AI assistant for e-commerce teams — ops without the tab-hopping

Running a store is a loop of small operational jobs that never end: where's the PO, why is this SKU low, who answers the "where's my order" emails, what did we actually sell yesterday. None of it is strategy. All of it eats the day, across eight tabs — storefront, email, 3PL portal, supplier spreadsheets, ad dashboards, a chat full of pings.

An AI colleague built for real work collapses that loop into a text thread. You ask; it does; it reports back; and the tools stay updated as a side effect.

What Arlo runs for a store

• Supplier and 3PL follow-ups — the chase is the job: the late PO, the missing tracking, the freight quote nobody answered. Arlo chases by email, and when email stalls, it calls — then posts the outcome in your thread and updates the record.
• Customer email triage — refund requests, where-is-my-order, the angry one that needs you. Arlo sorts, drafts in your brand voice, and holds every send for approval until you loosen the gate for routine cases.
• The morning brief — one message: yesterday's sales, the SKUs that crossed reorder points, shipments that slipped, and the two customer threads worth your attention. Pulled from your tools while you slept.
• Portals with no API — half of e-commerce ops lives in supplier portals and legacy dashboards no integration covers. Arlo logs in once through a secure browser session and clicks, reads, and files the way a person would.
• Records as a side effect — inventory notes, supplier threads, ticket statuses, the ops spreadsheet: updated when the work happens, not reconstructed on Friday.

Where it lives

Where your team already talks. Text Arlo from iMessage on the warehouse floor, @mention it in the ops Slack channel, or ask on a call. One persistent memory spans every channel, so "the supplier from last month's shortage" needs no re-explaining — and the morning brief lands in whichever thread you actually read.

Governance, because this touches customers and money

E-commerce automation has a failure mode: the bot that emailed the wrong customer, refunded the wrong order, or spammed a supplier. Arlo's answer is structural — policy checks before every run, approval gates on anything outbound or irreversible, and a full audit trail of every call, email, and change. You extend autonomy category by category as it earns trust, and you can always read exactly what it did.

Frequently asked questions

What can an AI assistant do for an e-commerce business? Chase suppliers and 3PLs by email or live phone call, triage and draft customer email, deliver a daily numbers brief, work no-API portals through a secure browser session, and keep records updated — with approvals on anything outbound.

Does it integrate with my store stack? Arlo connects to 3,000+ tools, and for portals with no API it operates the interface directly through a secure browser session. Check the in-product integrations list for your specific stack.

Can it talk to customers directly? It drafts customer replies in your brand voice and holds them for approval by default. Many teams keep approval on for customer-facing email permanently and let routine internal work run gated-free.

Can it really call a supplier? Yes — Arlo places live calls, has the conversation, and reports the outcome in your thread with records updated. It takes inbound calls too.

What does it cost? Arlo starts free — connecting Slack grants your workspace $100 in credits — and then sells prepaid credits, one-time or as an optional monthly plan with 10% bonus credits. The rate is 400 credits per $1 at every amount, from $50 up; $50 buys 20,000 credits, roughly 625 messages or 69 researched answers, and every capability including live supplier calls is there from the first dollar. Credits roll over and expire 12 months after purchase. Admin controls, SSO, and audit export are available on request. Weigh that against the hours of ops chasing it absorbs weekly.