Ecommerce
A sane AI stack for a small commerce team
You do not need twelve copilots. You need Klaviyo working, photos that do not look like a bedroom floor, and optional video if content is actually a channel.
Small Shopify teams get pitched a new AI app every week. Most of them are a thin wrapper around a model you already have, plus a monthly fee, plus another login nobody will open during a restock. Here is the stack we would actually pay for at 15–40 SKUs.
Layer 1: the customer graph
Klaviyo first. Flows, suppression, a welcome series that does not apologize for existing. Turn on AI segments and subject-line helpers after the abandoned-checkout flow is not an insult. If this layer is messy, no image generator will save the P&L.
Layer 2: the catalog
Photoroom for cutouts and three consistent backgrounds. Shopify Magic to unblock a description when you are uploading at midnight. Then stop. Do not generate a fantasy lifestyle scene for every SKU; customers can tell, and so can returns.
Layer 3: content, only if it is a channel
If you already write useful posts or scripts, Pictory can turn them into captioned video without Premiere. If you do not have anything to say, AI video will just publish the silence faster. Jasper belongs here only when you have a voice to protect across ads and landing pages.
The unsexy stack wins: CRM, photos, then maybe video. Everything else is a sidequest.
What to refuse
- A second ESP because 'theirs has AI'
- Autopilot social posting of generated product videos you have not watched
- Chat widgets that cannot check order status but will happily guess
When the team is two people, every tool is an operating cost. Our ecommerce ranking is ordered by that math.