DorrisStart with the work you repeat every day and keep a person on the decisions. In a store that means drafting customer replies, summing up long threads, answering product questions from your own notes, writing product and blog copy, and pulling your numbers into one view. There are three ways in: a chat assistant (from $20 a month), apps with AI built in, or your own app that AI builds and works inside.
What jobs does AI do well in a store?
Five, in the order I'd try them.
- Draft a customer reply. It reads the message and the order and writes a first version. You read it, change what's wrong and send it. In my own app, a button on each conversation does this, and another sums up a long thread so I don't read all of it.
- Sum up a long thread. A customer, three emails, a refund and a replacement: one paragraph of what happened and what is still open.
- Answer product questions from your own notes. Sizes, fit, what's in the box, what a part is for. You write the notes once. The AI answers from them, and not from the internet's idea of your product.
- Write product and blog copy. First drafts you edit. Don't publish what you haven't read.
- Pull your numbers into one view. Orders, stock and messages in one place, with a short plain-English summary of what changed.
What are the three ways in?
| What | Cost | The upside | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| A chat assistant you use yourself | From $20 a month for the cheapest plan that runs a coding agent | Start today, with no setup | You paste things in and copy things out. It doesn't see your orders unless you give them to it |
| Apps with AI built in | Each app's own fee | It works inside the tool you already use | A fee per app, and the AI only knows that app's data. Shopify's own assistant, Sidekick, is for you, the merchant: Shopify describes it as an AI-enabled assistant in your admin for advice, content and tasks, and it shows changes for you to review. Check your plan for what it includes |
| Your own app, built by AI and with AI inside | Paid once to have it built, then your own hosting and AI plan. Mine costs about $145 a month to run, by my estimate | The AI sees your orders, your inbox and your notes in one place | Someone has to build it, and you maintain it with an AI assistant |
If you're not sure, use the first. A month of using a chat assistant on your real work tells you more about what you'd want built than any list.
What shouldn't I hand to AI?
Refund decisions. Anything legal: a chargeback response, a warranty dispute, terms. Anything that moves money. Anything that goes to a customer unread.
The rule I use: AI drafts, I decide. It can also prepare a decision, such as "this order is past the return window, here is what your policy says". The yes or no is yours.
What happens to my data?
Two questions: what you send, and where it lives.
What you send: anything you paste into a chat assistant goes to that company. Read the data terms of the plan you pick, and don't paste what you wouldn't email to a stranger, such as full card or bank details.
Where it lives: in my app, my customers' and orders' details stay in my store and my inboxes, plus the app's own database on my hosting. The AI only sees what the app sends it for a task, and only where I've switched that on.
What does a four-week start look like?
- Week 1: find the repeat work. Tally the jobs you do again and again. This guide shows how. Save your most-sent replies.
- Week 2: drafts. Use a chat assistant to draft replies from those saved ones. You read every draft and send it yourself.
- Week 3: summaries and product questions. Ask it to sum up your longest open threads. Write ten product notes and have it answer five real customer questions from them.
- Week 4: decide. Look at what saved time. If the saving is in one place, such as support, put AI there on purpose. If you want it to see your orders, that's the case for your own app.
How do I do it in my store?
My business runs on an app AI built for me, and AI works inside it where I've switched it on. What running a store with an AI agent looks like has what got built, in order, and what it costs. If you'd like one built for your store, book a demo.
Questions
Where should a small Shopify store start with AI?
With the work you repeat every day: draft replies, thread summaries and product questions. Keep a person on refunds, anything legal and anything that moves money.
How much does it cost to use AI in a Shopify store?
A chat assistant starts at $20 a month. An app with AI built in has its own fee. Your own app costs once to build, then your own hosting and AI plan.
Will AI send messages to my customers on its own?
Only if you switch that on. We'd start with drafts you read and send yourself.
Is my customer data safe with AI?
It depends on the plan and the tool. Read the data terms before you paste in customer details, and share only what a task needs.
Want it built for you? Book a demo. Or build it yourself: the kit.