Rakuten Group said Tuesday it will develop "artificial intelligence store managers" for its Rakuten Ichiba e-commerce platform, with a prototype planned for the end of the year. The avatar-based assistants will explain products and handle shopper inquiries around the clock.
Chairman and President Hiroshi Mikitani announced the plan at an event in Yokohama. Each avatar will learn from data held by the individual merchant it serves on Rakuten Ichiba, so answers are tailored to that store's products and customer interactions.
"They (the avatars) will be able to handle a wider range of inquiries from shoppers and assist them in buying goods," Mikitani said. He said Rakuten envisions avatars that will eventually answer questions by voice and help customers complete purchases.
How the AI store managers work
The avatars use AI that learns from data held by individual merchants on the Rakuten Ichiba platform, Rakuten said. Each store's avatar will draw on that seller's own product and sales information to answer shopper questions.
For development teams, the project is a real-world test case for autonomous AI agents in retail. The technology belongs to the same category of systems covered in AI Agents & Automation Courses.
Linking AI across Rakuten's services
Mikitani also described plans to connect AI tools used by Rakuten's group companies to promote sales. A customer who books a trip through online travel agency Rakuten Travel, for example, could see travel-related product suggestions on Rakuten Ichiba based on their booking history.
From a support perspective, the store managers are always-on AI customer service agents, the topic covered in AI for Customer Support.
Why this matters for IT and development professionals
Rakuten aims to ship the prototype by the end of this year. For developers, the system is worth following because it combines three technically demanding features: merchant-specific learning, voice interaction, and help completing purchases.
Engineers will also want to see how Rakuten connects AI tools between group companies. The Rakuten Travel example requires data sharing across business units, which means the APIs and data pipelines have to be built for reuse.
Your membership also unlocks:
