Case study · Country Road Group · 2023 to 2026
An AI CoPilot, built in.
Handle time was the constraint on both cost and conversion. Vendors were selling chatbots. I built a CoPilot for our agents instead, with product and engineering, wired into the systems they actually use.
20–25%lower average handle time within the first six months
5systems connected, live, mid-conversation
30%headcount reduction it enabled before the offshore move
The situation
Five retail brands, one customer experience function, and a live chat and SMS operation. To answer a customer properly, an agent needs live information about the order, the customer, their loyalty status, the shipment and store stock, for the right brand, while the conversation is happening.
What I did
- Made the case first. This was the business's first use of generative AI. I built the case for it, and the GM Customer & Digital endorsed it.
- Built it in partnership. The CoPilot was built and deployed with product and engineering, for Live Chat and SMS. CoPilot was our name for the program. The model behind it was OpenAI's. It was not Microsoft Copilot.
- Connected the five systems that matter. Order management, CRM, loyalty, shipping and store availability, through their APIs.
- Gave each brand its own knowledge base. I developed and ran the knowledge base program the CoPilot draws on, with a bespoke one for each brand.
- Used it to change the operation. The efficiency came first and the offshore transition second, so the saving was banked before anything moved.
The result
- Average handle time down 20–25% within the first six months.
- A 30% headcount reduction enabled before the offshore transition began.
- A lean operation to hand over, which is what made the 63% cost reduction possible.
See it
Placeholder: demo clipA two to three minute screen recording of the CoPilot pattern, if one can be shown without exposing Country Road Group systems. Daniel to confirm whether that is possible.
Since then
I took the same approach into my consulting work in 2026: designing and deploying AI agents into core commercial and operational workflows for a multi-brand apparel ecommerce group.