How it works · the loop
One scan. Two surfaces.
A closed loop.
The shopper asks on their phone. The agent answers from the live catalogue. The merchant sees the question, the handover and the till match. The purchase never leaves the POS.
The cast
- 01
Shopper's phone
A browser session opens from the code. No install, no account.
- 02
Live catalogue
Price, stock, variants and policy — the source of truth.
- 03
The agent
Retrieves, selects and phrases. It never invents a number.
- 04
The till
Takes the payment. Salewise does not — a sale is recorded in Sage only when it is imported or reported.
The agent is the only new surface. It runs in the browser the shopper already has.
A loop, not a funnel
Most retail tech stops at engagement. This one ends at the till.
The code identifies the aisle. The conversation identifies the demand. The POS identifies the sale. Each step produces a record the merchant can read — and a boundary the merchant controls.
Chapter
01
The shopper loop
Scan. Ask. Compare. Pay at the till.
Four moves, no install. Each one leaves a record on the merchant side.
01
ShopperScan
The shopper scans the code at the shelf, display or counter card. No app, account or download.
Merchant sees
A scan event, tagged with the code and aisle.
02
ShopperAsk
They describe the need in plain language — budget, use case, constraints — by voice or text.
Merchant sees
The question, language and session start.
03
ShopperCompare
The agent returns ranked options, trade-offs, bundles and live offers from the catalogue.
Merchant sees
The products retrieved, compared and recommended.
04
ShopperPay at the till
The phone carries the assistant. Nothing is bought on the device; the sale stays with your POS.
Merchant sees
A redemption code or a labelled basket match.
The agent does not take payments. The shopper decides on the phone and pays at your existing till, so the transaction stays inside your POS and Salewise stays out of card data.
No app · No card data · No hardware
Chapter
02
The merchant surface
The question becomes a record.
The shopper gets an answer. The merchant gets the question, the aisle and the handoff. Sage is where the loop becomes visible.
01
QR manager
Name a code by aisle or placement, pick store / category / product targets, style it with your colours and logo, then download SVG or PNG. Disable without deleting the scan history.
02
Usage per code
Scans, sessions, questions asked, answers given, handoffs and the last session — per aisle, per code.
03
Conversation transcripts
Every shopper question and agent answer, tagged with the QR code and aisle that started the session.
04
Till attribution
A redemption code gives an exact match. Otherwise a time-windowed basket overlap is reported as modelled, never as fact.
Sage · Store 014
Live412
Scans
188
Questions
41
Handoffs
Handoff queue
02Gait analysis · Aisle 2
Needs a personShopper asked which shoe suits a first half marathon.
Warranty claim · Service desk
CollectedModel and issue captured before the handover.
Last session · Aisle 1 · 14:32
“Will this work with a 15-inch laptop?” · answered · 2 products shown
Illustrative console · not merchant data
Chapter
03
The rules
The model selects. The server renders. The agent refuses.
The grounding loop is not a prompt. It is the order of operations: retrieve before generation, validate every ID, and stop when the catalogue cannot answer.
The grounding line
Five steps- 01
Query
The shopper asks in plain language.
- 02
Retrieve
The server selects candidate products.
- 03
Select
The model chooses IDs and a rationale.
- 04
Validate
IDs outside the candidate set are dropped.
- 05
Render
The server writes price, stock and variants.
01Retrieval first
The server retrieves candidate products from the merchant's catalogue before the model is asked anything. The model never searches the open web.
02The model selects. The server renders.
Prices, stock, variants and offers are rendered server-side from catalogue records. A number in the model's prose is never the source of truth.
03IDs are validated
Every product the model selects must exist in the retrieved candidate set. Invalid IDs are discarded before the answer reaches the shopper.
04Honest refusal
If the catalogue does not contain an answer, the agent says so and offers a handover. If the model is unavailable, the assistant says it cannot answer and the shopper can try again or ask a colleague.
Refusal rules
When the catalogue cannot answer, the agent stops.
01
If a product is not in the retrieved set, it is not recommended.
02
If the catalogue does not contain the answer, the agent says so and offers a handover.
03
If the question is clinical, legal or safety-critical, the agent stops at the merchant's handover rule.
04
If the model is unavailable, the assistant says it cannot answer and offers a colleague.
05
If a price, stock level or policy is involved, the server renders it; the model does not recall it.
A refusal is a product behaviour, not a failure. It is how the merchant keeps trust in the answer.
Chapter
04
The till
The loop closes at the POS.
Attribution only works if the match is provable. Sales are recorded in Sage, and the match is either exact or clearly labelled modelled.
01
QR session
The scan tags the session with the store, time, QR code and every item the agent recommends.
02
Redemption code
The agent offers a short code tied to the session. Where the integration supports it, a loyalty sign-in can link a known shopper.
03
Till match
Once a sale is recorded in Sage, the system looks for an exact code match first, then a same-store basket overlap.
04
Matched sale
Only matched sales count. Deterministic matches are exact; modelled matches are labelled with a confidence score.
Tier 1 · deterministic
Redemption code
The sale carries the code from the session. This is an exact match: confidence 1.0, modelled false, attributed outright. It is the strongest link between a conversation and a transaction.
Tier 2 · modelled
Basket overlap
Without a code, the system looks for a same-store sale within a two-hour window that contains items the agent recommended. Confidence is reported, capped at 0.92, and every match is labelled as modelled in merchant reporting.
Every match stores its method, confidence and time window. A redemption code is exact. A basket overlap is modelled and labelled wherever it is reported. Attribution is a record of the join, not a revenue line.
Chapter
05
The rollout
One aisle. One code. One week.
For a supported provider, the constraint is catalogue access and handover rules, not installing equipment.
01
Day 0
Connect the catalogue
For a supported provider, credentials are entered server-side in Sage and the catalogue syncs. Salewise never sees card data.
02
Same day
Design and print the codes
Name codes by aisle, choose colours and a logo, add a caption, and download SVG or PNG. Print at the counter or send to a printer.
03
Hour 1
The first conversation
A shopper scans, asks, and gets an answer with server-rendered price and stock. The session appears in Sage with the QR code and aisle.
04
Week 1
Tune the handover
Read the transcripts, find the questions that need a person, and set the handover rule. Pause or move codes as the shelf changes.
Where the code goes
01
Shelf edge
The highest-intent placement. One code per category or shelf, named by aisle in Sage.
02
Display and end-cap
Seasonal or promotional codes aimed at a category, with a caption that matches the display.
03
Counter card
For comparison, stock checks and policy questions while the queue moves.
04
Fitting room or bench
Fit, sizing and compatibility questions where the shopper is already deciding.
05
Entrance
A store-level code for directions, availability and collection questions.
06
Product tag
A product-level code where the packaging or tag has room for a 2cm mark.
Beta providers and new adapters can take longer. We will not claim a live integration until it is built and tested.
Before a store goes live
Six things. None of them are hardware.
- 01
Read access to catalogue and inventory through a supported POS, or a scoped catalogue feed.
- 02
Store name, currency, trading details and the languages you want enabled.
- 03
Handover rules: the questions that must reach a person, and where that person is.
- 04
Brand assets for the QR design — logo, colours, caption — and the aisles you want to name.
- 05
Someone to review the first week of transcripts and tune the playbook.
- 06
No card data, no shopper app and no in-store hardware.
Data minimisation
No app. No card data. A short session record.
The shopper is not asked to create an account. The session records the QR code, aisle, messages, recommendations and handoff. A named shopper appears only where a supported loyalty sign-in exists.
Merchants set retention under the data processing agreement. Shoppers who do not want a conversation stored can speak to staff instead.
Security detailStart with one aisle
The first store can be live the same day.
Once catalogue access and handover rules are in place. Start with one code and a week of real questions.
Scan the demo →