Four months ago, our analysts were dealing with a barrage of questions. "What's our ARR by segment?" "Build me a dashboard for this quarter's pipeline." Quick asks piled up behind complex deep dives. Stakeholders waited for answers that should have taken seconds, and analysts spent their time fielding requests instead of doing the strategic work that creates the most value.
Today, anyone at Gorgias can ask a question in plain language and get an accurate, contextualized response in seconds. Not from a colleague or dashboard, nor from a generic answer from the internet. But a response built on our business context. We call it Cortex, our flagship internal AI agent.
In two months, Cortex went from an idea to fielding thousands of questions every week, recommending actions across the business, and deprecating the need for manual dashboard creation. While most companies right now are treating AI as an initiative — at Gorgias, AI is already part of how we work. 72% of Gorgias employees use Cortex each week, and that number is only growing.
We didn’t achieve this by simply plugging a large language model into our stack. LLMs are a critical part of the equation, but they aren't the driving force — it’s everything else under the hood: the infrastructure, context, platform architecture, and the team that brings it all together.
The framing problem most companies get wrong
The instinct across many companies today is to start with the model, pick a provider to solve a specific challenge, or invest heavily in getting the data right. All reasonable starting points, but most of them solve for one use case. Underneath that approach is a framing problem: seeing AI as an initiative — something you assign and measure. Seeing AI as another tool your company uses versus how your company operates.
We started somewhere different. Every company is built on four pillars: customers, people, product, and decisions. AI investments tend to place heavy emphasis on the first three. We started with the fourth. Our bet was that if we built everything around the need to make effective decisions first, asking what Gorgias needed to know to operate well, then our AI would become dramatically more powerful.
Cortex is that philosophy in practice
Cortex is our flagship internal AI agent, and the product where we established the tenets that now run through everything else we build: composable and modular infrastructure, governed context, and accessible from wherever decisions happen. Cortex lives in Slack, as well as across LLM vendors, in its own browser extension, and even on its own dedicated internal site.
Cortex doesn’t stop at answering questions. It can read and write to Notion, file Linear tasks, create HTML apps, automate signal delivery, and more. It operates across every layer of our stack, from dashboards to data pipelines, because we designed it as one integrated system. It is this connection that adds remarkable depth to what people can ask, and what they get in return.
A Sales Lead is pitching and asks Cortex for the full picture of the merchant. In a customized PDF, Cortex lists coverage gaps, pre-sale intent signals, and product fit options. Everything the sales lead needs to walk in with confidence.
A Senior Product leader asks, "How are we performing against OKR #1, and what can my team do to help accelerate it?" Cortex returns a full ARR breakdown, projected end-of-month attainment, segment-level findings, and connects it all back to company-level strategies. A suite of recommendations customized to the leader, the performance, and the signals that bridge how they can support our goals. The kind of answer that used to take someone a week to put together.
These aren't simple lookup queries. They require deep business context spanning multiple areas. Cortex handles these because its Decision Engine gives it the information to reason against governed data, metric definitions, and business context, turning a generic answer into a credible one.
Overnight, teams have built Cortex into how they work. They’re spending less time searching and more time finding answers, not because they were told to, but because Cortex reduced the distance between question and decision.
Flexibility as the foundation
Cortex’s modular infrastructure allows us to experiment and add new capabilities freely. We’ve already built two more internal AI agents made for entirely different use cases, but using the same Decision Engine as Cortex.
GAIA, our internal experimentation AI Agent, helps our customers identify opportunities in their AI Agent Guidance design. It takes institutional knowledge across our teams and turns it into a scalable system that drives automation and value to our customers. Our CEO, Romain Lapeyre, has been its most vocal advocate since day one.
When we needed a platform for investor readiness and board preparation, we built Oracle. Our board decks and talk tracks are informed and built with the same AI, and our numbers are validated every step of the way.
We’re continuing to expand new AI agents internally, exploring how they can create value for customers and our own teams.
AI has transformed how data teams create value, and we’ve already shifted to account for it
When AI handles thousands of analytical questions each week, the highest-value work for a data team shifts permanently. Late 2025, we repositioned from a Data Analytics function into a Decision Intelligence function — a structural change in what we own and how we operate.
Today, our analysts focus on the most sensitive, complex, and forward-looking decisions and analyses. They partner more deeply with stakeholders by driving next steps from signals. They're even building entirely new capabilities that didn't exist in their role descriptions months ago. Things like AI skills for Cortex, context curation, and insight and recommendation delivery. The role of the analyst hasn't diminished. It's expanded to encompass the most meaningful work an analyst can do: driving outcomes and ensuring those decisions can achieve them.
Our business support model has changed, too. Instead of embedding analysts and dedicated engineers within functional teams, we align capacity to the highest-impact company objectives and move fluidly across them. This model works even better because Decision Intelligence brings together both analytics and engineering teams under one roof.
Elliot Trabac leads our Data, Context and AI Engineering teams. The Decision Engine, Cortex, GAIA, and the platforms I've described exist because of the infrastructure his team innovated and built from the ground up. Noemie Happi Nono leads our Decision Strategy and Operations team, driving decision outcomes with stakeholders, advancing the development of Cortex skills and capabilities, and pushing into new areas of analysis every day.
Together, they're shaping what a modern data function looks like when AI becomes a standard building block for how a company operates.
What’s next for the Decision Intelligence team
The question of ROI is long gone. AI has opened the floodgates to more trusted and meaningful signals than ever. The natural next evolution is Proactive Intelligence, signals surfaced toward what you need to know, before you ask. And we're already building this because our architecture is designed to support it.
In the coming weeks, members of the Decision Intelligence team will go deeper into themes I've touched on here. Yochan Khoi, a Senior Analytics Engineer on our team, recently published a technical walkthrough of our context layer and will go further into building context strategies that scale. Others will cover infrastructure, analytical partnerships, evolving data assets into decision assets, and the cost and efficiency gains that make sustained AI investment viable.
AI hasn't changed the most important element of data and analytics functions — delivering outcomes — but it has raised the bar for what it looks like and how far we can take it. We’re just getting started.
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Featured articles
Conversations Are Becoming a Revenue Channel: The Data Proves It
TL;DR:
- Customer journeys are collapsing to a single conversation. The traditional browse-and-buy journey is giving way to AI-guided shopping that moves from discovery to purchase in a single exchange.
- 79% of brands say AI-driven conversational commerce has increased their sales and purchase rates.
- AI-only influenced orders grew 63% in a single year, from 2.7 million in Q1 to 4.4 million in Q4.
- Brands treating conversation as a revenue channel. They’re not just a support function, generating higher AOV, shorter buying cycles, and stronger retention.
The page-based shopping experience dominated for decades. Customers would search, browse, compare, abandon, get retargeted, return, and eventually buy (sometimes).
That journey is no longer the only option.
Shoppers are turning to chat, messaging, and AI-powered tools to find what they need. Instead of clicking through product pages or reading static FAQs, they ask questions, have back-and-forth conversations, and get answers that move them closer to a purchase in real time. The path to checkout has changed, and the brands that recognize this are pulling ahead.
Read our 2026 State of Conversational Commerce Report to learn more about conversation commerce trends from 400 ecommerce decision-makers and 16,000+ ecommerce brands using Gorgias.
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The shopping journey has collapsed into a single thread
The traditional shopping journey was a solo experience. A shopper had a need, searched for options, browsed across sessions, and eventually made a decision — often days later, after being retargeted multiple times. Support only entered the picture after the purchase.
The conversation-led journey collapses that timeline:
- A shopper recognizes a need and starts a conversation via chat, messaging, or a search-triggered prompt
- An AI agent asks clarifying questions about preferences, budget, and constraints
- The AI provides personalized product recommendations in real time
- The shopper validates concerns about fit, compatibility, delivery, and returns, all inside the conversation
- The shopper completes the purchase directly within or immediately after that exchange
- The AI picks up the conversation post-purchase for order tracking and proactive support
- A human agent steps in only when the situation calls for it
What used to take days now takes minutes. Discovery, evaluation, and purchase happen in a single thread.
Conversation is a revenue strategy, not a support upgrade
79% of brands agree that AI-driven conversational commerce has increased sales and purchase rates in their business. When brands were asked to rank the highest-return areas:
- 38% cited improved customer support efficiency
- 23% pointed to higher customer retention and loyalty
- 20% saw improved purchase rates
Those numbers reflect something important: the value of conversation compounds. Faster support reduces friction. Better retention raises lifetime value. More confident shoppers buy more often and spend more per order.
The brands seeing the biggest returns aren't just using AI to deflect tickets. They're using it to create one-to-one shopping experiences at scale.
What the data shows about AI-influenced orders
Looking at AI-only influenced orders across key verticals like Apparel and Accessories, Food and Beverages, Health and Beauty, Home and Garden, and Sporting Goods, the growth across a single year was significant.
Across industries, ecommerce brands saw AI step into conversations, reduce shopper hesitation, and drive higher QoQ conversion rates.
Learn more about AI-powered revenue generation in the full 2026 Conversational Commerce Report.
Why brands are making this a strategic priority
84% of brands say the strategic importance of conversational commerce is higher than it was a year ago. 82% agree it will be mainstream in their sector within two years.
That shift is registering at the leadership level because of what conversational commerce does to the buying experience. Creating one-to-one touchpoints earlier in the journey drives higher AOV, shorter buying cycles, and stronger purchase rates. Shoppers who get real-time answers to their questions are more confident.
What this looks like in practice: TUSHY
TUSHY, known for eco-friendly bidets and bathroom essentials, is a useful example of what happens when you take conversational commerce seriously.
Bidets aren't an impulse purchase. Shoppers have real questions about fit, compatibility, and installation. Those questions used to go unanswered until the CX team could respond, often after the customer had abandoned the cart.
TUSHY used Gorgias's AI Agent and shopping assistant capabilities to automate pre-sales support. AI Agent engaged shoppers in real-time conversations, addressed their concerns directly, and built confidence at the moment of highest intent.
This resulted in a 190% increase in chat-based purchases, a 13x return on investment, and twice the purchase rate of human agents.
How to apply this to your strategy
You don't need to overhaul your entire operation to start seeing results. The most effective approach is to start where the impact is clearest and expand from there.
A few places to begin:
- Pre-sales chat. Identify your most common pre-purchase questions (sizing, compatibility, shipping timelines) and ensure your AI can answer them confidently and promptly.
- Product page engagement. Use proactive chat prompts triggered by page behavior to start conversations before shoppers leave.
- Post-purchase follow-up. Let AI pick up the conversation after checkout with order updates and proactive support, reducing inbound volume and building trust.
- Human escalation. Define clearly which situations require a human agent – complex issues, emotional exchanges, high-stakes decisions.
Want to see the full picture of where conversational commerce is headed in 2026? Read the full report to explore the data, trends, and strategies shaping the next era of ecommerce.
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AI Is Table Stakes for Ecommerce: What the Data Tells Us About 2026
TL;DR:
- AI adoption is rapidly accelerating. 96% of ecommerce professionals now use AI in their roles, up from 69% in 2024.
- AI has moved beyond support automation. Use cases have evolved into revenue generation, personalization, and logistics.
- Brands are tying AI success to profit-and-loss outcomes. 60% of brands consider AOV a top indicator of AI effectiveness.
A year ago, ecommerce brands were still debating whether AI was worth the investment. That debate is over. Today, nearly every ecommerce professional uses AI to do their job.
The shift isn't just about adoption. It's about what AI is used for and how brands measure its impact. Support automation was the entry point. Now, AI is embedded across the full operation, from product recommendations to inventory control to real-time shopping conversations.
In our 2026 State of Conversational Commerce Report, we break down trends on AI usage among 400 ecommerce decision-makers and 16,000+ ecommerce brands using Gorgias.
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AI adoption has reached a tipping point
If we rewind 12 months ago, the industry was still split on AI. Some ecommerce professionals were excited, but most were still hesitant. In 2024, 69% of ecommerce professionals used AI in their roles. By 2025, that number reached 77%. In 2026, it hit 96%.
The confidence numbers back it up. 71% of brands say they are confident using AI for ecommerce, and 73% are satisfied with its business impact.
In early 2025, only 30% of ecommerce professionals rated their excitement for AI at 10/10. Today, zero percent of respondents describe themselves as hesitant about AI.
AI use cases now span the full ecommerce stack
Using AI in ecommerce is not new. In fact, it dates back to the 1980s with the invention of algorithms and expert systems. And if you’ve ever leveraged similar product recommendations or chatbots, you’ve already integrated AI into your ecommerce stack.
Modern AI is far more sophisticated.
With the rise of agentic commerce and conversational AI, brands began leveraging AI agents to automate the processing of repetitive support tickets. That’s still happening today, but the scope has expanded beyond the support queue.
Ecommerce brands are deploying AI across every layer of their operation:
- Customer support automation: 96%
- Product recommendations: 88%
- Automated tracking and status updates: 69%
- Personalization: 64%
- Inventory control: 51%
- Dynamic pricing and discounting: 36%
- Order fulfillment: 18%
When brands were asked which channels contribute most to their AI success, conversational channels dominated. Social media messaging led at 78%, followed by SMS at 70%, and website live chat at 51%. Shoppers want fast, personal conversations, and AI is the best way to deliver that at scale.
Learn more about AI adoption, perception, and use case trends in the full 2026 Conversational Commerce Report.
How AI is changing CX success metrics
For decades, customer support success meant fast response times and high satisfaction scores. Those are still important indicators of success, but leading brands are adding revenue-focused metrics to their dashboards.
91% of brands still track CSAT as a measure of AI's impact. But 60% now include AOV as a top indicator, and higher-revenue brands earning $20M+ are focusing on metrics like total operating expenses, cost per resolution, incremental revenue, and one-touch ticket rate.
AI can now start a conversation, ease customer doubts, sell, upsell, and recover abandoned carts in a single conversation. When you’re only measuring CSAT, you’re ignoring the real ROI of conversational AI investment.
AI makes every conversational channel a storefront
Virtual shopping assistants now proactively engage shoppers, adapt to their needs in real time, and offer contextual product recommendations and upsells. When the moment calls for it, they can close the deal with a targeted discount.
Gorgias brands using AI Agent's shopping assistant capabilities nearly doubled their purchase rates and converted 20–50% better than those using AI Agent for support only.
Orthofeet, the largest provider of orthopedic footwear in the US, is a concrete example of this in practice. Using Gorgias, they achieved:
- 56% of support tickets automated in 2 months
- Email response times down from 24 hours to 35 seconds
- Double-digit revenue growth without adding headcount.
What this means for your AI strategy
The data tells a clear story: AI has evolved beyond a tool for handling tier 1 support tickets. It’s a core part of your revenue generation strategy.
57% of brands are already using AI for 26–50% of all customer interactions, and 37% expect that share to rise to 51–75% within the next two years. The brands building toward that range now are the ones who will have the operational advantage when it matters most.
The practical question isn't whether to invest in AI. It's where to focus first. Based on where brands are seeing the most impact, three priorities stand out:
- Start with high-volume, low-complexity tickets. WISMO (where is my order) inquiries, return policy questions, and order status updates are where AI delivers the fastest return. Automate these first.
- Expand into conversational channels. Social messaging and SMS are where AI is driving the most success right now.
- Connect AI performance to revenue metrics. If you're only measuring CSAT and response time, you're missing half the story. Add AOV, conversion rate, and incremental revenue to your reporting.
Want to go deeper on the full 2026 conversational commerce trends? Read the complete report for data across every major AI use case in ecommerce.
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The State of Conversational Commerce: 5 Trends Reshaping Ecommerce in 2026
TL;DR:
- AI is resolving tickets, not just replying. AI now handles 31% of customer interactions for ecommerce brands, and that number is expected to nearly double within two years.
- Every channel is becoming a storefront. Conversations are replacing the traditional browse-and-buy journey, with 79% of brands reporting sales from AI-driven interactions.
- AI is shortening the buying cycle. 93% of AI-influenced purchases happen within the first 48 hours of the conversation.
- CX teams are changing, not shrinking. Ecommerce brands are actively hiring for more technical roles to implement, coach, and maintain AI.
- The winning model is hybrid. AI handles volume and speed, while humans handle complexity and judgment.
The way shoppers buy online has shifted and customers are at the center.
They no longer want to scroll through product pages, dig through FAQs, or wait 24 hours for an email reply. They open a conversation, ask a specific question, and expect a useful answer in seconds. Brands that can’t deliver these experiences at scale are seeing customer hesitation turn into abandoned carts and lost revenue.
This shift has a name: conversational commerce. It's the practice of using real-time, two-way conversations as your primary sales channel, through chat, AI agents, messaging apps, and voice.
What started as an experiment for early adopters has become a key growth lever, with 84% of ecommerce brands treating conversational commerce as a strategic pillar this year vs. last year.
We surveyed 400 ecommerce decision-makers across North America, the U.K., and Europe to understand how conversational commerce and AI are reshaping the ecommerce landscape. These findings are complemented by aggregated and anonymized internal Gorgias platform data from 16,000+ ecommerce brands.
The State of Conversational Commerce in 2026 trends report breaks down all of the findings, including five key trends shaping the ecommerce landscape.
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Trend 1: AI is table stakes for ecommerce and it’s no longer just about efficiency
A few years ago, adding an AI chatbot to your site that could provide tracking links and Help Center article recommendations was a differentiator. Today, it's table stakes. McKinsey found that 71% of shoppers expect personalized experiences, and 76% get frustrated when they don't get them.
Right now, most ecommerce professionals use AI, with 93% having used it for at least 1 year. Enthusiasm is accelerating quickly, with only 30% of ecommerce professionals rating their excitement for AI at 10/10 in April 2025. Similarly, while AI adoption rose steadily year over year, it reached a clear peak in 2026.
The use cases driving this adoption are practical and high-volume:
- Order tracking and status updates
- Returns, exchanges, and refund requests
- Shipping FAQs and delivery estimates
These are the tickets that flood brands’ inboxes every day. AI agents resolve them instantly, without pulling teams away from conversations that actually require human judgment.
Explore AI adoption and use case data in more depth in the full report.
Trend 2: Conversations are the new path to checkout
The traditional ecommerce funnel, visit site, browse products, add to cart, check out, is losing ground. Shoppers now discover products on Instagram, ask questions via direct message, and complete purchases without ever visiting a website.
Conversational AI is actively increasing revenue, with 79% of brands reporting that AI-driven interactions have increased sales and conversion in their business.
The practical implication is that every channel is becoming a storefront. Creating personalized touchpoints with customers earlier in the journey, through proactive engagement, is impacting the bottom line.
Read the full report to explore how AI conversions have increased QoQ by industry.
Trend 3: AI is accelerating the purchase cycle
Pre-purchase hesitation is one of the biggest conversion killers in ecommerce. A shopper lands on your product page, has a question about sizing or compatibility, can't find the answer quickly, and leaves. That's a lost sale that had nothing to do with your product.
Conversational AI changes that dynamic. When a shopper can ask a question and get an accurate, personalized answer in real time, the friction disappears.
Brands using Gorgias saw this play out at scale in 2025. When AI Agent recommended a product, 80% of the resulting purchases happened the same day, and 13% happened the next day.
Brands are further accelerating the buying cycle through proactive engagement. On-site features such as suggested product questions, recommendations triggered by search results, and “Ask Anything” input bars drove 50% of conversation-driven purchases during BFCM 2025.
Explore how AI is collapsing the purchase cycle in Trend 3 of the report.
Trend 4: AI is making CX teams more technical
There's a persistent narrative that AI is making CX teams redundant. The data tells a different story. 62% of ecommerce brands are planning to grow their teams, not cut them. But the scope of those teams is changing.
New roles are emerging around AI configuration and quality assurance. Teams are investing in technical members to write AI Guidance instructions, develop tone-of-voice instructions, and continuously QA results.
CX teams are also bridging the gap between support goals and revenue goals, as the two functions increasingly overlap.
The result is CX teams that are more technical than they were before. Agents who once spent their days answering repetitive tickets are now spending that time on higher-value work: complex escalations, VIP customer relationships, and improving the AI systems and knowledge bases that handle the volume.
Learn more about the evolution of CX roles in Trend #4.
Trend 5: The future is hybrid: AI-first, humans when it counts
Despite increasing AI adoption, data shows that ecommerce brands shouldn’t strive for 100% automation. Winning brands are building systems in which AI handles repetitive tier-1 tickets, and humans handle complex, sensitive cases.
AI handles speed and scale. It resolves order-tracking requests at 2 a.m., processes return-eligibility checks in seconds, and answers the same shipping question for the thousandth time without compromising quality.
Human agents handle conversations that require context, empathy, or decisions that fall outside the standard playbook. There are several topics where shoppers still prefer human support.
Successful hybrid systems require continuous iteration, meaning reviewing handover topics, Guidance, and reviewing AI tickets on a weekly basis.
Discover how leading brands are balancing human and AI systems in Trend #5.
Where conversational commerce is heading by 2030
The 2026 trends are about expansion and standardization. The 2030 predictions are about what comes next.
Voice-based purchasing is the biggest bet on the horizon. Only 7% of brands currently use voice assistants for commerce, but 89% expect it to be standard by 2030. The vision is a customer who can reorder a product, check their subscription status, or manage a return entirely over the phone.
Proactive AI is the other major shift. Rather than waiting for a customer to reach out, AI will anticipate needs based on browsing behavior, purchase history, and where someone is in their relationship with your brand. Think of it as the digital equivalent of a sales associate who remembers what you bought last time and knows what you're likely to need next.
Explore where ecommerce brands are allocating their AI budgets in the full report.
Start building your conversational commerce strategy today
The brands winning in 2026 are creating smart, scalable systems where AIhandles volume and humans handle nuance. They’re treating every conversational channel as an opportunity to serve and sell.
The data is clear: AI adoption is accelerating, customer expectations are rising, and the revenue impact of getting this right is measurable.
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Further reading
Loop X Gorgias: The Key To Reducing Return-Related Questions
You might be assuming that there’s really nothing you can do to change this outside of overworking your team, or hiring more people.
This is completely normal, but there’s no need to panic. That’s because with Gorgias you can now integrate Loop in your ecommerce store. In case you’re wondering, Loop is an on-demand portal that allows customers to get the product they want, with less support touchpoints.
Using Loop, there are many ways you can reduce one of the biggest and more time-consuming support-related requests… returns. Plus, they do this while still giving your customers a seamless experience.
So, let’s dive in.
What’s the problem?
Did you know that 40% of support tickets are order related, with 5% being about returns? It might not seem like something worth looking into, or too problematic, but it is.
Though these customers returning items do deserve a great level of customer care (everyone does), it’s not the most valuable way to actually use your support team’s skills.
Why? Glad you asked.
There’s already a lack of resources
It’s always good to remember that your support team is juggling a lot more than you think because there’s so many different types of requests that come through. One of those requests that takes a lot of time is, you guessed it, return requests. While these are important, they don’t exactly require a human touch since they’re very straightforward and focus heavily on process.
If your support team isn’t able to address other requests in a timely manner, that could mean losing new customers or returning ones because of those support tickets.
Luckily, return-requests can be easily automated.
Customers want to control their returns
It may come as a surprise to hear that your customers don’t actually want a high touch support experience for returns from your team. They actually want to be the ones to choose where and when they want to engage with support teams.
Since customers want a more on-demand experience when it comes to returns and something that happens fast, automation doesn’t hurt in these scenarios since it can be quick.
What’s the solution? Enter Loop.
Bringing Loop and Gorgias together for a seamless customer experience that saves your team time is like a dream come true.
But how exactly, can this address the issues we’ve been discussing?
First off, this partnership will allow your support team to use that extra time in valuable ways that make sense and benefit the business. For example, focusing more on new customers, shipping issues and more.
Secondly, it benefits your customers since it allows them to take control of their returns and do things on their own time. This makes it more seamless and makes them feel like the return process is easier than ever.
Using both Loop and Gorgias together will create a better environment all around, decreasing stress both within your support team and customers so that your team can focus on conversions instead of returns.
Whether you’ve been looking for a way to reduce your support requests related to returns, or if it’s something new on your radar, it’s worth thinking about. Thankfully, you can sign up for a free 7-day trial with Gorgias and add in the Loop integration to see just how much time it can save.
Zendesk Alternatives: 20 Best Picks for CX Teams (Ranked)
TL;DR:
- Why teams switch from Zendesk: Costs climb quickly with per-agent pricing and AI fees, setup takes weeks, and support responsiveness often falls short of expectations.
- Who Zendesk is actually good for: Large enterprises with dedicated admins, technical resources, and budgets that can absorb higher costs and longer implementation times.
- Top Zendesk alternatives by use case: Gorgias (ecommerce), Freshdesk/Help Scout (SMBs), Intercom/HubSpot (SaaS), and Jira Service Management (IT teams).
- Key differences to watch: Alternatives often offer faster setup, built-in ecommerce workflows, 24/7 support, and more predictable AI pricing models.
- What to consider before switching: Evaluate total cost (including AI and setup), your team size and growth, workflow needs, and how quickly you need to get up and running.
Most teams searching for Zendesk alternatives have already hit one of three walls: a bill that keeps climbing, a setup that never feels finished, or a support ticket to Zendesk that went nowhere.
Zendesk's base pricing is just the start. AI features come with per-resolution fees of $1.50-$2.00 that seem small until you're handling thousands of tickets a month. A busy support team can easily spend twice what comparable alternatives cost once those fees stack up. Others aren't leaving over cost at all: they need ecommerce workflows Zendesk doesn't support natively, or they want a tool their agents can use without six weeks of setup.
This guide ranks 20 Zendesk alternatives based on pricing, AI cost transparency, setup time, and ecommerce fit.
Best Zendesk alternatives by team type
The right Zendesk alternative depends on your team type. Here's a quick breakdown before we dive into the full reviews.
Why companies seek Zendesk alternatives
Zendesk built its reputation on robust ticketing, extensive integrations, and enterprise-grade reliability. But as the platform has evolved, three friction points have driven teams to evaluate alternatives: escalating costs with unpredictable AI fees, administrative complexity requiring dedicated expertise, and support responsiveness that doesn't match premium pricing.
Total cost and AI add-on fees
Zendesk's per-agent pricing starts at $55 USD/user/month (Suite Team) and reaches $115 USD/user/month (Suite Professional), but the base cost is only the beginning. AI features require separate add-ons priced at $50/agent/month plus $1.50-$2.00 per resolution. For a 50-agent team with moderate AI usage (3,000 resolutions/month), total monthly cost reaches $8,900 compared to alternatives at $3,000-$5,000/month.
There are more additional costs. Training programs often exceed $2,000, consultant fees for setup run $150-$300/hour, and Premier Support adds 20-35% of your annual contract value with floor minimums that price out smaller teams.
Time-to-value
One Reddit user noted, "It took me 3-4 weeks to learn Zendesk, another 3 weeks to build our workflows, plus a full week migrating data. I could've launched two other tools in that time."
Zendesk's complexity demands technical expertise for triggers, automations, and workflow configuration. Teams report setup timeframes of six to eight weeks compared to alternatives: Help Scout (hours), Gorgias (minutes for basic setup), Freshdesk (one to three days). This time gap translates directly to delayed productivity and dependency on external consultants or dedicated admins.
Support responsiveness & SLAs
Zendesk doesn't offer 24/7 support on any tier, including the highest plans. Premier Support, available as an add-on at 20-35% of annual contract value, still falls short of competitor standards. G2 reviews consistently mention bot-first chat support and difficulty reaching human agents for technical troubleshooting.
Alternatives like Gorgias and Help Scout include 24/7 support on base plans without add-on fees, with faster response times and higher satisfaction scores.
Channel coverage
Zendesk fragments customer conversations: tickets live in Zendesk while order details, purchase history, and product catalogs remain in separate systems. Support agents manually switch between platforms to process refunds, cancel orders, or view customer lifetime value.
Ecommerce needs
Ecommerce-focused alternatives like Gorgias and Kustomer embed order context directly in ticket view, enabling agents to issue refunds, modify subscriptions, and recommend products without leaving the conversation. This reduces handle time and improves personalization for product-driven support inquiries.
How we evaluated Zendesk alternatives
We assessed 20 platforms across five core criteria, prioritizing pricing transparency, ecommerce depth, AI cost predictability, setup speed, and reporting flexibility. Tools with "pricing upon request" scored lower on transparency. Here's how we weighted each factor:
Pricing & TCO
We evaluated base pricing (per-agent vs flat/unlimited models), AI add-ons (per-resolution vs included), setup/training costs (consultant fees, onboarding programs), and migration fees. Platforms requiring custom quotes or hiding AI costs behind sales calls ranked lower for transparency. We calculated total cost of ownership over 12 months for a 20-agent team to enable apples-to-apples comparison.
Omnichannel & ecommerce depth
We assessed coverage across email, chat, social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X), SMS, and voice channels. For ecommerce fit, we tested integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, checking whether platforms enable order management actions (refunds, cancellations, edits) within the helpdesk interface. We also reviewed customer data sidebars for visibility into order history, lifetime value, and past interactions.
AI billing model
We compared AI pricing structures: flat per-agent (predictable monthly cost), per-resolution (variable cost tied to usage), and session-based (charged per conversation initiated). We tested AI accuracy on common support queries (WISMO, returns, and cancellations), measured deflection rates, and evaluated escalation logic. Platforms with transparent, predictable AI costs scored higher.
Setup speed
We measured time from signup to first live ticket, categorizing platforms as hours, days, or weeks. We assessed whether implementation requires consultants or supports self-implementation by non-technical users. We evaluated the agent learning curve using G2 ease-of-use scores and the availability of onboarding resources like templates, guides, and training modules.
Reporting & SLAs
We tested real-time dashboard availability, custom report building without SQL/coding, and SLA configuration flexibility (per-channel, per-tag, per-VIP tier). We also checked scheduled report delivery, data export options, and API access for custom analytics workflows.
The shortlist: Top 10 Zendesk alternatives, compared
The full list: All 20 Zendesk alternatives
Gorgias
Gorgias is a conversational commerce platform built for ecommerce brands. Unlike general-purpose helpdesks, Gorgias embeds Shopify order data, product catalogs, and customer purchase history directly into every ticket. Support agents can issue refunds, cancel orders, and recommend products without leaving the conversation.
Best for: Shopify and BigCommerce merchants who need order management actions within their helpdesk, AI that can execute real support workflows (not just answer questions), and a platform that drives revenue through personalized product recommendations.
Limitations: Not ideal for non-ecommerce businesses or teams requiring ITSM/ITIL workflows.
Key features:
- Shopify order actions (refund, cancel, edit) within ticket view
- AI Agent with pre-built ecommerce actions (WISMO, returns, cancellations)
- Revenue tracking per conversation
- Product recommendation engine
- Omnichannel inbox (email, chat, SMS, social, voice)
Pricing: From $10/month; AI Agent included on all plans with flat pricing (no per-resolution fees)
G2 rating: 4.6/5 ⭐
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Freshdesk
Freshdesk is an all-in-one helpdesk offering ticket management, automation, and omnichannel support at a lower price point than Zendesk. Freshdesk is known for its easy setup and clean interface, which reduces agent training time.
Best for: Small to mid-market teams wanting Zendesk-like features without the complexity or cost.
Limitations: Advanced AI and reporting features require higher-tier plans; session-based AI billing can become unpredictable at volume.
Key features:
- Parent-child ticketing for complex issues
- Freddy AI assistant (intent detection, suggested replies)
- Proactive messaging across email, WhatsApp, SMS
- Unified workspace with customer context
Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans from $15/user/month; Freddy AI: 500 sessions free, then $49/100 sessions
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Help Scout
Help Scout is a shared inbox platform designed for teams who want support to feel personal, not transactional. Every interaction looks like a regular email, and the interface is so intuitive that most teams are productive within hours.
Best for: Teams of 5-15 agents where brand voice and relationship quality matter more than advanced automation.
Limitations: Limited automation depth; not built for high-volume operations or multi-department ITSM needs.
Key features:
- Shared inbox with collision detection
- Beacon widget (Live Chat + Help Center)
- AI Answers ($0.75/resolution)
- HIPAA compliance option
Pricing: Free plan available; Standard from $25/user/month
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Intercom
Intercom is a messaging-first platform that combines live chat, AI chatbots, and proactive outbound campaigns. Fin AI resolves up to 50% of inquiries by pulling from your knowledge base and past conversations.
Best for: SaaS companies needing AI-driven deflection and in-app messaging for onboarding and support.
Limitations: Costs can escalate quickly with seat charges plus per-resolution AI fees; less flexible for traditional ticketing workflows.
Key features:
- Fin AI chatbot with 50% resolution rate
- Proactive messaging and product tours
- AI Copilot for agent assistance
- Custom reporting with advanced filters
Pricing: From $29/user/month; Fin AI at $0.99/resolution
G2 rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub integrates natively with HubSpot CRM, giving support agents access to full customer context including sales interactions, marketing engagement, and deal history. It's best for teams already using HubSpot across their stack.
Best for: Organizations using HubSpot CRM across sales and marketing who want unified customer data without manual syncing.
Limitations: Costs increase quickly as you scale; outside the HubSpot ecosystem, equivalent features are available at lower cost elsewhere.
Key features:
- Native CRM integration with shared customer records
- Customer portal for self-service
- Conversation intelligence (call recording and analysis)
- Customer success workspace with health scores
Pricing: Free plan available; Professional from $90/seat/month
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is one of the most affordable Zendesk alternatives, offering workflow automation, AI assistance (Zia), and omnichannel support at a fraction of the cost. It's particularly strong for teams already using Zoho CRM or other Zoho products.
Best for: Budget-conscious teams in the Zoho ecosystem who need robust automation without enterprise pricing.
Limitations: Interface can feel cluttered; advanced automation and reporting require Professional plan or higher.
Key features:
- Workflow automation with customizable rules
- Direct Zoho CRM integration
- Zia AI for sentiment analysis and ticket tagging
- Round-robin assignment (Professional plan+)
Pricing: Free plan available; Professional from $23/user/month
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Kustomer
Kustomer is a CRM-powered helpdesk that unifies customer data from every touchpoint into a single timeline view. It's designed for high-volume support teams that need deep customer context and advanced automation.
Best for: Ecommerce and subscription businesses with complex customer journeys requiring unified data across support, sales, and marketing.
Limitations: No transparent pricing published; requires demo and custom quote; can be overkill for smaller teams.
Key features:
- Unified customer timeline across all channels
- AI-driven automation and routing
- Customizable dashboards
- Omnichannel support (email, chat, SMS, social, voice)
Pricing: Pricing upon request
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Front
Front transforms your inbox into a collaborative workspace where teams can assign conversations, leave internal notes, and work together on customer replies in real time. It's built for teams where email is the primary support channel.
Best for: Customer success and account management teams where collaboration depth and shared email ownership matter more than traditional ticketing.
Limitations: Not ideal for high-volume ticketing or structured SLA enforcement; AI features require separate add-ons.
Key features:
- Shared inbox with collaborative drafting
- Internal comments and task assignment
- AI Copilot ($20/user/month add-on)
- Workflow automation
Pricing: From $25/user/month; AI add-ons priced separately
G2 rating: 4.7/5 ⭐
LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a full-featured helpdesk with particular strength in live chat and call center support. Unlike many competitors, AI features are included across all plans without extra fees.
Best for: SMBs where live chat and phone are primary channels and budget is a constraint.
Limitations: Dated UI; mobile app and analytics customization lag behind modern competitors.
Key features:
- Live chat with proactive triggers
- Built-in call center with IVR
- Social media integration (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp)
- AI included at no extra cost
Pricing: From $9/user/month
G2 rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
HappyFox
HappyFox blends traditional helpdesk features with ITSM-lite capabilities like asset tracking and change management. It's known for quick setup (often under an hour) and a low learning curve.
Best for: Mid-market IT and operations teams needing structured workflows without full ITIL complexity.
Limitations: No free plan; total costs can add up as you scale; limited for highly customized workflows.
Key features:
- Workflow automation and SLA management
- Task management with reusable templates
- Knowledge base with multilingual support
- Free in-app training module
Pricing: From $24/user/month
G2 rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management is built for IT and DevOps teams who need tight integration between support tickets and engineering work. Bugs reported through support can be linked directly to Jira Software without switching tools.
Best for: IT and engineering teams in the Atlassian ecosystem needing ITIL-aligned incident and change management.
Limitations: Steeper learning curve for non-technical teams; more complex than necessary for customer-facing support.
Key features:
- ITIL-aligned service desk
- Direct integration with Jira Software and Confluence
- Asset and configuration management
- Customizable SLA management
Pricing: Free plan available; Standard from $19.04/agent/month
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
ServiceNow CSM
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is an enterprise-grade platform offering advanced workflow automation, AI-powered routing, and deep customization. It's typically deployed by large organizations with dedicated ServiceNow administrators.
Best for: Global enterprises with complex service operations requiring extensive customization and ITIL compliance.
Limitations: Requires significant implementation effort (often 3+ months); expensive; overkill for most mid-market teams.
Key features:
- Advanced workflow automation
- Predictive intelligence and AI routing
- Omnichannel support
- Integration with ServiceNow ITSM suite
Pricing: Pricing upon request
G2 rating: 4.2/5 ⭐
SolarWinds Service Desk
SolarWinds Service Desk is a cloud-based ITSM solution designed for IT teams managing internal service requests, incidents, and asset tracking. It follows ITIL best practices and integrates with SolarWinds' broader IT management suite.
Best for: IT departments needing a dedicated service desk for internal ticketing and asset management.
Limitations: Not designed for customer-facing support; limited omnichannel capabilities.
Key features:
- ITIL-based incident and change management
- Asset discovery and tracking
- Self-service portal
- SLA management
Pricing: From $39/month
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
Kayako
Kayako differentiates through customer journey tracking, showing agents the full history of a customer's page visits, past conversations, and interactions before responding. It's designed for teams where personalized, context-aware service matters more than ticket volume throughput.
Best for: Mid-sized teams focused on real-time chat and personalized service delivery.
Limitations: Limited integrations; can feel limiting as operations scale.
Key features:
- Customer journey tracking across all interactions
- Omnichannel inbox management
- Self-service knowledge base
- Real-time visitor monitoring
Pricing: $79/month flat (Kayako One); AI add-on at $1/resolved ticket
G2 rating: 4.0/5 ⭐
Groove
Groove is a lightweight shared inbox that mirrors the feel of an email client, making it extremely easy for small teams to adopt. It includes the core essentials (shared inbox, ticketing, automation) without overwhelming users with unnecessary features.
Best for: Startups and small businesses (under 15 agents) that want a complete helpdesk without complexity.
Limitations: Basic reporting and filtering; limited scalability for high-volume operations; fewer integrations than larger platforms.
Key features:
- Shared inbox with internal notes
- Automation rules and smart folders
- AI assistance for reply drafting
- Knowledge base
Pricing: From $24/user/month
G2 rating: 4.6/5 ⭐
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud is the enterprise option for organizations already running Salesforce CRM who need unified data across support, sales, and marketing. It offers the deepest CRM integration in this comparison but requires dedicated Salesforce administrators to manage.
Best for: Global enterprises with existing Salesforce infrastructure needing unified customer data and advanced customization.
Limitations: Expensive ($25,000-$100,000+ in professional services for implementation); steep learning curve; not practical without dedicated admins.
Key features:
- Einstein AI for case classification and routing
- Full Salesforce CRM data integration
- Omni-channel routing
- Customizable dashboards and advanced analytics
Pricing: Starter Suite from $25/user/month; Professional from $80/user/month; Einstein Bots from $75/user/month add-on
G2 rating: 4.4/5 ⭐
The real cost of Zendesk vs. its alternatives
Published pricing is just the starting point — here's what you actually need to budget for.
How agent count affects your bill
Most platforms charge per-agent pricing: cost multiplies with every new hire. This model works for stable teams but becomes expensive as you scale. Flat or unlimited pricing — like HappyFox and some Zoho Desk plans — charges a fixed monthly cost regardless of agent count.
Worth calculating: HappyFox unlimited at $1,999/month vs. Zendesk Suite Professional at $115/agent/month hits breakeven at 18 agents. Above that threshold, unlimited pricing saves money. Below it, per-agent costs less.
How AI pricing models differ
AI pricing varies widely across platforms:
- Flat per-agent: Gorgias (included), HappyFox ($14/agent/month)
- Per-resolution: Zendesk ($1.50–$2.00), Intercom ($0.99), Help Scout ($0.75)
- Session-based: Freshdesk ($49/100 sessions)
For 3,000 AI resolutions/month, Zendesk's resolution fees alone run $4,500–$6,000. Per-resolution and session-based models create budget risk as usage scales — flat-rate AI eliminates that variability.
Hidden costs to factor in
- Implementation: Zendesk often requires consultants at $150–$300/hour. Alternatives like Help Scout and Gorgias support self-implementation in hours to days.
- Training: Zendesk training courses exceed $2,000. Many alternatives include free onboarding (HappyFox, LiveAgent).
- Migration: Data export, field mapping, and re-importing historical tickets can require 40–80 hours of work. Some vendors (Gorgias, Freshdesk) offer assisted migration at no additional cost.
Calculate total first-year cost including base pricing, AI fees, setup, training, and migration to compare true TCO.
When a Zendesk alternative makes sense
Not every team needs to switch. Zendesk works well for large enterprises with dedicated support ops teams, technical expertise in-house, and budgets that accommodate premium pricing. But specific triggers make alternatives worth evaluating.
Your team is growing fast
Per-agent pricing compounds as teams scale. Adding 10 agents on Zendesk Suite Professional costs an additional $13,800/year, while alternatives like Zoho Desk ($23/agent) or Freshdesk ($15-19/agent) reduce that same expansion to $1,800-$2,280/year. HappyFox offers unlimited agent plans at flat monthly rates, eliminating per-agent costs entirely.
When to switch: If you're planning to add 5+ agents in the next 6 months, calculate total cost over 12 months across platforms. The savings typically justify migration effort.
You sell online
Zendesk doesn't natively support Shopify order actions, forcing agents to toggle between platforms. Customer data lives separately from tickets, creating friction for order-related inquiries (WISMO, returns, cancellations). Ecommerce-focused alternatives like Gorgias and Kustomer embed order actions and product recommendations directly in ticket view, reducing handle time and improving personalization.
When to switch: If support agents spend more than 30% of their time on order-related inquiries, or if you need revenue tracking per conversation, ecommerce-first platforms deliver measurable efficiency gains.
Your tickets are mostly internal IT requests
CX and internal IT support (ITSM) require different workflows. CX prioritizes omnichannel coverage, conversation history, and personalization. ITSM demands asset tracking, change management, and ITIL compliance. Zendesk bridges both but excels at neither.
When to switch: If more than 80% of tickets are internal IT requests requiring asset tracking or ITIL workflows, ITSM-focused alternatives like Jira Service Management or SolarWinds offer better fit at lower cost.
Which Zendesk alternative is right for you?
The best Zendesk alternative depends on your team size, use case, and budget. Here's a quick guide before you commit:
- Ecommerce brands on Shopify or BigCommerce → Gorgias
- SaaS companies → Intercom or HubSpot Service Hub
- Enterprises running Salesforce → Salesforce Service Cloud
- IT teams handling internal ticketing → Jira Service Management or SolarWinds
- SMBs wanting simple setup → Help Scout or Freshdesk
Take advantage of free trials and demos. The fastest way to evaluate a platform is to run a real support workflow through it. And look beyond base pricing: AI fees, setup costs, and migration time all affect your first-year total.
Switching from Zendesk to Gorgias? Explore our buyout program for full access to Gorgias features at no initial cost, or book a demo to see it in action.
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What Can You Do With All Those BigCommerce API Calls?
A quick look into BigCommece, and you'll quickly see one of the main advantages about
As eCommerce-Aholic says in their YouTube video: 5 reasons to choose BigCommerce over Shopify, when deciding whether a SaaS ecommerce platform is right for you, you have to consider APIs.
What does this mean for you?
Because more often than not, you don’t have access to the underlying code fuelling your ecommerce website.
This is where APIs come into their own.
In short, API stands for 'Application Programming Interface.' This enables two apps to communicate with each other. As such, this is what allows you to extend the overall functionality of your chosen ecommerce platform.
With that in mind, let’s delve into this subject a little deeper.
BigCommerce APIs
BigCommerce's API coverage is incredibly impressive. As is the number of API calls that BigCommerce can process per second. In fact, it can handle 100 times more API calls per second than Shopify Plus!
Shopify limits you to just two API requests a second, or four API per second if you’re a Shopify Plus user. Whereas BigCommerce can handle a whopping 400 API calls per second!
How Often Will You Need to Hit an API Call?
Let’s take synchronizing your entire stock list with BigCommerce’s Catalog API as an example. This API enables you to integrate your BigCommerce store with your POS and multiple online sales channels...so that you can handle everything from a single platform. Needless to say, this makes selling on popular third-party platforms like Amazon, Walmart (Jet), Wayfair, Best Buy, Houz, etc. a breeze!
So, suppose you’re running a large enterprise and have thousands of items to synchronize (or have tons of different product options). In that case, 25,000 products could take over four hours to sync on Shopify! Whereas, with BigCommerce, that same volume of merchants would take around a minute.
Following this same logic, if you're syncing multiple systems with your ecommerce store, you’ll be thankful that BigCommerce handles so many API calls per second. After all, there are only so many hours in the day!
The biggest perk?
But, that isn't the best thing about BigCommerce's APIs. In fact, it's the real-time information your shipping and logistics partners feedback to your store that's of the most value.
Of course, this also has a knock-on effect on the quality of your customer support. Slow and unreliable API calls adversely impact your store's inventory levels and shipping updates for customers.
Customer Support
While we're on the topic of customer service, just think of the kind of high-quality customer support you could provide, using one of your many APIs to connect your BigCommerce store with Gorgias.
You'll be able to offer all the following at lightning speed:
- Real-time live chat (you can even trigger automatic live chat campaigns depending on your visitor's web page).
- Centralize customer communications - social media, email, phone, etc. You can answer all pending support tickets from the convenience of one dashboard.
- You can create template answers to respond faster to FAQs - just write your response once and save it as a macro. Then you'll be able to reuse it automatically.
- Utilize machine learning to detect what customers will ask - shipping updates, refunds, exchanges, etc. Then, you can send laser-targeted automated responses to proactively answer their questions.
How to Utilize API Calls
On top of the obvious benefits listed above, you can also use BigCommerce's API points to create mobile apps using data retrieved from your online store. Not only does this make app development much easier, but ultimately, it'll also provide a seamless experience for the end-user. Win-win!
For the sake of ease, we've listed some of the different kinds of BigCommerce APIs you can use and how they could benefit your online store. Hopefully, this provides some much-needed inspiration for making the most out of your abundance of APIs.
Storefront APIs: This enables you to manage customer carts and checkouts (from the client's side and your back end). For instance, you can add products to a shopper’s cart, gather and display customer order info, update billing addresses, and erase current e-shopping trolleys.
GraphQL Storefront API: Similar to above, you can also use this API to access your customer's product info and modify customer details and orders. But more unique to this API, you can build frontend apps. This permits you full control over the look and feel of your brand.
Scripts API: You can insert any scripts for analytics, single-click apps, live chat, support plugins, and theme extensions for any apps or integrations you’ve downloaded, so you'll no longer have to manually paste code into your control panel.
Widgets API: Here, you can create modular blocks of content to reuse wherever you want. Similarly, you can also develop tools to empower non-techy users to manage your content. Trust us, your team will thank you for not making them go to the trouble of modifying the theme files.
Payments API: As its name so aptly suggests, this API facilitates the acceptance of customer payments. You can create custom checkouts either using a Server-to-Server Checkout API Orders endpoint or via the V2 Orders endpoint.
Getting Started with BigCommerce APIs
First off, you need to obtain the API credentials.
From there, you can experiment with your APIs using BigCommerce's in-built 'Request Runner.' Here, you just copy and paste your store_hash, client_id ID, and access_token.
Then once you've done that, hit 'Send.'
Alternatively, you can use the REST Client extension to make API requests, using the Visual Studio Code. Once you've installed this extension, you'll need to create a new file called BigCommerce.http.
Then you'll need to paste the following:
@ACCESS_TOKEN = your_access_token
@CLIENT_ID = your_client_id
@STORE_HASH = your_store_hash
###
GET https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{{STORE_HASH}}/v3/catalog/products
X-Auth-Token: {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}
X-Auth-Client: {{CLIENT_ID}}
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
Now, hit 'Save.'
This should trigger a 'send request' link to display above GET. Click 'send request,' and the API response will appear in a split window.
There are other ways to start using BigCommerce APIs, but we don't have time to go through them all in this article. Hopefully, this has been enough to help steer you in the right direction. For more information, take a look at BigCommerce’s API documentation.
Are You Ready to Start Using BigCommerce?
We hope having read this article, you have a better idea of what you could achieve with BigCommerce's generous API allowance. The BigCommerce API lets you sync inventory across channels, and locations, connect to apps, and offer exceptional customer support. How have you used the BigCommerce API?
Black Friday vs. Buy Nothing Day
For most retailers, Black Friday is the busiest and most profitable day of the year. However, not everyone is into shopping on Black Friday. Every year, more and more activists are protesting the consumer culture by celebrating ‘Buy Nothing Day.’
Never heard about it? Although the anti-consumerism celebration has been gaining traction in the last couple of years, it’s still not well-known among the general public.
How did we come to this point? That’s what we’ll learn today.
You’ll find out:
- A short history of Black Friday
- What’s Buy Nothing Day All About
- Black Friday vs. Buy Nothing Day
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The History of Black Friday
As high-speed Internet spread across the planet so did Black Friday. What initially started as a mall craze has evolved in an online phenomenon. But do you know how Black Friday started? When and where did it happen and how did it spread?
How Black Friday Started
The holiday got started in the early-50s, in Philadelphia. The term was used to describe the heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving when hordes of tourists and suburbanites would storm the city in advance of the annual Army-Navy football game.
While we don’t know for certain, the term “Black Friday” was possibly coined by the members of the Philadelphia police department to describe the shoplifting, traffic jams, and general mayhem. Yes, Black Friday incidents are nothing new.
Even though retailers tried to change its name to “Big Friday” during the late 60s in an effort to avoid the negative connotations, the original name persevered. In the mid-80s, marketers started using the term in connection to “being in the black” after a financially bad year.
Cyber Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Black November
Black Friday sales became commonplace across the United States, in the early 90s. By the mid-2000s, online shopping started gaining traction. In 2008, online shoppers spent $534 million on Black Friday.
During the same period, Cyber Monday got its start. The holiday took off when the staff at Shop.org noticed a 77% increase in online sales on Monday after the Black Friday weekend. Since Cyber Monday was so successful, some of the largest store chains in the US, like Walmart and Amazon merged the two into a single shopping weekend.
Soon after, retailers started creating different spin-offs of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. For example, the day after Black Friday is called Small Business Saturday. That’s why some retailers now celebrate Black November all month long.
Pros and Cons of Black Friday
Last year, retailers from all over the world saw more than 93 million people shopping online, during the Black Friday weekend. While a huge number of people are looking forward to the holiday, there are some that aren’t as nearly excited.
The holiday has its positive and negative sides. Some of the Black Friday pros include:
- Most consumers are able to save a lot of money on great deals
- Retailers are able to make a good percentage of their yearly revenue during BFCM
- It’s great for the economy; 30% of retail sales happen between BFCM and Christmas
Of course, we need to take into consideration Black Friday cons as well:
- People tend to overspend during BFCM and buy things they wouldn’t otherwise
- Some retailers that artificially heighten their prices in the weeks leading up to BFCM
- Some small businesses can’t compete with large discounts offered by large chains
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The History of Nothing Day
Not all people see Black Friday as a great opportunity to buy that 40-inch smart TV for a fraction of its price. Some see it as nothing more than a decadent celebration of commercialism. That’s why some people opt to celebrate Buy Nothing Day.
Never heard of Buy Nothing Day before? You’re not alone. A lot of people haven’t. But don’t worry, we’re here to explain everything…
How Nothing Day Started
Now, Buy Nothing Day is actually nothing new. The anti-holiday was originally thought out by a Canadian artist by the name of Ted Dave way back in 1992. His anti-shopping campaign started gaining steam once it got picked up by the non-profit magazine, Adbusters.
According to the official Adbusters website, the day is meant for ordinary consumers to re-examine their spending habits and take a look at the “issue of overconsumption.”
During the 90s and 00s, this anti-holiday was mainly “celebrated” in the US and Canada, but in the last couple of years, thanks to the Internet, it reached a worldwide audience. While it’s certainly not popular as Black Friday, it’s slowly catching on.
How is Buy Nothing Day Celebrated
Seeing how Buy Nothing Day is still new, it’s no wonder that different people celebrate it in different ways. However, over the last decade, certain traditions have developed. Here a few universal ways in which people celebrate Buy Nothing Day:
- Cutting Up Credit Cards: This is perhaps the most extreme way in which people celebrate Buy Nothing Day. Some consumers gather in front of shopping malls on Black Friday to cut up their credit cards in protest of consumerism.
- Starting Whirly Marts: Another “on-location” way to celebrate Buy Nothing Day is to take a shopping cart and create a long -conga-like line around the mall. As you might’ve guessed, the shopping carts are traditionally empty.
- Taking Buy Nothing Hikes: A less confrontational way to celebrate it is to ignore the stores and shoppers completely and go for a group hike. This allows people to leave the stress-filled spending day behind them and enjoy nature.
Pros and Cons of Buy Nothing Day
People who are preoccupied with the negative aspects of commercialism are obviously more likely to participate in the Buy Nothing Day celebration. But just like its consumerism-celebrating counterpart, Buy Nothing Day has its negative and positive sides.
Let’s go over the positive aspects first:
- It encourages people to think about how much money they’re needlessly spending
- Also, it helps consumers control the urge to buy things compulsively and spend wisely
- Finally, it shows that your personal happiness doesn’t revolve around material objects
Nothing is perfect and Buy Nothing Day isn’t the exception. Here are some negative aspects:
- Not overspending for a single day doesn’t mean you won’t do it for the rest of the year
- Consumerism drives a country’s economy, so it’s not always the most sustainable protest.
- Not shopping for a single day won’t prevent consumerism on a large scale
Black Friday vs. Buy Nothing Day
As a retailer, are you wondering if you should be worried? Can Buy Nothing Day turn some of your customers against you, destroy your relationship, and hurt your sales? Let’s see how the BFCM weekend will stack up against Buy Nothing Day in 2020.
The Emergence of the Conscious Shopper
Consumers have become more conscious in recent years. They’re more worried about global problems than ever before, and they would like the companies they’re dealing with to share their concerns.
But if overspending in rampant consumerism is such a problem, why isn’t Buy Nothing Day bigger? You have to remember that the day is competing with well-established holidays. Also, Black Friday backlash has been much more noticeable outside the US.
For example, just last year in France, protesters gathered in an attempt to block an Amazon warehouse in the suburbs of Paris. In other European countries, lawmakers are considering banning Black Friday altogether, due to the negative environmental impact.
Make Black Friday Green Again
Speaking of France, a collective known as MFGA (Make Friday Green Again) recently formed in the country, in order to help the citizens become more conscious about their consumption. More than 450 brands signed up to support the MFGA initiative in 2019.
Faguo, the organization behind the movement is inviting consumers to drop unwanted clothing items into their stores and encouraging consumers to take part in their tree-planting campaign.
The #OptOutside Campaign
In the United States, REI, an outdoor-gear manufacturing company is doing its part to slow-down overconsumption during the BFCM weekend. On Black Friday, the REI officials close all of their stores, give their employees a paid day off, and encourage people to go outside for a walk, hike, or a campaign trip.
Their Opt Outside campaign not only helps their consumers become more physically active and financially responsible, but also spreads awareness about their values. The fact that the healthy activities they promote are what their products are made for is not a coincidence.
Buy Nothing Day vs Ecommerce
Will Black Friday sales suffer from Buy Nothing Day? Not really. While some will choose to ignore the BFCM weekend, most people are either not aware of Buy Nothing Day or don’t feel like they have any trouble controlling their spending.
Large stores probably won’t feel any consequences. However, their small-to-midsize counterparts might feel the hit.
Around 60% of all online spending during BFCM goes to a dozen or so large retailers. None of them will feel the impact of Buy Nothing Day. The rest of the money goes to thousands of small stores. They’re the ones that could potentially feel the hit.
How to Do Your Part
Should you be concerned about Buy Nothing Day? Yes and no. On one hand, you have to be aware that as a small business owner, you can’t afford to lose any customers. On the other, it’s not likely that many of your customers will choose Black Friday to ignore you.
There’s a simple solution if you feel like Buy Nothing Day may be a problem. To get the younger, socially-aware crowd on your side, you just have to show them that you care.
You can use your website to encourage people to spend more time outdoors or promote a good cause. Take DoneGood for example. In 2018, the Boston-based ecommerce website donated Black Friday revenue to the RAINN foundation.
Looking Beyond Black Friday 2020
It took nearly 50 years for Black Friday to become a worldwide phenomenon. Although information travels fast nowadays, it’s not realistic to expect for Buy Nothing Day to become a large-scale protest against consumerism any time soon.
When done right, Black Friday can be a great day for both retailers and shoppers. If you’re a store owner and you want to make it great for your customers, here’s what you need to do:
- Creating catered, personalized experiences
- Taking a mobile-first approach to ecommerce
- Becoming more environmentally-conscious
- Focusing on creating a great customer support experience for Black Friday shoppers
One thing is certain: your customers should always come first. You need to show them that you share their values, respect their concerns, and that you’re ready to take that extra step to keep them satisfied. And you can’t do that without a good helpdesk.
With Gorgias helpdesk, you can attend to your customers, establish, and nurture relationships with ease.
Go ahead, sign up for Gorgias, get your 15-day free trial, and see your customer satisfaction rates skyrocket.
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