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Case study / AI Chatbot

An AI sommelier that never recommends what's out of stock.

A conversational buying assistant for a luxury fine-wine merchant that turns a customer's taste, occasion and budget into the right bottle from the live cellar, with the reasoning behind every pick.

More than a chatbot, it adds an intelligence layer that learns from every conversation, so the recommendations get sharper and more personal the more it is used.

Industry
Fine wine e-commerce
Type
Conversational AI
Built
Custom coded · LLM integration · Live inventory
Status
Live

01The challenge

Customers browsing a curated cellar of hundreds of wines do not know where to start. They want a knowledgeable recommendation, the kind a sommelier in the shop would give, but online they get a search box and a price filter. The merchant was losing sales to hesitation, and answering the same "what should I buy" emails by hand.

02What we built

An AI advisor trained on the merchant's own tasting notes and connected to live stock. It holds a real conversation, asks about taste, occasion and budget, then recommends specific bottles from what is actually available, always explaining why. It suggests pairings, adds context, and upsells in a way that reads as helpful rather than pushy. This is deep product knowledge, a world away from an out-of-the-box bot that only answers opening hours and delivery times.

03The intelligence layer

The real value is not the chat, it is the intelligence layer underneath it. Every conversation teaches it more about what customers respond to, which pairings land and where people hesitate. It builds a living picture of taste and intent, so recommendations move from good to highly personalised, and keep getting sharper the more the shop is used.

04How it works

Under the friendly surface sits a carefully engineered system, each part doing a specific job.

  • Grounded in the merchant's real catalogue and tasting notes, so it never invents a wine
  • Connected to live inventory in real time, so it only recommends what is in stock
  • Remembers the thread of the conversation, and the customer, picking up where they left off even on a return visit
  • Reads preference signals across conversations to sharpen what it suggests next time
  • Guardrails keep it on-brand, accurate and strictly within the range
  • Every recommendation comes with plain-English reasoning the customer can trust
  • Hands off to a human the moment a question needs the merchant's personal touch
Cellar Advisor
● Online
Something Italian under £30 for a dinner party, mains are rich pasta.
A Barbera d'Alba, 2021Bright cherry and a fresh acidity that cuts through rich, tomato-led pasta beautifully.£24. In stock. Crowd-pleasing and very food-friendly.
Could I push to about £40 for something with more depth?
A Chianti Classico Riserva, 2019More structure and savoury depth, still Italian, still made for the table.£38. In stock. A clear step up for the occasion.Pairs with: aged parmesan
What it does

Learns as it goes

An intelligence layer that learns from every conversation, so recommendations get more personal over time.

Remembers you

Recalls past conversations and preferences, so a returning customer is met like a regular, not a stranger.

Live stock aware

Connected to inventory, so it never recommends a sold-out bottle.

Reasoned answers

Every pick comes with the why, in plain English, building trust.

Pairings & context

Suggests food matches and adds the detail a good sommelier would.

Helpful upsell

Nudges to a better bottle when it genuinely fits, never pushy.

On-brand voice

Guardrails keep it accurate, in range and sounding like the merchant.

Speaks their language

Holds the conversation in whatever language the customer opens with.

Merchant insight

Surfaces what customers keep asking for, feeding real demand back into buying decisions.

The result

Confident buyers, fewer dead ends.

More

customers reaching a confident choice instead of abandoning the basket.

Higher

average order value as helpful upsell guides buyers to the right step up.

Fewer

"what should I buy" emails for the team to answer by hand.

Want one of these for your business?

We build conversational AI grounded in your real data, for any industry. This is the opposite of an out-of-the-box bot that recites opening hours and delivery times. It is a genuine intelligence layer, with deep knowledge of your business, that learns from every conversation and gets more personal the more it is used.

Start a project →