Homeware retailer, Dunelm, has launched ‘Ask Dunelm’, a new AI-powered shopping assistant, to help customers discover products, styles and inspiration through conversational commerce. 

Partnering with Google Cloud, Dunelm becomes one of the first UK retailers to launch the new multi-modal shopping agent on the Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience product suite. 

Live on the Dunelm App, Ask Dunelm lets customers describe what they are looking for, ask questions about products, visualise items in their homes and receive tailored recommendations. 

John Gahagan, CTIO at Dunelm, said that Ask Dunelm represents “a significant step up in how customers can discover products… through natural conversation rather than traditional search methods.” 

“Retail is entering a new era of conversational commerce,” Andrea Williamson, Director of Retail, Consumer and Travel UKI at Google Cloud, added. “Dunelm’s agent can help turn customer inspiration into reality… [and] bridges the gap between digital browsing and expert advice.”

The move, designed to offer a more “intuitive” customer experience, builds upon the retailer’s broader investment in AI and digital.

This follows the launch of the Dunelm’s app earlier this year. Already downloaded by half a million users, the app connects the retailer’s digital and physical offerings, via AI-search and online discovery for in-store services, such as Click & Collect.

“This is an exciting milestone, but it’s only the beginning,” Gahagan continued. “As we continue to develop our app and broader omnichannel experience, we’ll keep introducing new features that bring together the best of digital innovation and our specialist homewares expertise.”