Williams-Sonoma’s AI Assistant Triples Shopper Purchases

Williams-Sonoma is putting hard numbers behind what conversational artificial intelligence can do for a retailer’s bottom line.

Engagement with Olive, Williams-Sonoma’s AI shopping assistant, has risen 700% since the start of the year, and revenue tied to the tool is up 620%, Sameer Hassan, the company’s chief technology and digital officer, said during a second-quarter earnings call with analysts Aug. 26.

“And customers who engage with Olive convert at three times a higher rate,” Hassan said.

Meanwhile, personalized eCommerce visits now generate roughly nine times the revenue of an average visit, up from two times last year, Hassan said during the call.

The results arrived alongside broader financial strength. Second-quarter net revenue rose 6.7% year over year to $1.96 billion, and comparable brand revenue accelerated to 6.2% from 4.8% in the first quarter, Williams-Sonoma CEO Jeff Howie said during the call.

Pottery Barn’s Otto Is Already Handling 70% of Interactions Alone

Williams-Sonoma extended the same approach to Pottery Barn this month, launching a new AI assistant called Otto. More than 70% of early engagements with Otto have been resolved without a human handoff, Hassan said on the same call. Otto goes beyond simple product search, coordinating furnishings across a room, from sofa to rug, and accounting for details like rug sizing and outdoor material durability. When a conversation calls for more help, Otto can book a design consultation or route the shopper directly to a designer.

“Otto will help you narrow down the right piece for your space, coordinate items that go together, soap and a rug,” Hassan said during the call. “It works room by room. He knows rug sizing, outdoor materials, the way that our associates do.”

The rollout is early, but the results so far are following the same pattern Olive established, Hassan said.

Other Retailers Are Seeing the Same Pattern

Williams-Sonoma’s numbers fit a broader pattern already showing up across retail. Shoppers arriving at a retail site from an AI referral convert 54% better than shoppers arriving from any other source, Adobe for Business reported in June.

Albertsons has reported a similar effect at a smaller scale. Customers using its basic conversational search increase order value by 10%, and those using its more comprehensive assistant, one that suggests recipes matched to dietary preferences, increase order value by 26%.

The pattern also extends to where retailers plan to spend next, the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Global Digital Shopping Index: The AI-Powered Shopper Has Arrived” found in June. AI shopping assistants are now the most frequently cited digital capability retailers plan to invest in over the next three years, named by 37% of merchants surveyed, even as spending on some longer-established digital features levels off.

Williams-Sonoma’s 700% engagement jump and three times conversion lift, verified directly through an earnings call rather than a pilot estimate, are among the clearest data points yet for why that budget shift is happening.