How Macy’s Secret New Tool Quadrupled Customer Spending — And Why You Need to Know About It Now

Ever wonder which accessories would pair well with an outfit? Macy’s new AI assistant, “Ask Macy’s,” can answer that question so successfully that it is driving early users to spend 400% more online, according to Bloomberg.

Macy’s launched Ask Macy’s last week to the general public after weeks of testing the bot as a conversational shopping assistant built on Google’s Gemini platform, Bloomberg reported. Ask Macy’s is now available across the company’s website and app. 

The bot lets shoppers describe what they want in plain language — think “I need a dress for a spring wedding in Miami under $150 — and then surfaces products, styling ideas and “complete the look” suggestions with links to related products. 

Among the bot’s most popular features is a virtual try-on tool that lets shoppers visualize how an item will look on them. Customers can also access the feature in stores when they don’t have time for a fitting, Barbie Cameron, Macy’s chief stores officer, told Bloomberg.

Macy’s has tested the bot with about half of the visitors to its website and found that shoppers who use it spend more than four times more than those who don’t, per Bloomberg. The move arrives as retailers attempt to create their own AI chatbots, concerned that if they don’t, shoppers will turn to ChatGPT to power their shopping experiences — and take their business elsewhere. 

“Every retailer is trying to figure it out one step at a time,” Max Magni, Macy’s chief customer and digital officer, told Bloomberg. “This is anybody’s game. Nobody has cracked the code.”

Thousands of Macy’s employees weighed in to get the bot ready for customers, Magni said. Macy’s employed 94,189 workers as of February 2025, per Stock Analysis. 

Magni explained that customers using the chatbot may spend more because they are looking for a specific item, like a pair of shoes for an event, instead of just browsing through the website. He also thinks that the bot is drawing in a younger customer who is more likely to experiment with the tool. 

Roughly 40% of the top 20 U.S. retailers by revenue have introduced some form of AI-powered shopping assistant, per Bloomberg. While a few companies launched their assistants as early as 2024, the majority began deployments in mid-2025 and have continued rolling them out into this year. 

The sophistication of these chatbots varies from company to company. The most effective ones act “less like a chatbot and more like a personal shopping agent who knows the assortment and understands your preferences,” Ali Furman, U.S. consumer markets industry leader at PwC, told Bloomberg. 

Macy’s reported early momentum from its new chatbot as the retailer continues efforts to rebound after nearly a decade of declining sales. Earlier this month, the company announced that net sales fell 2.4% last year for the fiscal year ending January 31. For the current fiscal year, Macy’s projects net sales between $21.4 billion and $21.65 billion, slightly below last year’s $21.76 billion.

Ever wonder which accessories would pair well with an outfit? Macy’s new AI assistant, “Ask Macy’s,” can answer that question so successfully that it is driving early users to spend 400% more online, according to Bloomberg.

Macy’s launched Ask Macy’s last week to the general public after weeks of testing the bot as a conversational shopping assistant built on Google’s Gemini platform, Bloomberg reported. Ask Macy’s is now available across the company’s website and app. 

The bot lets shoppers describe what they want in plain language — think “I need a dress for a spring wedding in Miami under $150 — and then surfaces products, styling ideas and “complete the look” suggestions with links to related products.