bol
Building an AI-powered gift-giving assistant
( Services )
- AI Transformation
- Commerce
Every holiday season, millions of people face the same dilemma: what do you get for that one person who “doesn’t need anything?”
That challenge is multiplied for bol, one of Europe’s largest online retailers (often called the Amazon of the Netherlands), whose massive assortment makes it both a treasure trove and a maze for shoppers.
This year, bol wanted to make the gift-giving season smarter, funnier, and a little more human. The result? An AI-powered assistant that helps users find the perfect gift for everyone on their list. Whether you’re shopping for a niece obsessed with slime or a coworker who collects indoor plants, this AI knows how to help.
Turning endless choice into meaningful gifts
With thousands of options just a click away, even the best shopping experience can feel overwhelming. So our team asked a simple question:
How can we make finding a gift feel as thoughtful as the act of giving itself?
Our answer: give bol’s entire catalogue a human touch by leveraging AI to act like that one friend who always knows what to get someone.
Built with heart
At its core, bol’s AI Gift Giver is powered by Google’s Agent Development Kit (ADK), making it one of the first large-scale generative AI deployments in European e-commerce.
Here’s what’s under the hood:
- Gemini, Gemini Flash, and Flash Lite models, hosted on bol’s secure Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environment.
- A custom-built conversational interface that connects directly to bol’s Search API, enhanced with semantic search. In other words, it understands “something for a 6-year-old who loves dinosaurs,” not just exact product names.
- A stateless, horizontally scalable backend, ensuring it runs smoothly for millions of shoppers at once.
But the real magic comes from how tech and empathy meet: maintaining bol’s trademark humor while making every interaction feel personal, safe, and on-brand.
Designed to feel human
Technology alone doesn’t make a good shopping experience — tone, timing, and emotion do.
Our UX and creative teams worked closely with bol to design a flow that felt intuitive, friendly, and distinctly bol. The process unfolded in three stages:
- Discovery: We mapped the emotional highs and lows of gift shopping, including excitement and indecision, through a high-level Figma prototype.
- User Testing: Real shoppers tested the prototype, sharing thoughts as they explored. Every hesitation, laugh, and “that’s clever” moment helped us improve.
- Design Sprint: Together with bol’s design stakeholders, we refined the conversational tone and visuals to balance warmth and wit.
Then came the proof: an internal prototype tested by bol employees. They threw all kinds of gift requests at it (“something for my brother who only likes snacks and sleeping”), helping us fine-tune pacing, humor, and flow. After several iterations, the assistant rolled out gradually, from 0.5% of users to 6%, before going live for everyone.
bol’s AI Gift Giver transforms shopping from a transaction into an act of connection, bridging the gap between endless options and that “oh wow, that’s perfect” moment.
It also marks a shift in how major retailers think about e-commerce: blending generative AI, brand personality, and customer empathy into one cohesive commerce experience.
Getting it right matters
Shoppers everywhere are curious about AI, especially when it promises to make their lives easier (and their gifts better). But curiosity only turns into trust when the experience actually delivers.
That’s why getting it right from the start is essential. bol’s AI Gift Giver was built with careful brand considerations, fine-tuning, and extensive testing to make sure every interaction felt seamless and safe.