Conversational commerce is transforming how consumers interact with businesses by allowing them to shop, ask questions, schedule services, and make payments through familiar messaging and voice interfaces. Instead of requiring customers to navigate separate websites or applications, conversational platforms bring commerce directly into the communication channels consumers already use. This approach can reduce friction while creating faster, more convenient, and increasingly personalized customer experiences.
As messaging, voice assistants, and other digital interfaces become more deeply integrated into everyday life, retailers must support a wider variety of customer engagement preferences. Consumers may begin a conversation through text, search, voice, or another channel and expect to complete a transaction without unnecessary steps. Integrating customer service, product discovery, and digital payments into these interactions allows merchants to create more seamless shopping journeys while giving consumers greater control over how and where they engage with a business.
Conversational commerce has taken off with consumers using text and voice for things like ordering food, buying products, and paying bills. Now Apple, in partnership with major retailers, has launched a beta version of Business Chat, as the following article describes.
With the recent release of the iOS 11.3 update, Apple device owners can now use the beta version of Apple Business Chat to directly access customer service from a small group of companies that include Lowe’s, Home Depot, Newegg, 1-800-Flowers and Apple as well as Marriott, Hilton, Discover, TD Ameritrade and Wells Fargo.
“More and more, customers are showing that they prefer the convenience of messaging customer service versus making phone calls,” said Gihad Jawhar, Lowe’s VP Digital Development in a statement. “As a leader in service, Lowe’s is committed to meeting customer needs on their terms and through their communication preferences. Our support for Apple Business Chat makes messaging exponentially more powerful for our customers and our customer service agents.”
Business Chat enables users to communicate directly with businesses through a native iPhone and iPad function, with no need to download a separate application or set up an additional account. Users can access a business through Safari, Maps, Search or Siri, and start the chat by clicking on an icon or QR code to open an iMessage window.
In addition to powering chats — which can include images and links as well as text — Business Chat can be used to schedule appointments and process payments via Apple Pay. Companies will be working with Apple to create business-specific integrations, such as selecting a seat on an airline flight.
One key benefit of Business Chat is privacy protections, which are noteworthy in light of privacy and data-sharing concerns that have emerged with Facebook.
Multi-modal commerce has come into its own as consumers are deciding how they want to engage companies that they do business with. Voice, text, image, and touch are today’s evolving choices. Text has become a way of life for many people, but now voice is seeing rapid growth, thanks in large part to Amazon’s Alexa. Retailers need to decide what their customer engagement strategy will be, and they must be prepared to take inquiries, orders, and payments from consumers from a variety of different methods—not of their choosing—but of their customers.
The growth of conversational commerce reflects a broader shift toward customer-driven, multimodal shopping experiences. Businesses can no longer assume that consumers will follow a predetermined path from product discovery to checkout. Instead, they must be prepared to engage customers through messaging, voice, mobile devices, and other digital touchpoints while maintaining a consistent experience across channels.
As conversational technologies become more sophisticated, their role in commerce will continue to expand beyond customer service. Integrating secure payments, personalized recommendations, appointment scheduling, and purchasing capabilities can turn everyday conversations into complete commerce experiences. Retailers that develop flexible conversational commerce strategies will be better positioned to meet evolving customer expectations while reducing friction throughout the purchasing journey.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Associate Director, Research Services at Mercator Advisory Group
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