AI Front Office for Retail Stores. The AI receptionist for retail stores, on every line.
Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for retail stores that answers every store line on the first ring, plus your website chat and your inbox. It gives each location's hours, checks the stock records you keep, holds an item for pickup, books fittings and deliveries and passes complaints to the manager on duty.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
Sells
Helps your team
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“Send alteration questions to the tailoring counter on weekdays from ten to four.”
Lisa“Before: alteration calls reach the front desk. After: weekdays ten to four they ring the tailoring counter, then a message. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All industries ›
Who reaches you
Who the AI answers for Retail Stores
- Shoppers asking your hours, holiday openings and where to park
- Callers checking whether an item is in stock at their store
- Customers asking you to hold a piece for pickup tonight
- Brides, grooms and gift buyers booking a fitting or a ring sizing
- Buyers asking where their special order or their repair stands
- Coaches and office managers asking for a team or corporate quote
The whole front counter
What an AI receptionist for retail stores does every day
One business number with a whole AI call center behind it: call handling, call routing and appointment booking for every store, answered from the knowledge base your stores have written.
Answers on the first ring
The AI answers every call on the first ring, 24/7 and in multiple languages, with no hold queue and no phone menu, so nobody leaves the register or the fitting room to grab it.
Checks the stock you record
With AI Inventory, callers hear whether the sofa, the size or the model is on hand, reserved or on back order with its date, read from the item's own record.
Holds it for pickup
A caller who leaves a name and a number can have the piece held for the hours you allow, and its page with the photos is texted while the call goes on.
Books the visit
With AI Booking, the AI books appointments for fittings, ring sizings, repair drop-offs and delivery windows in the free slots of the right store, confirmed by text or e-mail.
Covers the chat and the inbox
The same store knowledge is used to answer questions in your website chat and the shop's mailbox, so a gift-exchange rule reads the same every time, on the phone, in the chat or in a reply.
Hands over with the reason
A complaint, a safety report or a refund outside your policy rings your customer service desk or the manager on duty, who picks up with full context: who is calling and why.
A day on the floor
A virtual receptionist for retail stores, from opening to closing
Nine-fifty, before the doors open
Callers ask whether you open at ten on the holiday Monday, and each one hears the business hours you wrote for that day while the team counts the tills.
Saturday at noon
At noon the call volume peaks, the busiest hour of the week, while the floor is full; the AI takes every call at once, and missed calls stop piling up beside the register.
The last recliner in leather
A caller asks which of your two stores still has it; the AI receptionist for furniture stores reads the record of each location, names the store and holds the chair until Sunday.
The ring that needs resizing
A customer books a sizing with the jeweler on Thursday, offered only in the jeweler's free half-hours at the store she picked.
Seven at night, after closing
A shopper asks after hours if the patio set comes in teak; the AI receptionist answers from your product page, and the morning briefing lists every call that came in overnight.
The week before the holidays
Extended hours, gift wrapping and gift-receipt questions are answered from your store information, and only the calls that truly need a person reach the manager.
Real screens
Inside the AI receptionist for retail stores
Screens of the real product with demo data on them, each framed for the counter, the floor and the stockroom.
Weigh the options
An associate, an answering service or an AI answering service for retail stores
The same store calls, handled by an associate between customers, by the answering services and virtual receptionists that take a message, and by Zanus AI.
| What the call needs | An associate answering between customers | A message-taking answering service | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is it in stock at the north store? | Answered after a walk to the stockroom | A message for the store to call back | Read from the record:: on hand, reserved or on back order with its date |
| Three calls at noon on Saturday | Two ring out | Callers wait in a queue | All answered at once:: no busy tone and no hold music |
| Hold the dresser until Sunday | Written on a sticky note | Rarely something it can do | Held on the record:: for the hours you allow, and the next caller hears it is reserved |
| A fitting or a delivery window | The diary by the register | A request passed on | Booked in a free slot:: at the right store, with the right person, confirmed by text |
| What is left after the call | Whatever someone remembers | A short note by e-mail | The whole call written:: transcript and summary on the customer's record |
Where people decide
What the AI receptionist hands to your store managers
Refunds and exceptions
Your return window, receipt rule and final-sale items are explained as written; a refund outside the policy or a store credit exception stays with the manager.
Injuries and product safety
A caller reporting that a heater sparked or a crib wobbles is put through to a person at once, with the item and the story taken down.
Discount requests
Prices come from the item's record and your published promotions; a shopper who wants a better deal is offered the manager, never a figure the AI works out.
Suppliers, reps and job seekers
Vendor reps, delivery drivers and applicants are routed by your rules to the right person's messages, so nobody pulls the buyer off the sales floor.
2 minutes
Set up your AI receptionist for retail stores in 2 minutes
Forward the store line
Forward the number on your receipts and your shop sign to the Front Office, and the AI answers from the next call, with no porting and no new phone system.
Let Lisa read your website
Lisa reads your product, service and policy pages, then asks for your locations, your hours and who takes transfers at each store.
Add your stock records
Import a spreadsheet of items with their stores and sizes, or describe new arrivals to Lisa, so availability answers come from your own records.
Hear it, then decide
Call your own store, ask for an item and book a fitting, then read the report of every call when the 7-day trial ends.
Questions & answers
Questions stores ask about an AI receptionist for retail
What is an AI receptionist for retail stores?
It is software that answers a store's phone like a trained associate at the front counter, at any hour. Zanus AI greets the caller, answers hours, directions, services and return rules from what you published, checks the stock records you keep, holds an item and puts a manager through when a call needs a person; with AI Booking it can also book appointments for fittings and delivery windows.
Can an AI answer the store phone while staff serve customers on the floor?
Yes, and that is where it pays back. Every store line is picked up on the first ring with no hold queue, even when three customers call during the Saturday rush. As an AI receptionist for boutiques with one person on the floor, it can ring the counter first and pick up whenever nobody there answers.
Can the AI tell a caller whether an item is in stock at a specific store?
Yes, with AI Inventory. The AI reads the item's record and says available, reserved, on order or on back order with its date, at the location your own field names. With no record for an item it says so and offers a call back from the store, never a guess.
Can the AI hold an item for a customer to pick up?
Yes, where you allow it. A caller who gives a name and a phone number can have the piece held from one hour to a week, for the time you set. Anyone else who asks about it hears that it is reserved, and the item's page with its photos is texted during the call.
Does it work for a retail chain with several locations?
Yes. In an AI receptionist for multi-store retailers, each location keeps its address, time zone, hours and holiday closures, and the AI asks which store a caller means before it answers or books. Bookings run per location and per staff member, and transfers ring the people your rules name for that store.
Will the AI approve returns, exchanges or refunds?
No. It explains your rules as written, such as the receipt, the window, final-sale items and the condition, and tells the customer what to bring to the counter. A refund outside your policy, a store credit exception or a dispute goes to the manager on duty with the conversation attached.
How does an AI receptionist help a store through the holiday rush?
Every call and chat is answered at the same moment, so December's call volumes do not leave a phone ringing behind a queue at the register. Customer inquiries about late opening hours, gift wrapping and gift receipts are answered from what you wrote, and only the calls that need a person reach a manager.
Is AI replacing cashiers and sales associates?
Not here. AI receptionists like Zanus AI take the phone, the website chat and the inbox, so the people in your store stay with the customers standing in front of them. Refunds, exceptions, safety reports and anything your rules send to a person still go to your staff.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a retail store?
Zanus AI is priced per company, never per seat, so the owner, the managers and every associate at every location share one subscription. Pick the modules your stores need and add others later; the plans are on the pricing page, and 7 days on your own store line need no credit card.
Can we keep the store's phone number?
Yes. Forward the number printed on your receipts, bags and signs to your Front Office and the AI answers from the next call, with no porting. A store that would rather bring the number over can have it ported with its carrier, and a new location can take a fresh local number.
Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes, whenever they ask. The AI never claims to be a member of your staff, and any caller who would rather talk to a person can ask at any moment; your rules decide who picks up at which store and when.
Does it replace our point-of-sale system?
No. Sales, payments, receipts and loyalty balances stay in the register system you already run at the counter. Zanus AI works at the front desk beside it: the calls, chats, e-mails, holds, bookings and quotes, written on each customer's record.
How quickly can a store start answering calls with AI?
The line is ready in 2 minutes: forward your number and the AI answers from that call on. Lisa then reads your website and asks a few questions by talking, such as your locations, your exchange rules and who takes transfers at each store.
What does the free trial include?
The whole Front Office runs free for 7 days on your store's own line, website and inbox, with no credit card. The pickup and delivery calls that AI Auto-Call places to your customers open with your first paid plan, from your AI Phone number.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.
Awards & trade shows ›
Give Lisa your website.
She sets up your business in 2 minutes.
Other software makes you learn it. Zanus AI learns your business.
Try it free on your own business — no credit card, per company, never per seat.
Ready to buy? See plans & pricing ›
Or call +1 (954) 736-3939 — the AI answers.