If your store runs on WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, or a custom-built platform, you can connect your product catalog to Intercom and let Fin for Ecommerce recommend your products in conversations, answer questions about them, and guide your customers to the right purchase. You can publish your full catalog on a schedule, and send individual product changes to Intercom as they happen.
Note:
Fin for Ecommerce beyond Shopify is initially available in a closed beta. If you'd like access, contact your account team.
If your store is powered by Shopify, see Transition existing workflows to Fin for Ecommerce instead.
Before you start
You'll need a developer. Publishing the catalog is a technical step: your team sets up a periodic job that publishes your catalog to Intercom.
Make sure your product data is in good shape. Fin is only as good as the catalog it's given: rich descriptions, categories, prices, images, and stock status all improve its recommendations.
How it works
You send Intercom your product catalog directly:
You create a catalog connector in Intercom and share its details with your developers.
Your developers publish your product catalog to Intercom on a schedule, so Fin always has your latest products, prices, and stock.
Fin uses the catalog to recommend products and answer product questions in the Messenger.
Step 1: Create your catalog connector
Click See all under “Add content”, select Connect your store and follow the steps to set up the connector.
Intercom creates the connector and shows your publish details. Share these with your developers.
Step 2: Publish your catalog
Your developers publish your full catalog to Intercom as a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) file, then re-publish it on a schedule they choose (for example every few hours, or daily). Each publish updates changed products and removes anything no longer in your catalog, so Fin always reflects your store.
Point your developers at the developer guide: Publish your product catalog to Fin for Ecommerce.
Step 3: Check your products in Intercom
Go to Fin AI Agent > Ecommerce > Train > Content to see your imported products.
Set Audiences in Audience control when creating the connector, or any time after: a single audience for the whole catalog, or rules based on your product attributes. If you run several stores, give each connector its own audience.
Select any product, then open Raw Data > Fin for Ecommerce at the bottom of the page. This shows the whole record as JSON, including every variant, so you can compare it against what you published and confirm your catalog arrived as you expected. The view is read only, so to change what Fin knows about a product, update your catalog and publish again.
How to send individual product updates
Note: Individual product updates are in a closed beta via the Preview API version (Intercom-Version: Preview), and not yet in a stable API version.
If your store isn't on Shopify, Fin's product answers were only as fresh as your last full catalog upload. Your developers can now send a single product change to Intercom as it happens — when a product is created, updated, or deleted — instead of re-uploading the whole catalog for one change. There's no new UI: this is used by your developers through the API.
At least one full catalog upload to your connector must have already succeeded before you can send product events. If none has, events are rejected.
Your developer sends one event per request, of one of three types:
Event | What to send | What happens in Fin |
product.created | The full product (the same fields as a catalog product, plus updated_at) | The product is added. If it already exists, it's updated |
product.updated | The full product, not just the changed fields | The product is updated. If it doesn't exist yet, it's added |
product.deleted | Only the product ID | The product is removed from Fin's knowledge |
Every event needs a timestamp for when the change happened. Created and updated events also need the product's ID, title, URL, and updated_at timestamp. Once Intercom receives an event, the change is usually applied within seconds, though it can take a few minutes.
If an event's updated_at timestamp is older than what Fin already has stored for that product, the event is ignored — so a late, stale update can't overwrite newer data. Your developers should always send the product's real last-changed time.
What are the limitations of individual product updates?
One event per request. There's no batch endpoint for events. For large changes, a full catalog upload is still the right tool.
Full catalog required first. Events are rejected until one full catalog upload to your connector has succeeded.
Send the whole product. A product.updated event replaces the stored product entirely; partial updates aren't supported.
Wait for the first sync to finish. Events sent while your very first catalog sync is still being indexed can be lost once that sync completes. Send events only after your first catalog upload has finished.
Shopify storefronts. In workspaces that also have a Shopify store, products added through this catalog connector don't appear in Fin's product search inside the Shopify storefront Messenger.
Processing delays during heavy Shopify traffic. Product events share a processing queue with Shopify product webhooks. When Shopify traffic is high, a product change can take a few minutes to reach Fin.
Step 4: Train, test, and deploy Fin
With your catalog connected:
Add Guidance to shape how Fin recommends products, plus any Procedures and escalation rules you need.
Use the Preview panel to test Fin against your catalog before going live.
Deploy Fin via Workflows or Simple Deploy.
For the full walkthrough, see the train, test and deploy steps in Transition existing workflows to Fin for Ecommerce.
FAQs
Which platforms are supported?
Which platforms are supported?
Any platform. The connector is platform agnostic, so it works with WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and custom or headless stores.
Can Fin add items to the cart or take customers to checkout?
Can Fin add items to the cart or take customers to checkout?
No. Fin handles product discovery and recommendations only — it can't add items to the cart or take shoppers to checkout.
I sell in several markets. How should I set that up?
I sell in several markets. How should I set that up?
If prices, currencies, or availability differ by market, create a separate connector for each one: each syncs to its own audience, so Fin always shows customers the right catalog. If every market sells the same products at the same prices, keep a single catalog: your developers tag products with custom attributes (for example, which warehouses stock them) and you add audience rules that match those attributes.
Do I need to send my catalog in every language I sell in?
Do I need to send my catalog in every language I sell in?
No. Send your catalog in one language and Fin automatically translates product content into each customer's language.
How often should we sync?
How often should we sync?
As often as your catalog meaningfully changes. Fast-moving stock might sync every couple of hours, most stores sync daily, and a catalog that barely changes can sync weekly.
Can Fin for Ecommerce handle both shopping and support in the same conversation?
Can Fin for Ecommerce handle both shopping and support in the same conversation?
Yes. Fin for Ecommerce combines Fin's support capabilities with shopping assistance, so it can help customers discover products, answer questions, and handle post-purchase requests like returns or order updates, all within a single conversation.
Do I need to add ecommerce guidance to Fin?
Do I need to add ecommerce guidance to Fin?
For most stores, Fin works well without additional guidance. You may want to add guidance if you have a complex catalog, specific business rules, or strict tone requirements.
How is Fin for Ecommerce charged?
How is Fin for Ecommerce charged?
Fin for Ecommerce uses the same pricing model as Fin for Service: $0.99 per resolution. A resolution occurs when Fin answers a customer's question using your content or catalog data, the customer doesn't provide negative feedback, and the conversation needs no further follow-up. This applies to both support queries and shopping interactions.
Does Fin in the ecommerce role work in languages other than English?
Does Fin in the ecommerce role work in languages other than English?
Yes. Fin automatically detects and responds in the customer's language.
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