How one leading retailer uses Talkative AI to scale support globally & increase sales - without sacrificing CX quality...
As a premium global brand for pushchairs and other baby products, Bugaboo is known for pushing boundaries - in both product design and customer experience.
So when their customer service team began exploring the possibilities of AI, they weren’t just looking for quick wins or automation hype.
They wanted to future-proof their operations, offer 24/7 support in multiple languages, and empower their agents to focus on what matters most - delivering high-touch, personalised service.
But they also had to overcome a major question: Can AI truly deliver a premium customer experience?
By partnering with Talkative, Bugaboo set out to answer that question - and exceeded expectations. With a phased rollout, clear KPIs, and strategic support, they’re now leading the way in AI-powered retail service.
Here’s how they did it.
The challenge: Maintaining a premium customer experience in a digital-first world
For Bugaboo, delivering a premium customer experience isn’t just a priority - it’s a brand promise.
The parenting lifestyle brand is known for its stylish, high-quality products and customer care that matches.
But as digital behaviours evolved and global demand grew, Bugaboo’s customer service model needed to scale without compromising the exceptional experience customers expect.
Before implementing AI, Bugaboo’s contact centre handled most interactions through email and phone, totalling around 15,000 enquiries per month.
Although the team had already adopted Talkative’s live chat to provide real-time assistance via their website, customer support was still dependent on human agents only available during working hours.
Bugaboo knew that AI could offer a 24/7 solution while improving efficiency. But like many premium brands, they had concerns.
Could AI maintain their exceptional standards? Would it reflect the brand’s tone and values? And did they even have the infrastructure to support it?
They needed an approach that was reliable, secure, and above all, trustworthy - for their teams and their customers.
The solution: Building trust in AI, step by step
Bugaboo partnered with Talkative to implement an AI solution that was tailored to their brand and built for scalability.
The journey began with a clear focus: build confidence, learn iteratively, and align every AI interaction with Bugaboo’s premium brand experience.
Rather than a big-bang rollout, Bugaboo started small - launching an AI chatbot on just a few product description pages where customers often want fast, straightforward answers.
“It gave us the chance to test the technology, build confidence, and make sure the AI was matching our brand tone before rolling it out more widely,” explained Yary Paz, Project Manager for Customer Service Innovation.
At launch, the Bugaboo team expected around 30% containment. However, when early reports showed 45% containment right from the start, they realised that AI could exceed expectations.
In early 2025, Bugaboo launched AI across the UK and Spain. By March, one-third of interactions were fully contained by AI. This success gave the team the confidence to scale.
Germany and Austria followed in April, with containment reaching 64%. By June, AI was handling around 75% of all interactions across six countries, including Italy and France.
Behind the scenes, Talkative’s Customer Success team played a key role. “From the very beginning, they were there to guide us,” says Paz. “It wasn’t just about solving problems when they came up - it really felt like we were growing together, step by step.”
As the project evolved, so did the Talkative platform.
Expanded analytics and new testing features gave Bugaboo’s team more visibility and control. They could now monitor key KPIs like containment rate, proactively refine answers, and adapt their knowledge base with ease.
“What really struck us was how the AI evolved beyond just being ‘smart’,” says Paz. “It started to respond with empathy and reassurance, which made the conversations feel human. That’s when we realised AI wasn’t just going to support our customer experience - it could actually elevate it.”
The results: Measurable impact across service, sales, and CX
The numbers speak for themselves…
- 75% of all chat interactions are now fully handled by AI
- Monthly chat volumes grew from <1,000 to over 4,000 conversations
- Bugaboo now provides 24/7 multilingual support across six languages
- Customers who interact with AI have a higher propensity to purchase - they add items to their cart at a rate of 20% compared to 6% for those who don’t
- Average order value is 35% higher for customers who engage with AI
These statistics demonstrate that AI isn’t just enhancing the Bugaboo customer experience - it’s also directly contributing to revenue and growth.
“We’ve seen a really clear impact on sales behaviour thanks to AI,” says Paz. “It's able to suggest compatible products and encourage add-to-cart behaviour in a very natural way. So it’s not just helping with service - it’s actively supporting our strategic KPIs.”
The customer response to AI has also been very positive for Bugaboo:
“Customer sentiment scores have been above average for AI interactions, with many treating the AI like a trusted advisor for baby and lifestyle questions", Paz says.
And, importantly, AI usage hasn’t cannibalised other support channels - it’s simply added more choice.
“Customers still reach out in other ways, but now they also have a fast, accessible option whenever they need it”, Paz explains.
By automating an increasing number of queries, AI improves efficiency and response times, while allowing human agents to prioritise more nuanced and high-value interactions.
“AI has been transformative,” says Customer Excellence Director Justus Tobergte. “By handling repetitive and routine queries, it allows our agents to focus on more complex issues where human expertise and empathy are truly needed. Essentially, AI helps our agents - rather than replacing them.”
The future: Voice AI, deeper integration, & AI-first support
Bugaboo is already exploring next-generation use cases for AI - especially in areas like voice support and internal system integration.
“Our next steps involve expanding AI's role from sales and advice to more support-focused tasks, particularly with troubleshooting product issues, order tracking, and warranty-related queries," says Paz. "We’re also exploring voice AI and deeper integration with our internal systems."
Long-term, the team envisions an AI-first support journey - one that starts with intelligent automation and escalates to humans only when necessary.
“We’re considering redesigning our support page to be an AI-first experience, where customers can get instant guidance and answers directly on the page,” said Tobergte. “It’s about making support simpler, faster, and more intuitive - while keeping the premium Bugaboo experience.”
Advice to other brands: Don’t be afraid to start
For other brands considering AI, Bugaboo’s advice is clear: be brave.
“Begin small, iterate, and trust the process,” says Paz. “Invest time in your AI agent - treat it like any human agent: the more you train it and give it feedback, the better the results.”
And for premium brands worried about quality?
“It’s normal to have doubts - we had them too,” said Paz. “But we’ve proved it works. You can maintain service quality by aligning AI with your brand knowledge and tone of voice, while letting human agents handle more complex, high-value interactions”
Ultimately, with the right tools, the right partner, and a strong brand foundation, businesses can absolutely use AI to deliver an exceptional customer experience at scale.
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