24/7 support, order status, returns help — chat answers while you sell.
Online shops have the strongest support leverage in DACH e-commerce: 60–80 % of all requests are routine (order status, shipping, returns, size advice). The chat agent answers right in the browser, integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce and Shopware via webhook, and hands complex cases (complaint, special request) to your team.
by Sven Pflüger · Founder & CEO, Rinqo·Last updated:
Notice under EU AI Act Article 50:From the first message, the chat agent shows it's an AI. For complex questions, the agent hands off to your team.How we use AI
What does the Chat Agent do for Online shops?
Rinqo's chat agent for online shops answers order status, shipping, returns workflows and product recommendations directly on the shop page. Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware via webhook. GDPR-compliant on Hetzner Germany, AI Act disclosure on by default.
EU-Sovereign · GDPR · AI Act
Made in Germany. Hosted in Europe. AI-Act-ready before the deadline.
GDPR-compliant on EU servers
All calls, transcripts and knowledge data are processed encrypted on Hetzner Cloud in Falkenstein and Nuremberg, no US Cloud Act exposure, no third-country transfer. DPA in place.
LLM inference: Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service (Microsoft Ireland, Sweden Central, EU Data Boundary) as single-AI backbone — OVHcloud as opt-in Pure-EU failover
Speech: Deepgram in EU setup + KugelAudio (German company, EU-hosted)
Auto-deletion after 30/90 days, configurable per org
AI Act Art. 50, implemented before 2 Aug 2026
From 2 August 2026 every AI system must disclose to end users at the start of the conversation that it is AI-based. Rinqo enables this by default everywhere, before the deadline, not after.
Voice: mandatory disclosure as first audio frame, before any answer
Chat/Email: AI label in footer and subject
Synthetic audio will be machine-watermarked once Code-of-Practice (June 2026) ships
Penalty: up to €15M or 3 % global annual turnover (whichever is higher)
Sources: GDPR Art. 28 + 32 · EU AI Act Regulation 2024/1689 · BfDI guidelines.
Why Online shops need an AI agent.
The DACH e-commerce market totals around €87 bn in 2024 (bevh), spread across roughly 110,000 active online shops (Statista 2024). Support load concentrates on four main concerns: order status ("where is my package?"), shipping and returns questions, product advice (size, material, compatibility) and availability/restock. A 2024 Bitkom report shows shoppers expect an instant answer on the shop page in 71 % of cases — otherwise they switch to a competitor. Most DACH shops run no live-chat team — the inbox backlog grows overnight, the next morning the sale is lost. An AI chat agent answering directly on product and cart pages closes the gap without staff cost.
Order-status inquiries clog the email inbox; 60–80 % of all tickets are routine.
Mobile buyers want answers in chat, not email — otherwise the purchase fails.
Multilingual: DACH shops shipping to AT/CH need DE+EN+often FR/IT without staffing.
Return instructions (label, deadline, condition) tie up 4–6 minutes per email — 50 returns/day = full-time job.
Cart abandonment: 70 % of carts are not completed, often over open questions nobody answered.
How the Chat Agent for Online shops.
€87 bnDACH e-commerce revenue 2024
71 %Shoppers expect instant chat reply
70 %Carts abandoned (Baymard Institute)
What your agent does for Online shops.
Order-status lookup straight from Shopify/WooCommerce via webhook
Return workflow explanation (label, address, deadline) up to shipping-label generation
Product advice from knowledge base (material, size, compatibility, care)
Availability/restock notification (email capture on "out of stock")
Cart recovery: active chat trigger on cart inactivity
Multilingual support DE/EN/FR/IT without separate operator shifts
Features of the Chat Agent
Embeddable as a website widget
Answers questions in real time
Guides visitors through your offering
Captures contact details and inquiries
Hands over to your team when needed
Learns from your knowledge base
Frequently asked questions about the Chat Agent for your industry Online shops.
Yes. Shopify has a native REST API for order lookup and inventory sync — Rinqo integrates via webhook. For WooCommerce we use the WC REST API. For Shopware (6.x) it runs via the Admin API. Setup per shop typically 30–60 minutes, then the agent sees every order status in real time.
Rinqo Starter from €99 net/mo (500 credits, ~500 AI chats). International chat suites often start with low entry prices, then scale via conversation-volume tiers, per-seat licences and separate AI add-ons. A typical shop with ~1,500 chats/month lands on Rinqo Pro €349/mo — seat and add-on models quickly hit 4-figure territory. Plus Rinqo includes voice and email on the same knowledge base.
Rinqo hosts on Hetzner Germany; the Art. 28 GDPR DPA is automated at signup. Many international chat providers operate under a US parent structure — CLOUD Act exposure is a TIA point for DACH shops with sensitive customer data. If you operate DACH-first, Rinqo has the cleaner compliance story.
Yes, as long as your product catalogue is loaded as a knowledge base (Shopify export, CSV or live API sync). Example: "do you also have waterproof hiking boots in size 42?" → the agent checks category + availability + waterproof attribute and replies with 2–3 matching product links. Recommendation logic is tweakable (e.g. "only premium from €80").
Rinqo supports 20+ languages out of the box; the agent auto-detects the language of the incoming message and replies in the same. For DACH shops shipping to AT/CH: DE as default, Swiss German is understood and answered in standard German (or with Swiss-specific terms on request). English, French and Italian are included in pricing — no separate operator licences.
Sven builds Rinqo from a simple observation: most AI tools are designed in San Francisco and sold in Berlin. The workshop in the Black Forest, the veterinary practice in Salzburg, the family hotel in Tyrol get software that doesn't speak their language. Rinqo flips that. On European servers, set up in ten minutes, in twenty languages. With templates built by the industries themselves.
