We’ve all been there: A shopper types “comfortable everyday sneakers” into a search bar and gets a 404 error or a random collection of dress shoes and backpacks. Traditional search is brittle — it relies on exact keywords and thousands of manual rules that merchandisers have to babysit daily. But that isn’t how consumers search for products. Nearly 80% of search users now rely on AI summaries because they want a system that understands intent, not one that scans for matching keywords. If your site search doesn’t understand why someone is looking, you’re leaving money on the table.
The Solution: Intent-Aware Search powered by Cimulate
We are thrilled to introduce Cimulate “intent-aware” search for Agentforce Commerce. This isn’t just a faster search bar; it’s an AI-native discovery engine that interprets natural language and real-time behavior to predict exactly what a shopper wants. Cimulate’s CommerceGPT technology will be supported across digital storefronts on Agentforce Commerce. By bringing Cimulate directly into Agentforce Commerce, we’re helping merchants move from simple keyword matching to intuitive, conversational discovery.
Key benefits and what this means for your business
- Deliver intent-driven discovery: Move beyond static keywords to understand shopper intent, helping them find and explore products through real-time, natural conversation.
- Surface more relevant results: Utilize the industry’s first commerce-optimized small language model (SLM) context engine that combines real and simulated journey data to provide highly relevant search results and discovery experiences.
- Boost merchandiser productivity: Remove the need for extensive rule creation and maintenance, while giving merchandisers all the tools they need to control AI-generated responses.
Customer Success in Action
Pacsun, a leading brand inspiring the next generation of youth by fostering community at the intersection of fashion, music, art, and sports, is continually innovating to elevate the customer experience. By leveraging Agentforce Commerce and Salesforce Loyalty Management, alongside Cimulate’s AI-native search technology, they are delivering a more personalized and intuitive shopping journey for the Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers.
“At Pacsun, we are committed to empowering our digital-first Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers through technology and innovation. We’re excited to launch our ChatGPT catalog integration through Salesforce, enabling near real-time access to brand and product information within AI conversations and transforming AI discovery into meaningful brand engagement. Combined with Cimulate’s advanced AI search, which deeply understands customer intent, we deliver highly relevant, seamless discovery experiences that set a new standard for modern retail.” — Shirley Gao, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Pacsun
West Marine, a leading marine equipment retailer, previously depended on a search system requiring numerous hard-coded rules to deliver relevant results. By switching to Cimulate’s intent-aware technology, they eliminated that manual overhead and replaced it with a smarter, AI-driven experience.
“At West Marine, our customers are passionate about being on the water, and we’re here to help them find the right gear to get back out there….By leveraging Cimulate’s CommerceGPT for site search and conversational commerce, we’ve seen shoppers engage longer, convert faster, and leave with greater confidence in their purchase. It’s not just better site search; It’s a new way of connecting expertise with our customer’s needs.” — John Devine, Chief Information Officer at West Marine
The New Front Door: Reaching Shoppers on AI Platforms
Beyond integration with Cimulate, Salesforce is expanding its agentic commerce toolkit to help retailers meet shoppers wherever they are. By simplifying discovery on third-party AI channels and optimizing for high-intent traffic, these upcoming innovations aim to move customers from first touch to conversion faster than ever.
- Product Catalog Integration with Agentic Commerce Protocol: A dozen global merchants including Crocs and Pacsun are enrolled in the OpenAI Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) which enables catalog information for embedded discovery within a ChatGPT search. Merchants get better control and accuracy with ACP-enabled discovery while shoppers have a more enriched and relevant experience. This will be generally available to merchants in the summer of 2026.
“We’re excited to meet our fans exactly where they are. By bringing our Crocs and HeyDude product catalog into ChatGPT and connecting that discovery to our own site agents on Agentforce, we’re creating personalized, conversational shopping experiences for our fans. We’re building an experience where a shopper can go from asking for style advice to having a pair of Crocs in their cart without ever feeling like they’ve hit a dead end. We’re removing the friction between finding a product and owning it.” – Feliz Papich, SVP, Digital Technology, Experience & Insights, Crocs
- Support for UCP: Salesforce is partnering with Google to bring native Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) support to Agentforce Commerce merchants, unlocking AI-driven shopping across AI Mode in Google Search and the Gemini app. This will be rolling out to merchants in the Summer of 2026.
Discover more commerce innovations and our latest releases
See what’s new across our entire commerce portfolio.
