The shop assistant

Every shop's WhatsApp is answered by an assistant that behaves like the best person at the counter. It sells, answers questions, follows up on orders and sorts out problems, in the customer's language (English, Swahili, Sheng) and in the shop's voice. Customers simply talk to the shop.

What it knows

• The shop: what you wrote under About your shop (hours, location, what you sell and don't, policies), delivery and payment rules, and your catalog with prices.
• The customer: their orders with the full record of each (items, payments and receipts, the rider, proof of handover), open and past problems, store credit, and the conversation so far.

It only states facts it was given. Every price, total, time or number in a reply is checked against the shop's data before it is sent; a reply that invents one is not sent.

Selling

It consults before it sells. "I want to plant some trees" gets "What are they for — fruit, shade, fencing? And where's the land?", then a recommendation from your catalog with a reason, and an honest "we don't stock that" when nothing fits. The cart only changes when the customer names what they want; placing an order and paying always end with the customer's own tap.

When only the shop can answer

Questions the assistant can't answer from your facts go to you on WhatsApp as a card. Reply in a few words; the assistant answers the customer in the shop's voice. Tap Save for next time and it adds the answer to About your shop, so the same question is answered on its own next time. See Questions for the API.

Problems with an order

Missing items, damaged goods, wrong items, late deliveries, quality complaints and refund requests are handled as cases, the way a careful shop would:

1. Understand. Which order (worked out from the conversation and their orders), which items, what happened.
2. Check the evidence. Was it paid at the door? Did the customer give their delivery code, or confirm they got everything? Records outrank photos; photos outrank words. It asks for a photo when that helps.
3. Weigh the risk. Late reports, repeat claims, a brand-new customer, large amounts and contradictions make it check more carefully; a long-standing customer with a small issue gets a light touch.
4. Propose the lowest remedy that makes an honest customer whole: an explanation → redelivery of what was missing → a replacement (often after the item comes back) → store credit, kept on the customer's record for their next order → a refund.

Anything that costs the shop money comes to you on WhatsApp with the evidence and the assistant's reasoning: Approve, Decline, or Chat myself. Store credit up to a limit you set can be given on its own for low-risk cases. The customer is never promised an outcome before it's decided, and pressure ("refund today!") doesn't skip steps.

Current defaults, per shop: problems reported within 2 days of delivery, store credit preferred over refunds, items over KES 500 returned before a replacement or refund, no automatic credit.

Tone

Short, warm, natural messages, like someone at the shop typing on their phone. No call-centre phrases, no mention of systems, owners or teams. Asked sincerely whether it's a person, it says it's the shop's assistant and gets back to helping.