AI voice agents for retail and e-commerce.
Help shoppers track an order, understand a return policy, or ask about a product by voice. Build with Cartesia Sonic and Ink, then connect the catalog and order systems your store uses.
Talk about retail and e-commerce
Voice AI for online stores and retail operations
Retail support spans orders, products, and stores. A conversational agent can help customers describe what they need, while your commerce systems remain the source of truth for stock, delivery, prices, and return eligibility.
E-commerce support teams
Connect order status, delivery updates, and approved return policies. Authenticate customers before exposing order details and explain when a request needs a support specialist.
Store and omnichannel operations
Answer store-hours and pickup questions, or help shoppers find product information. Inventory checks and pickup confirmations require a connection to the systems that manage each location.
Retail voice agent workflows
Answer questions before and after checkout using your catalog, order status, and return policy. Give shoppers a clear next step when store staff need to help.
Order tracking and delivery questions
Connect order and shipment status so callers can hear the latest update. Define what the agent should do when a parcel is delayed or tracking information is missing.
Returns and exchange requests
Explain the policy for the purchased item and collect the details needed for a return request. Your commerce system decides eligibility and authorizes refunds.
Product questions before checkout
Use catalog information to answer questions about size, compatibility, and care. Retrieve current availability rather than promising stock from a static script.
Store hours and pickup instructions
Answer location questions and explain pickup requirements from approved store information. Offer a staff callback for requests the agent cannot resolve.
Build an agent that knows your store’s rules.
Connect current order information and return policies. Define how shoppers verify their account and when a request needs a member of your support team.
Instructions
Help shoppers check an order or understand the return policy. Confirm identity before accessing an order. Use current store data. Ask for confirmation before submitting a request, and send exceptions to staff.
Speech to text
Ink
Text to speech
Sonic
Connected tools
- get_order_status
- get_return_policy
- request_staff_callback
Illustrative conversation
Bring voice to your commerce workflow.
Use Sonic text-to-speech in an existing retail voice application, or build the conversation on Managed Agents. Connect order and catalog APIs through your tools. Keep payment authorization in your commerce system.
Start with one retail support journey
Order-status questions are a useful pilot because they have a concrete outcome and a clear data source. Expand into actions such as returns only after the read-only workflow is reliable.
Explore Managed Agents and evaluation tools- Order accuracy: test multiple shipments, delayed deliveries, and unavailable tracking information.
- Policy consistency: verify answers against the current return rules and product information.
- Customer outcomes: review task completion, repeat contacts, and successful staff handoffs.
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Retail and e-commerce voice AI FAQs
What can a retail AI voice agent handle?
Order tracking, product questions, return-policy explanations, and pickup instructions are useful starting points. Cartesia supplies speech models and an agent runtime; your connected systems supply store data and permitted actions.
Does Cartesia include a Shopify or order-management integration?
This workflow requires the APIs or tools you connect. Check which order, catalog, and customer operations your commerce platform exposes before choosing the first task to automate.
Can the agent issue a refund?
A refund requires an authorized action in your commerce system. Define eligibility checks, confirmation, and staff review in that workflow. Generating a spoken answer does not process a refund.
How should we test a retail voice agent?
Test delayed orders, unavailable products, ambiguous order numbers, and return exceptions. Check whether the agent retrieves current information and passes unresolved requests to staff.
Can an e-commerce voice agent look up an order?
Yes, through an order-system tool you connect. Define how a customer authenticates and which order details the tool may return. Handle missing records without guessing a delivery date or shipment status.
How should the agent handle an order with multiple shipments?
Retrieve the status of each shipment separately. Explain which items belong to each delivery and use the carrier updates your order system returns. Escalate missing or conflicting tracking information to support.
Can an agent help with store pickup?
Connect location-specific opening hours, pickup requirements, and order readiness. Confirm the store and order before giving instructions. Only say an order is ready when the store system confirms it.
How do we support callers in different languages?
Check the speech-model coverage for the languages you need, then test product names, sizes, addresses, and order references. The knowledge and conversation layers also need to support the language of the call.
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