Bricorama launches pAInt, its virtual assistant based on OpenAI

The retail sector confirms its interest in generative artificial intelligence technologies. After Cdiscount and Castorama, it is the turn of the DIY brand Bricorama – brand of the group The Musketeers – to launch.

Bricorama announces the launch on its e-commerce site of pAInt, an assistant exploiting AI Gen to advise buyers in the choice of paint. A decision that can be complex without the assistance of an advisor.

The conversational assistant brick of an omnichannel logic

pAInt is therefore a robot “designed to inspire and guide customers through each stage of their projects, from inspiration by proposing trendy styles to the purchase of materials, up to how to carry out the implementation.”

According to Bricorama, this new service makes it possible to support its customers in their so-called “Do It Yourself” projects. This trend in the field of DIY is also being explored by its competitor Castorama.

Last month, the brand opened access to its assistant by initially focusing on the category of portable electrical appliances. The stated ambition: “transpose the advice provided in store on the site thanks to precise and individualized recommendations.”

Bricorama pursues the same strategy with pAInt, a conversational tool. The virtual advisor offers for this purpose features to help you choose and practical advice. The purpose remains the sale. Thus, generative AI integrates directly into the purchasing process.

pAInt connected to the shopping cart to transform the help into a purchase

“Customers have the possibility to add the products directly to the basket in one click”” specifies the company, whose assistant will draw data from the product catalog to answer questions.

In order to provide assistance, the agent is also connected to the existing video content database. Functioning as a search engine with a conversational interface, pAInt provides the most relevant “tutorials” of the brand, thus proposing concrete demonstrations.”

On the technological front, Bricorama relied on the expertise of Accenture and its Accenture Song agency. As part of a project approach, the two actors analyzed and mapped use cases of generative AI.

Other applications are also to be expected. “The use of generative AI is intended to be extended to other product categories,” specifies the brand of the Musketeers. Note that pAInt is not limited to the Internet.

Other IA Gen use cases to come

At the point of sale, employees will also be able to use the tool to advise customers. On the technical side, the virtual assistant works on a private Microsoft Azure cloud instance of OpenAI.

For learning, Bricorama has taken advantage of its data heritage. pAInt was trained with patented content made by Bricorama, “which allowed him to acquire an extremely high level of expertise,” it is still specified.

“Our customers expect a personalized professional response, regardless of the channel they choose. With pAInt, we are offering a tailor-made online experience, which can later be declined in stores, as an extension of its omnichannel logic,” reacts Laurent Pussat, the president of DIY brands of the Group Les Mousquetaires.