If you’re a Shopify brand losing visitors who never convert, here’s how today’s AI sales tools really compare — and which one fits your products.
The short answer
If you want an AI sales agent that converts more Shopify visitors into buyers, the honest answer depends on your price point. For an on-site AI chat concierge, Rep AI (and Alhena) are strong, sales-focused picks. Shopify Inbox is free native chat; Klaviyo is an email/SMS engine that works after the visit, not on the storefront. Immerss is built for high-consideration selling — a proactive AI Sales Agent that hands off to live one-to-one video, keeping conversion Human, Personal, and Measurable.
Why “AI sales agent” means different things
Almost every tool in this space now says “AI” and “sales,” but they do genuinely different jobs. Sort them by where and how they try to win the sale:
- On-site AI sales agents engage visitors in real time on your storefront — answering questions from your catalog, recommending products, and nudging toward checkout. Rep AI, Alhena, and Immerss live here.
- Native store chat like Shopify Inbox handles customer messaging with basic automated replies. Useful and free, but it’s not an autonomous, proactive seller.
- Lifecycle marketing engines like Klaviyo re-engage shoppers off-site through email, SMS, and WhatsApp after they’ve left. Excellent for retention and abandonment flows — but it isn’t selling on the page in the moment.
The mistake is comparing all of these as if they’re interchangeable. A Shopify brand that needs to convert more of the visitors already on the site needs an on-site agent, not a bigger email program. We break the categories down further in AI sales agent vs chatbot vs live commerce.
The honest landscape
Here’s how the names you’ll evaluate actually line up:
- AI sales concierge — Rep AI is a ChatGPT-style on-site agent that recommends products, automates support, and hands off to a text live-chat agent when needed. Alhena is a similar multi-agent platform with in-chat add-to-cart and agentic checkout. Both are genuinely sales-oriented.
- Native store messaging — Shopify Inbox is Shopify’s free chat app for talking to customers, with simple automations. A fine starting point, not a conversion engine.
- Marketing automation — Klaviyo is the leading email/SMS/WhatsApp platform for ecommerce lifecycle flows. It grows revenue from people who already gave you their contact, off the storefront.
- AI + human live commerce — Immerss runs a proactive AI Sales Agent on the storefront and escalates high-intent shoppers to a human on live one-to-one video, plus a Video Commerce layer.
The closest comparisons to “an AI that sells” are Rep AI and Alhena. The real fork is what happens when the AI reaches its limit on a high-value purchase: most stop at text chat; Immerss puts a person on live video.
Comparison at a glance
| Capability | Immerss | Rep AI | Shopify Inbox | Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | AI sells, human closes on live video | On-site AI sales concierge (chat) | Native Shopify chat / messaging | Email/SMS/WhatsApp marketing |
| Proactive on-site AI sales agent | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ (basic auto-replies) | ➖ (not an on-site agent) |
| Human handoff to live 1-to-1 video | ✅ Live Co-Shopping | ➖ (text live chat) | ➖ | ➖ |
| Live shopping events + shoppable video | ✅ Video Commerce | ➖ | ➖ | ➖ |
| When it works | On the storefront, in the moment | On the storefront chat | On the storefront chat | After the visit (inbox / SMS) |
| Shopify / Shopify Plus | ✅ Native | ✅ App | ✅ Native (free) | ✅ App |
| Pricing model | Custom (consultative) | Traffic / catalog-based plans | Free | Subscription (profile-based) |
| Best for | High-AOV brands wanting AI + human video | Stores wanting an AI chat concierge | Basic store messaging | Lifecycle email/SMS marketing |
Pricing and features change; verify current details with each vendor. This table reflects each tool’s core design focus, not a claim that others can’t do any selling.
Where each tool wins
- Choose Rep AI (or Alhena) if you want a capable on-site AI chat concierge that recommends products and automates support, and a text live-chat handoff is enough for your price point.
- Choose Shopify Inbox if you just need free, native chat to answer customer messages and aren’t ready for a dedicated sales agent.
- Choose Klaviyo if your priority is lifecycle marketing — abandonment flows, segmentation, and email/SMS revenue from existing contacts.
- Choose Immerss if you sell high-consideration or high-AOV products and the sale often needs a human to close. You want AI to engage and qualify every visitor 24/7, then hand the serious buyer to a real person on live one-to-one video — not just a faster chat reply.
Rep AI, Alhena, or Immerss: which AI sales agent?
Once you’ve ruled out native chat and lifecycle marketing, the real shortlist for on-site AI selling usually comes down to these three — and they’re not interchangeable.
- Rep AI is a strong ChatGPT-style concierge: proactive engagement, product recommendations, and a text live-chat handoff. A good fit when your average order closes in chat and a typed handoff is enough.
- Alhena leans into agentic commerce — multi-agent search, in-chat add-to-cart, and AI-driven checkout. A fit for stores that want the AI itself to push the cart toward completion.
- Immerss is the option when the sale needs a person. The AI engages and qualifies every visitor, then escalates the serious, high-AOV buyer to a human on live one-to-one video — plus a Video Commerce layer the chat-only tools don’t have.
The deciding factor isn’t which has the cleverest chatbot; it’s whether your highest-value purchases close on text or on a real conversation.
How to choose the right AI for conversion
Before shortlisting, get specific about your store:
- Where do visitors drop off — before contact, or after they leave? If they browse and bounce, you need on-site engagement. If they leave and don’t come back, lifecycle marketing matters more.
- Does your sale need a human? A $40 reorder can close in chat. A $4,000 piece often needs a face, a voice, and live answers. The higher your AOV, the more the human-on-video handoff matters.
- Text, or live video? Decide whether “talk to a person” should mean a typed live-chat or a real one-to-one video conversation that recreates in-store selling.
- What metric are you optimizing? On-site conversion rate, AOV, abandoned-cart recovery, or support deflection? Buy the tool tuned to the number you’re judged on — and make sure it keeps that outcome Measurable.
Often the answer is a stack: a lifecycle engine like Klaviyo for retention, and an on-site AI sales agent for conversion. The question is which agent fits how you actually sell.
Why brands choose Immerss for Shopify conversion
Immerss is a live commerce platform built around three integrated modules:
- AI Sales Agent — proactively greets every visitor, answers product questions from your catalog, recommends items, and guides toward checkout 24/7, then hands off to a human for the moments that matter.
- Clienteling — Live Co-Shopping drops an associate and customer into a one-to-one video session to close high-consideration sales; Outbound handles appointment scheduling and follow-up.
- Video Commerce — Live Shopping Events, a Shoppable Video Library, and PDP videos so visitors see the product in motion, not just a static grid.
The difference from a chat-only agent is the handoff: when a Shopify shopper is ready for the high-AOV purchase, a real person joins them on live video — the same move that lets a luxury brand like Lucchese sell five-figure custom orders online. AI handles scale; a human handles trust. The clearest way to judge the fit is on your own store — book a demo and we’ll map an AI Sales Agent, Clienteling, and Video Commerce setup to your catalog.
