These days, the vast majority of questions from Kendra Scott’s online shoppers are solved by generative artificial intelligence. The “AI Copilot,” located at the bottom of the screen on desktop or mobile, answers roughly 93% of customer inquiries, a 53% increase from a previous version the jewelry brand was using in 2024.
But Kamanasish Kundu, svp and head of digital and e-commerce at Kendra Scott, said it’s about more than just getting the technology out there. Customers, he said, have become more comfortable using and shopping via AI tools — and that’s helping drive more sales. Today, as much as 6% of Kendra Scott’s e-commerce sales are influenced by AI Copilot, and the brand has seen a 160% increase in revenues stemming from interactions with the tool.
“There’s a shift in the customer behavior, which is playing a big part, in terms of the overall adoption of these tools,” Kundu said.
Kendra Scott is one of many brands using AI-powered tools to soup up the online customer experience. About 57% of retail leaders told EMarketer that chat-based customer support is the area of retail that will be most heavily influenced by AI through 2026. While these services were once deemed “clunky” and could turn customers away, they’re becoming a more popular must-have as technology improves.
For its part, Kendra Scott is two years into a three-year digital strategy transformation that’s so far delivered 50% sales growth. Kundu said the strategy relies on three main pillars: a better mobile experience, AI-powered personalization and what he calls “experiential unified commerce,” ensuring brand and experience consistency across channels.
In March, Kendra Scott launched a standalone website for its Yellow Rose brand, and it will unveil a full redesign for both brands’ sites in the third quarter of 2025. They’ll be powered with a brand-new tech stack, Kundu said, to make sure that they’re able to load faster. In general, a 10% improvement in site speed translates to a 1% uptick in conversion, Kundu said. So far, the Yellow Rose site has seen a 15-20% speed improvement.
“We wanted the digital experience to carry the warmth and emotional connection that our stores are known for. And that meant migrating to a more modern, progressive web app architecture and a more composable tech stack,” he said.
But building up a site in this way requires attention to detail — in particular, how users are already interacting with the site, Kundu said. That included examining entry traffic and checkout starts, for example, versus checkout completion.
“We have a very clear understanding of the overall customer funnel. When we see a dropoff in a certain section on the website, we become more curious, in terms of what may be the driver for that. And then the team will line up different tests and learn about those friction points in the journey,” he said.
But some of the biggest impact is coming from AI-powered tools. Beyond AI Copilot, Kendra Scott is using predictive AI for marketing. Kundu said it uses a third-party tool to read through over 500 customer behavioral signals that feed into personalized marketing messages. This can result in more personalized calls to action and category banners on product listing pages, and add more trending pieces to product display pages. So far, the company has seen a 5% RPV lift from aligning those changes.
For Kundo, these changes come in concert with stronger imagery and brand storytelling, and adjustments to the supply chain that ensure the company can keep up with demand.
“All these AI applications allow us to deliver relevance at scale — not just to improve conversion, but also to build trust, emotional connection and long-term loyalty by showing up in the right moment with the right tone and a clear understanding of who the customer is,” Kundu said.
Tim Glomb, vp of digital, content and AI at marketing platform Wunderkind, said brands today are charged with making meatier e-commerce experiences because of both customers’ expectations and the way they discover sites. More expansive product descriptions, for instance, can help brands stand out in the databases used by AI engines like ChatGPT. “SEO is breaking down, in the traditional sense,” he said. “It’s not just about traffic. It’s about having the right metadata and product descriptions that answer real customer questions.”
From a consumer perspective, Glomb said Kendra Scott is poised to keep growing if it can help send shoppers in the right direction. He recently headed to the brand’s site when shopping for his teenage daughter’s birthday. He knew the brand was popular with her age group after seeing a brand activation at a volleyball tournament, but he didn’t know what styles to look at or which might be a good fit.
The right-rail AI Copilot will ask what kind of finish he’s looking for, whether sterling silver or 18-karat gold vermeil. It will also dig into sizing and budget.
“What do I need, based on what I know? I have a 14-year-old who’s tall and wants jewelry,” he said. “For someone like me who’s not fluent in jewelry or fashion, the AI bot knows the filters and features [that can help].”
Glomb anticipates that prediction, personalization and recommendation tools will get even better at knowing who a customer is and what they may want as soon as they land on a site. “It would be the same way you’d walk into a store and the counter person says, ‘I could show you 500,000 things in this case, but here are three things based on our conversation,’” he said.
