commerce
Rather than rebuilding their site or launching a new app, the team chose a simpler path: They extended their existing storefront into WhatsApp and Apple iMessage — powered by the Ephanti Customer Engagement Platform (CEP).
This wasn’t a separate experience. Through direct integration with Shopify, the same product catalog, inventory, and pricing now lived inside messaging apps — but with a major upgrade: an AI-powered sales agent.
The new conversational storefront did more than display products. It guided customers through discovery, answered detailed product questions (like fabric type, fit, and care instructions), and helped them add items to their cart — all without leaving the chat.
Even more importantly, the AI agent wasn’t passive. It recommended related products, suggested add-ons based on style preferences, and created natural upsell and cross-sell opportunities — just like an in-store associate would.
A typical flow looked like this:
- A customer tapped a WhatsApp link after seeing a linen co-ord set on Instagram.
- The AI agent greeted them, showed available sizes, colors, and stock in real time.
- When the customer picked a top, the agent suggested matching shorts and sandals to complete the look — increasing the basket size naturally through conversation.
- All checkout steps happened directly inside the messaging thread.
No new apps.
No forced website redirects.
No dropped interest.
Closing the Loop: Seamless Cart Recovery
Beyond product discovery and checkout, the team also seamlessly integrated cart abandonment recovery directly into the messaging flow.
If a customer selected items but didn’t complete the purchase, the AI agent automatically followed up — conversationally and contextually. Messages like, “Still thinking about that linen co-ord? We’re holding it for you!” or “Sizes are selling fast — would you like us to save your cart for later?” felt personal, timely, and unintrusive.
This replaced the need for traditional email-based cart reminders, bringing recovery efforts directly into the channel where the customer had already engaged. Because everything — catalog, cart, order status — stayed synced with the Shopify backend, there was no duplication, no manual effort, and no lost data.
This final piece completed the loop: From discovery to decision, to checkout, and back to recovery if needed — all inside a single, natural conversation.
Results
The transformation didn’t require major investment or retraining. It was a lightweight addition — and it quickly delivered heavy results:
- More carts converted: Customers who entered the conversation were far more likely to complete their purchase compared to those targeted through traditional email reminders.
- Higher sales momentum: Messaging channels quickly emerged as one of the retailer’s most productive sources of revenue growth.
- Stronger customer engagement: Open rates and ongoing conversations in messaging apps far surpassed what the brand typically saw with email, creating a more active and responsive customer base.
- Increased order value: With personalized recommendations woven naturally into the chat, customers often bought complementary items they might have otherwise missed.
- Improved satisfaction and loyalty: Fast, friendly responses led to happier buyers, with customer feedback reflecting a stronger sense of connection and service.
- Internally, operations stayed the same:
- Shopify remained the single source of truth.
- Existing inventory and promotion systems stayed intact.
- Staff needed no new tools — only an extension of the channels they already supported.
A New Definition of Storefront
Today, for this retailer, the “store” isn’t just a homepage or product grid. It’s a living, dynamic conversation — where AI-powered agents act as personal stylists, helping customers find what they want, suggest what they might love next, and make buying frictionless.
It’s not a digital transformation that disrupted the business. It’s a conversation-first shift that quietly rewired it for growth.
The future storefront doesn’t load. It listens.
The Takeaway: Your Store Doesn’t Need to Wait on a Website For retailers navigating high cart abandonment and mobile friction, this case shows what’s possible when the conversation becomes the store.
With Ephanti CEP, the fashion brand brought its catalog, checkout, and support directly into WhatsApp and Apple Messages — channels already open and familiar to its audience. It created a journey where discovery, decision, and purchase happened in the same thread.
✅ Fast to deploy
✅ Built on what you already have
✅ No heavy lift, just high impact
Today, messaging isn’t just for answering questions. It’s for selling, retaining, and delighting — all within chat.
The storefront of the future doesn’t sit behind a homepage. It opens with a ‘Hello.’
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