Big C, one of Thailand’s largest retail chains, launched a new AI-powered shopping assistant built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to a May 27 announcement. The assistant is available on Big C’s mobile app and allows 20 million customers to interact in Thai natural language to find relevant products more efficiently and discover items they might otherwise miss.
The initiative is part of BJC Big C’s broader digital transformation strategy aimed at enhancing customer experience through AI-driven retail innovation. By leveraging AWS’s scalable cloud and generative AI capabilities, the company seeks to accelerate future retail services across Thailand.
Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market reached US$157.6 billion in gross merchandise value in 2025, reflecting a 22.8% year-on-year increase, according to Momentum Works. For retailers like Big C with 1,750 stores nationwide and tens of thousands of SKUs across various categories, each query that fails to return the right result can mean missed sales opportunities.
The Shopping Assistant AI Chat is built using Amazon Bedrock and employs multiple specialized AI agents working together: one searches the product catalogue, another matches recipe requirements, while another scales quantities based on customer input. Amazon Bedrock AgentCore manages these agents securely and assembles their outputs into unified answers for customers. Additionally, Amazon Bedrock Guardrails screens every response for accuracy before it reaches users.
Pilot data from Big C indicates that customers are now able to discover more products per conversational query from fresh food and daily essentials categories. This has contributed to an estimated basket size uplift of 5-10%. The primary use case is meal planning and frequent grocery shopping where shoppers may not know every item needed but can receive curated baskets tailored to their needs through simple chat prompts.
Surachai Hirannitichai, Group Chief Digital Technology Officer at BJC Big C, said: “Customers do not think in keywords or product categories. They think about meals, occasions, and what they need to get done,” said Surachai Hirannitichai. “With AWS, we are making shopping faster and more intuitive by helping customers discover multiple relevant products naturally through conversation while unlocking broader opportunities to scale AI innovation across multiple business functions.”
Amazon strives to be Earth’s most customer-focused company as well as the best employer and safest workplace; it provides services including online shopping, cloud computing, streaming entertainment, digital devices and advertising; it operates in e-commerce and technology services providing both retail and digital offerings, according to its official website.