BigCommerce AI: What it does and what's still missing (2026)

Table of Contents

• What is BigCommerce AI?
• Key types of BigCommerce AI tools and what they do
  • Product recommendations and personalization
  • Content and SEO optimization
  • Better site search and merchandising
  • Customer support automation
• How to choose and implement a BigCommerce AI solution
  • Figure out what you really need
  • Look for these key features
• Comparing top BigCommerce AI tools and pricing
  • Native BigCommerce features
  • Klevu AI
  • eesel AI
• The future of BigCommerce AI
• Give your store a boost with the right BigCommerce AI

The world of e-commerce moves ridiculously fast. Just having a great product isn't enough anymore; you also need to deliver a smart, efficient, and personal customer experience. This is where AI stops being a buzzword and starts being a real tool for growth. If you’re a merchant on BigCommerce, this new frontier is exciting, but let's be honest, it can also feel a bit overwhelming. "BigCommerce AI" isn't a single switch you flip; it's a whole ecosystem of tools designed to make your store smarter.

This guide is here to help you cut through the noise. We’ll walk through what BigCommerce AI actually is, look at the most effective ways to use it, and help you figure out which tools are the right fit for your business.

What is BigCommerce AI?

So, what does "BigCommerce AI" really mean? It’s not one specific thing. It’s a mix of artificial intelligence tools that plug into the BigCommerce platform. This includes features built by BigCommerce itself and a bunch of powerful apps you can find in their marketplace.

The goals for using AI with your store are pretty straightforward:

• Automate the boring stuff. Think about all the time spent writing product descriptions, tagging support tickets, or answering the same customer questions again and again. AI can take care of that, freeing up your team to focus on work that actually grows the business.

• Make the shopping experience personal. AI can look at a customer's behavior and show them products they're actually likely to buy. It makes the whole experience feel like it was designed just for them.

• Run a smoother operation. From smarter site search that understands what shoppers mean (not just what they type) to analytics that can predict trends, AI helps your business run more efficiently.

BigCommerce has been putting a lot of resources into this area, even teaming up with Google Cloud AI to build more powerful, native tools for merchants. According to a report from Modern Retail, these partnerships are already getting good results, which shows they’re serious about making AI accessible for everyone on their platform.

Key types of BigCommerce AI tools and what they do

AI can pop up in almost every part of the customer journey, from the moment someone lands on your site to the support they get after they buy something. Let's break down the main categories of tools you'll come across.

Product recommendations and personalization

This is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of AI in e-commerce, and for good reason. Instead of showing every visitor the same generic "best sellers," AI tools analyze what individual shoppers are doing, what they click on, what they've bought before, what they've viewed, to serve up product recommendations that are incredibly relevant.

The results can be huge. It’s not just about bumping up conversion rates; it also increases the average order value (AOV) by getting upsells and cross-sells right. BigCommerce is getting in on this with its native, Google-powered tool, which saw a ">20% increase in click-through rates" in early tests.

Content and SEO optimization

Let's be honest, creating compelling content takes a ton of time. For stores with hundreds or even thousands of products, it can feel like a never-ending task. Generative AI tools are a massive help here by speeding up the whole process.

You can use them to draft SEO-friendly product descriptions that match your brand's voice, come up with outlines for blog posts, or even write the copy for your next marketing email. BigCommerce is rolling out its own native tools to help merchants with this, which should save a ton of hours.

Better site search and merchandising

If customers can't find what they're looking for, they can't buy it. Simple as that. Traditional site search can be pretty rigid; it needs exact keywords and often comes up empty if a user has a typo or calls a product something different.

AI-powered search, like the kind offered by providers such as Klevu, is a lot smarter. It understands natural language and figures out what the user is actually trying to find, delivering results that can feel almost psychic. Beyond search, AI can also help with merchandising by automatically reordering products on category pages based on what’s popular, converting well, or most relevant to that specific shopper.

Customer support automation

This is where AI can really make a dent in your workload. Imagine having an assistant that can instantly answer common questions like "Where is my order?", help with a return, or give product details, 24/7. That's what AI in customer support can do.

But not all AI is created equal. We've all dealt with basic chatbots that just follow a script and end up being more frustrating than helpful. For automation to really work, the AI needs to do more than just spit out answers from an FAQ page. It has to connect to all your company knowledge and work smoothly with the tools you already use, like your helpdesk.

This is where specialized tools come in. For example, an AI support agent from eesel AI for BigCommerce doesn't just read a knowledge base. It learns from your past support tickets to understand your brand’s tone and the common ways you solve problems. It can connect directly to your BigCommerce store data to give personalized, correct answers about orders and products, all without your team having to do a thing.

How to choose and implement a BigCommerce AI solution

With so many options out there, picking the right tool can feel like a big decision. Here’s a simple way to think through it.

Figure out what you really need

Before you get distracted by cool-sounding features, pinpoint your single biggest headache. Are you drowning in support tickets? Are your conversion rates stuck in a rut? Is your team spending way too much time on manual tasks?

Focusing on a real problem helps you pick a tool that will give you a real return. If a high volume of support tickets is your main issue, an AI support agent is a pretty logical place to start. If conversions are the problem, then a personalization and search tool might be the answer.

Look for these key features

Once you know what you’re trying to fix, look for a solution that has these things:

• Easy setup: How much technical work is involved? Some platforms need long onboarding calls and complicated setups. In contrast, tools like eesel AI are built so you can get started on your own. With one-click helpdesk integrations, you can be up and running in minutes, not months.

• Customization and control: An AI that operates like a black box is a risky move. You need to be able to tweak its tone, personality, and what it’s allowed to do. The best tools give you full control. For example, eesel AI has a prompt editor and automation rules that let you define exactly which types of tickets the AI handles and which ones it should pass on to a human.

• Knowledge sources: Where does the AI get its information? A tool that only reads your help center has its limits. A great AI brings together knowledge from all over your business. This is a core part of how eesel AI works; it connects not just to your helpdesk but also to internal wikis like Confluence and Google Docs, and of course, your e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify.

• Simulation and testing: How can you be sure the AI is ready before you turn it loose on your customers? You'd be surprised how many tools don't have a good answer for this. Look for a solution with a solid testing environment. The simulation mode in eesel AI lets you test your setup on thousands of your own past tickets. This gives you an accurate preview of how it will perform and lets you fix any issues before it ever talks to a real customer.

Comparing top BigCommerce AI tools and pricing

Let's take a quick look at a few of the top options for BigCommerce merchants and see how they compare.

Native BigCommerce features

• Focus: Mainly on product recommendations, B2B quote generation, and writing product descriptions.

• Best for: Merchants who want some basic, built-in AI and are already on a higher-tier plan.

• Pricing: These features are typically part of BigCommerce Enterprise plans. The pricing is custom, meaning you have to "Request Pricing" from their sales team. This makes it hard to budget, as the cost isn't transparent and is likely based on your sales volume.

Klevu AI

• Focus: Advanced site search, category merchandising, and product recommendations.

• Best for: Larger stores that are laser-focused on improving product discovery and on-site conversion.

• Pricing: Klevu doesn't list its pricing publicly. You have to book a demo with their sales team to get a quote. This can be a roadblock for businesses trying to quickly compare options and often points to a higher price tag aimed at enterprise clients.

eesel AI

• Focus: All things customer support automation, including AI agents for your helpdesk, website chatbots, and tools to help your human agents.

• Best for: Stores of any size that want to cut down their support ticket volume, offer instant 24/7 answers, and free up their support team for more complex problems.

• Pricing: eesel AI has transparent pricing with no hidden per-resolution fees, so you always know what you're paying.

The future of BigCommerce AI

AI in e-commerce isn't slowing down anytime soon. BigCommerce is already looking into more advanced features, like predictive analytics that could forecast a new customer's lifetime value or help you guess what inventory you'll need in the future.

We're also seeing a move toward semantic search, which goes beyond simple keywords to understand the context and intent of a shopper's search. For BigCommerce merchants, getting on board with these tools now isn't just about being more efficient; it's about building a real, long-lasting competitive edge.

Give your store a boost with the right BigCommerce AI

BigCommerce AI is a powerful set of tools that can help you automate tasks, personalize the shopping experience, and provide the kind of customer support that keeps people coming back. As we've covered, the "best" tool really just depends on the specific problem you're trying to solve.

For merchants who feel like they're buried under a mountain of support tickets or want to offer helpful, instant answers at any time of day, a specialized support automation tool is the most direct path to making a real impact.

Ready to see how AI could handle over 50% of your support tickets? eesel AI connects to your BigCommerce store and existing helpdesk in minutes. You can even simulate it on your own past tickets for free to see what it can do before you decide to launch.