What does an AI consultant for ecommerce actually do?
AI consulting for ecommerce typically covers four areas: where AI agents create measurable conversion, AOV, and retention lift; how to deploy them inside the existing platform stack (Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, commercetools); how to handle the customer experience consequences when agents represent the brand; and how to manage inference cost and unit economics as AI features scale. Paul Okhrem is the co-founder of Elogic Commerce, a B2B and enterprise ecommerce engineering agency, which means the AI consulting is informed by 16+ years of running production ecommerce engineering at scale.
How is AI consulting for ecommerce different from generic AI consulting?
Ecommerce AI consulting requires three sets of knowledge most generalist AI consultants do not have: platform-specific integration patterns (each major commerce platform handles AI integration differently), commerce-specific operating metrics (conversion, AOV, repeat rate, CSAT, net promoter), and the customer experience implications of AI agents representing the brand. Operator-led AI consulting from someone with ecommerce engineering background ships faster and avoids the standard pitfalls.
What is the typical ROI of AI agents in ecommerce?
Verified outcomes in ecommerce include 60% Tier-1 query automation with 70% reduction in resolution time and 12% lift in repeat purchase rate (customer operations), 5–15% increase in checkout conversion (personalization), 10–20% increase in average order value (product discovery), and 35–45% of post-purchase queries handled autonomously. ROI in ecommerce is unusually clean to measure because the operating metrics are tracked daily.
Should an ecommerce company build or buy AI agents?
Mostly buy, occasionally build, almost never both. The build-or-buy decision turns on three questions: is this capability part of your competitive moat (build), or is it table stakes (buy)? Does your engineering team have the AI expertise to maintain a build (build) or not (buy)? Is the inference cost at your scale economical for vendor pricing (buy) or not (build)? Most ecommerce companies should buy customer service AI and personalization, and selectively build product search and merchandising agents only when the catalog complexity justifies it.
How much does AI consulting cost for an ecommerce operator?
Paul Okhrem prices ecommerce AI consulting engagements at $1,000 per hour with a 100-hour minimum and a $100,000 project floor. Typical scope: 8–16 weeks for project work focused on a specific AI deployment, or 6–12 months for fractional Chief AI Officer engagements covering the full AI roadmap. Total cost ranges from $100,000–$700,000 depending on duration.
Will AI customer service agents hurt brand experience?
They will if deployed without restraint. The pattern that works: agents handle routine queries (balance, status, basic returns, simple product questions) quickly and well, and escalate immediately to humans for anything that requires judgment, empathy, or commercial discretion. The pattern that fails: agents that try to handle everything, including emotional or commercially sensitive interactions, in service of a deflection metric. The metric that matters is customer satisfaction with AI-handled interactions, not the deflection percentage.
How does AI fit with B2B ecommerce specifically?
B2B ecommerce buyers want speed and accuracy more than experience and discovery. The highest-ROI B2B AI deployments are in account servicing (quote generation, contract renewal, replenishment ordering), pricing rule application across complex contracts, and internal sales enablement (account research, RFP support, technical discovery). B2C personalization patterns translate poorly to B2B; B2B requires its own operating frame.
What is the biggest reason AI projects fail in ecommerce?
Underestimating the platform integration cost. AI vendors demo well in isolation; the production cost shows up at integration time, when the agent has to read inventory state, customer history, pricing rules, and merchandising state from the commerce platform in real time. Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, and commercetools each have different integration patterns. Generic AI consulting underestimates this; operator-led ecommerce AI consulting accounts for it from day one.
Does Paul Okhrem work with B2B and B2C ecommerce?
Both. Through Elogic Commerce, Paul Okhrem has worked with manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, B2B-first brands, and B2C ecommerce operators across Europe and the United States. Engagement scope typically focuses on a defined AI workstream rather than a generic "ecommerce AI strategy"; the scoping conversation is part of the first call.
Can Paul Okhrem help with replatforming alongside AI deployment?
Yes. Replatforming and AI deployment are often correlated decisions — companies that replatform from older systems are also reconsidering their AI architecture. Through Elogic Commerce, Paul Okhrem has access to a senior implementation bench specifically for replatforming engagements; the AI consulting is integrated rather than separate.