Industry
Retail & e-commerce
Order and returns service via messaging, chat and phone, proactive delivery notices, help in the shop at the right moment and accessible customer interfaces as a goal under the European Accessibility Act.
Requirements
What matters in customer contact.
The requests, rules and peaks that shape this industry – and how Univerx answers them.
Where is my order?
The most common question in retail can be answered in advance. Proactive delivery notices and AI agents take it out of the queue.
The channels customers use
Messaging apps, web messaging, phone and email run into one queue. The conversation continues when the channel changes.
Returns and complaints
Photos, receipts and return labels inside the conversation. Task routing sends checks to the back office, with a deadline.
Advice in the shop
Proactive engagement notices when someone is stuck at checkout and offers chat or a callback. Not earlier, not pushy.
Seasons and promotions
Holidays and campaigns create peaks. Forecasting and scheduling prepare the team for them.
Accessibility
The accessibility rules apply to online shops. Accessible chat and self-service interfaces to WCAG 2.1 AA are the goal.
#Service along the order
In retail, every request has a reference: an order, a delivery, a return. Univerx ties customer contact to that reference, across every channel.
A customer asks about his parcel via messaging. The AI agent knows the delivery status from the connected system and answers at once. If he wants an exchange, the agent hands over to a service agent with context.
#Answering questions before they are asked
A large share of retail contacts asks about status. Notifications report dispatch, delays or delivery by SMS, email or messaging. Customers who are informed do not need to ask.
If a question remains, they can reply directly to the message. It lands in the same queue as every other contact, with the order as context.
#Returns without detours
When someone wants to send an item back, the AI agent creates the return label and explains the next steps. For complaints it collects photos and the receipt in the conversation. Task routing places the check in the right workbin, with a deadline.
#Help at the moment of decision
With proactive engagement, Univerx watches web journeys in real time. If someone stalls at checkout or keeps comparing, the page offers chat, a callback or fitting content.
You set the rules: which pages, which signals, how often. Journey analytics then shows which offers helped and which did not.
#Making peaks predictable
Holidays, sales and season changes create waves. Forecasting calculates contact volume per channel from history and events. Scheduling then sets up the shifts to match.
#Accessibility under the European Accessibility Act
Since 28 June 2025, Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) has applied to e-commerce services as well. It implements the European Accessibility Act.
| Interface | Goal |
|---|---|
| Web messaging | WCAG 2.1 AA: keyboard, screen readers, contrast |
| Self-service | Clear dialogues, no hard time limits |
| Notifications | Plain language, accessible links |
What that means in detail is described in the guide to accessibility in customer service.
#A typical start
- Workshop: define the most frequent requests, channels and systems.
- Pilot: delivery status with notification and AI agent.
- Rollout: returns, proactive engagement, forecasting for the season.
Building blocks
The capabilities behind it.
These capabilities and add-ons carry the solution. Each one is described on its own – with flow, use and rules.
- Univerx Contact Center
Messaging apps
Common messaging apps run in the same queue as phone, chat and email. Customers write where they already write, and your team replies from one workspace.
Learn more - Univerx Contact Center
Web messaging & chat
Asynchronous chat on your website and in your apps. Customers can pause and pick up later, the history is kept, and AI agents handle what they can resolve.
Learn more - Univerx Journeys
Proactive engagement
Proactive engagement watches web journeys in real time and offers help at the right moment: a chat, a callback or fitting content, before someone abandons the application or reaches for the phone.
Learn more - Univerx Outbound
Notifications
Automated reminders and notices with no agent involved: appointment confirmations, delivery status, deadlines, outage information. By SMS, email, messaging or voice message, with a way to reply.
Learn more - Univerx Workforce
Forecasting
Forecasting predicts contact volume and handling time per channel and skill, from history and from events such as holidays, campaigns or outages. It is where every good plan begins.
Learn more
Use cases
Flows teams here start with.
From first contact to resolution: the use cases that often come first in this industry.
Customer service
Every request on the right channel, with the right person, with the whole context. Routing, workspace, Univerx Assist and knowledge work together in one flow.
Self-service around the clock
AI agents resolve routine requests on the phone and in chat, at any hour. They are disclosed as AI, act only in approved systems and hand over with context as soon as a person is needed.
Peak load & crisis communication
When everyone calls at once: inform proactively, offer callbacks instead of hold, let AI agents answer the most frequent question and reset teams with forecasting and short-term scheduling. In an order that has been planned in advance.
Sales & digital advice
Advice that does not fall apart at the broken hand-off: a shared view of offer and form, documents uploaded during the conversation and the deal signed on the spot. With the Univerx Channel and proactive engagement at the right moment.
Rules & evidence
The regulations that apply here.
How Univerx meets the requirements is in the trust center – with a status per topic and documents on request.
European Accessibility Act
Since June 2025, Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act has applied to many consumer services. Univerx sets accessible customer interfaces as a goal: WCAG 2.1 AA and EN 301 549 for web messaging, the Univerx Channel and self-service.
Designed for · WCAG 2.1 AA as a goalLearn moreGDPR
Processing under Art. 28 GDPR, documents for your data protection impact assessment, retention and deletion policies and role rights. What exists you receive on request; what is a goal we call a goal.
On requestLearn moreEU AI Act
AI disclosure in dialogue, human oversight, logging and model approval: Univerx is designed for the duties of the AI Act. Which risk class your use case falls into, we work out together.
Designed forLearn more
Frequently asked questions
Which messaging apps are supported?
Common messaging apps run in the same queue as every other channel. We show which apps fit your case in the demo.
How does the order status get into the conversation?
Through connectors to shop, inventory and CRM systems, or through open APIs. The AI agent and the service agent see the same status.
Isn't proactive engagement intrusive?
It is governed by rules you set: which pages, which signals, how often. The aim is help at the moment someone gets stuck.
What does the Accessibility Act require from customer service?
Customer interfaces in e-commerce must be accessible. Univerx is designed for WCAG 2.1 AA in web messaging and self-service. You assess how the rules apply to your shop.
Further reading
Guides2 November 2026 · 11 min readAccessibility in customer service (EAA)
What the European Accessibility Act and its German implementation demand of customer interfaces, which channels are affected, and how to check chat, voice dialogues, forms and contact routes against WCAG 2.1 AA and EN 301 549.
Guides2 November 2026 · 11 min readJourney orchestration: a playbook
From analytics to the next best action: how to pick a customer journey, settle data and triggers, choose the right channel, and run it all with clear governance and honest measurement.
Practice & how-to2 November 2026 · 5 min readAccessible web messaging: ten points to start with
A chat window is small, but it packs in almost everything that makes accessibility hard. Ten points to start with.
Customer experience strategy1 November 2026 · 4 min readJourney first, not channel first: another way to plan service
Nobody wants to "use the chat". People want to move house, switch tariffs or understand a bill. Plan service along those paths and you see breaks no channel report shows.
See Univerx on your own example.
In a demo we show the platform along your channels and requests, from AI agents to video, workforce scheduling and analytics.
Online, in German or English, with no preparation on your side.