Search "AI for e-commerce" and you find lists that run from recommendation engines to ad-copy generators, not a guide about the store's inbox. This one is about the inbox. In Türkiye, the Ministry of Trade's 2025 report counts 634,611 businesses doing e-commerce, three-quarters of them sole proprietorships, so the person reading the inbox is usually the owner. Which questions loop through an online store, which of them a digital worker answers from your own store records, which it leaves to you, what changes between a marketplace and your own site, and how the first week goes.
The store's inbox: three question types
Most messages that reach an online store's WhatsApp and email fall into three patterns. Seeing the pattern is the first step to handing the work over.
| Question type | How it arrives | Where the answer lives |
|---|---|---|
| Where is my order? | "When does it ship", "I ordered and heard nothing", "tracking number?" | In the order record: status, dispatch date, tracking if any |
| Do you have this? | "Is this size in stock", "does it come in black", "what does it cost", "do you do wholesale" | In the catalogue: variants, stock, price, promotions |
| Can I return it? | "Wrong size", "arrived damaged", "changed my mind", "can I exchange" | Half in your return rules, half in your decision |
The pattern is not just an impression. According to Gorgias data, "where is my order" alone accounts for about 18% of incoming requests on average across e-commerce support desks. In Türkiye, TÜİK's 2025 survey puts late delivery (12.7%) and damaged or wrong items (11.8%) at the top of the problems online shoppers report. The busiest corner of the inbox is shipping and order status.
The first two rows are information questions and the answer already sits in your systems. The third row splits in two: explaining the conditions is information work, accepting the return and sending the money back is decision work. A digital worker's boundary runs exactly along that line.
What does a digital worker do in a store?
A digital worker is software that carries a job you describe on its own, inside your own systems. For an online store that means:
- It answers order status from the record. When a customer writes an order number or a name, it opens the record in your store system and says what the status is: being prepared, dispatched, delivered. If the connected system holds tracking information it passes that on; if not, it does not invent one, it asks you. In Botonom this connection is direct for platforms such as ikas; stores that keep their order book in Botonom are read from there.
- It answers product, size and stock questions from your catalogue. Which variant exists, which is sold out, what it costs, whether there is a promotion. You do not type the catalogue in: you paste the address of the product feed you already give to Google Merchant or Meta Catalog, and the catalogue fills itself and refreshes on a schedule. You pick the decimal separator once in the preview; prices whose thousands and decimal marks stay ambiguous are skipped rather than guessed.
- It takes orders in chat. When a customer picks a product and says "two, bank transfer", it builds the basket, records the order and notes the payment method (bank transfer or cash on delivery). The order lands in your order book with a number; preparation, shipping and collection run from your own panel.
- It explains return conditions by your rules and leaves the decision to you. To "can I return it" it explains how many days, in which condition and how to send it back. Accepting the return, refunding and judging damage stay with a person; the worker summarises the request and puts it in front of you.
- It watches competitor prices. You add the addresses of pages where the same products are sold; the worker pulls prices regularly and reports in the morning: "on these three products a competitor went below you". Changing the price is your decision.
- It closes the day. In the evening it puts the unanswered conversations, the drafts waiting for approval and the return requests it flagged in front of you in one message.
What they have in common: the answers come from your records, not from memory. What is not in the record the worker does not know, and says so.
Marketplace or your own site?
Most stores use both: selling on a marketplace and running their own site. An honest distinction is needed here. On a marketplace, messaging with the customer happens inside the seller panel under that panel's own rules; a digital worker does not go into that panel. The worker's place is the channels where the customer reaches you directly: your own WhatsApp Business number, your email and, where you use it, Telegram.
That does not make it useless for a marketplace seller. Marketplace customers also write "where is my parcel" on WhatsApp, and the question "is this on Trendyol" lands in your inbox too. Competitor price watching works directly on marketplace pages: the marketplace listing of a product you track is added as one more address.
For a store with its own site the hand-over is complete: order record, catalogue and conversation sit in front of the same worker.
Three stores, three first jobs
A store heavy on size and colour questions (clothing, shoes, accessories): the first job is catalogue questions. The feed is connected, the worker answers "is there a 38, does it come in black" from stock; for a sold-out size it asks "shall I let you know" and takes the note. Return decisions stay with you.
A store with high order volume (food, cosmetics, home): the first job is "where is my order". The order system is connected, the worker reads the status from the record and tells customers itself when an order is dispatched. Delay complaints come to you.
A store with few orders and high-value products (furniture, electronics, hobby): the first job is selling in chat. The customer arrives with a question, the worker explains from the catalogue and, where it fits, records the order with bank transfer or cash on delivery. Negotiation and custom-build requests fall to you.
In all three the rule is the same: the job that arrives most often and whose mistake is cheapest to fix goes first.
The first week, without closing the store
- Take last month's messages and write down the twenty most frequent questions with the answers you gave. Shipping time, return address, exchange conditions, payment options, wholesale policy. That list is the worker's knowledge.
- Write the red lines. Accepting returns, refunds, damaged goods, price negotiation, complaints: the worker does not answer, it flags to you.
- Connect your store and your channels. The order system connection or the order book, the product feed, your WhatsApp number and your email. No new number, no new panel.
- Run the first week with approval on. The worker prepares the reply and asks you before sending; you approve. Correct the wrong ones and add the correction to the rules; the same mistake does not come back.
- At the end of the week, release the question types that went through without correction. "Where is my order" and "is this size in stock" are the first to be released in most stores; return conversations stay in draft.
The general version of the same sequence for any inbox is in can't keep up with customer messages; the criteria for choosing the first job are in where to start.
What to watch out for
- The return decision stays with a person, the explanation with the worker. Distance-selling rules give consumers a withdrawal right: in Türkiye the Distance Contracts Regulation gives fourteen days to withdraw without giving a reason and the seller fourteen days to refund once the goods are handed to the carrier. Check the equivalent rule where you sell. The worker explains your return policy without shrinking that right and leaves acceptance and refund to you. This line is not legal advice.
- What is not in the record is not said. If the carrier's status has not reached your order record, the worker says "it has been dispatched, I will pass on the tracking details once they arrive"; it does not guess.
- Personal data is a separate decision. Order records contain names, addresses and phone numbers; ask your own legal side which jobs fall in scope.
- You write the promotion language. The worker knows the promotion from the catalogue but never invents a discount; "is there a special price for me" always reaches you.
What should you measure?
Three numbers, weekly:
- First-response time. From the message arriving to the first meaningful reply, nights and weekends included.
- Share left to a person. How many "where is my order" and "do you have this" messages came back to you. High in the first week, low by the fourth; if it is not falling, knowledge is missing.
- Recalled replies. How many replies you corrected. Not zero, but not rising.
A fourth number belongs to sales: orders recorded in chat. Have it in hand when you talk about the worker's cost.
What does it cost?
A digital worker's cost is not a project budget but a monthly salary per worker; there is no meter that grows with your order count. What the price buys and which plan fits a business starting with one store are in the cost guide; current figures are on the pricing page.
The thing to compare it with is not another piece of software but the hours spent on "where is my parcel" and the "is this size in stock" questions that went unanswered overnight.
Frequently asked questions
Does it answer marketplace messages too?
No. Marketplace messaging lives inside the seller panel and the worker does not go there. It works on your direct channels (WhatsApp, email, Telegram), which is where marketplace customers usually write anyway. Competitor price watching does work on marketplace pages.
Does it pull tracking from the carrier?
It says whatever your order record holds. If your store system keeps the shipping status and tracking details, the worker passes them on; if not, it says "dispatched" and does not invent a tracking number.
Can it start a return?
It explains the conditions, summarises the request and flags it to you. Accepting the return, refunding and judging damage stay with a person; that is a deliberate boundary, not a gap.
My store does not run on ikas. Does it still work?
Yes. For the catalogue, your platform's Google Merchant or Meta Catalog feed is enough, and most storefront platforms already produce one. On the order side, either a direct connection is set up or orders are kept in Botonom's own order book.
How soon will I notice a difference?
You see the drafts in the first week; "where is my order" messages no longer landing on you is the first thing most stores notice. After four weeks, compare first-response time and the share left to a person.