Empathy Platform

What Empathy Platform is

Empathy Platform is an AI-powered commerce search and discovery engine for retailers. It combines keyword and semantic search to interpret shopper intent and help reduce searches that return no or few results. AI-assisted discovery includes Related Prompts, AI Related Tags, AI Next Queries, and AI Carousels, which guide queries and help recover from zero-result searches. Merchandising tools provide no-code controls for product ranking and results-grid presentation, alongside analytics and search-relevance metrics. Catalog capabilities include synonym suggestions, automated attributes, horizontal indexing, and catalog customizations.

Retailers can use Empathy-hosted SaaS or Self-managed Components. The self-managed option can run on customer infrastructure or hosting options described by Empathy, including GCP, AWS, and Azure. The maker lists Adobe Commerce, VTEX, and custom or other commerce platforms as integrations; the VTEX integration includes a feed connector and storefront Pixel app. Its web implementation is API-first and has an open-source Vue.js frontend solution, while iOS and Android apps are native. Empathy says its AI-assisted search runs on private, self-hosted infrastructure and that shopper, catalog, and query data stays within that environment rather than training external AI systems. It also says its Tagging microservices use aggregate shopping patterns without storing personal data such as user IDs, location, images, voice, or device and browser information. Pricing is available on request and both service models are billed per query, not per API call.

Who it suits

Empathy Platform suits medium to large online stores and large enterprises seeking search, discovery, and product merchandising tools. Retailers can choose hosted SaaS or self-managed components, with the latter aimed at enterprises seeking more infrastructure control and customization.

Limits

Both SaaS and Self-managed Components are billed per query, not per API call. The maker says image and voice search are not supported.

Getting started

1. Visit the Empathy Platform website.
2. Contact Empathy for pricing.
3. Choose Empathy-hosted SaaS or Self-managed Components.
4. For self-managed deployment, select customer infrastructure or a hosting option described by Empathy, including GCP, AWS, or Azure.
5. Use the available web frontend solution or native iOS and Android apps as appropriate.

Verdict

Choose Empathy Platform if you need commerce search and discovery with merchandising controls, catalog tools, and analytics. Its SaaS and self-managed options serve different deployment preferences, but pricing is on request and usage is billed per query. Consider another option if image or voice search is required.