Retail
High-quality CX, whatever the season or staffing.
One platform for the contact center, the store floor and the self-checkout — AI-guided agents, associates on mobile, a real person at the kiosk.
How does Upstream Works help retail organizations?
Upstream Works runs retail customer care and in-store assistance from one platform: AI-guided agents on Amazon Connect, Salesforce or Zendesk with the order and the policy on screen, store associates and product experts on mobile, and AgentNow — a remote agent who appears on the self-checkout or from a QR code on the shelf edge, sees the screen and clears the hold. Where-is-my-order and returns status are automated, with a person one tap away.
For omnichannel retailers, grocery and mass merchants, specialty and direct-to-consumer brands, retail pharmacy, automotive aftermarket and B2B distribution: the VP of customer care or chief customer officer, with store operations and loss prevention for the in-store plays and the CIO who owns the Salesforce, Zendesk or Amazon Connect platform.
The pressure on retail.
Peak gets bigger and the team gets smaller. NRF expected the 2025 holiday season to pass $1 trillion for the first time, with only 265,000–365,000 seasonal hires against 442,000 the year before (NRF). Over Cyber Week 2025 service conversations handled by AI agents grew 55% week over week and agent actions such as address changes and return initiation rose 70% (Salesforce); retailers saw single-day digital-interaction spikes of up to 143% over the Black Friday weekend (NICE). Returns run at $850 billion a year, and 81% of businesses say late returns planning strains customer service (ZigZag via ChannelX).
Shoppers want a person when it matters. 39% have abandoned a purchase after a frustrating chatbot, and only 28% say AI consistently understands them (Omnisend); in-store satisfaction has slipped to 79% and 52% of shoppers left without everything they intended to buy (Zebra Global Shopper Study).
The self-checkout is where it shows. 54% of store transactions now go through self-checkout, store losses rise 22% on average in year one, and “staff can be slow to help” (ECR Retail Loss and the University of Leicester); only 36% of operators now plan to invest in it — the only store technology with falling interest — while Dollar General pulled it from 12,000 stores and Target, Walmart, Costco and Kroger added staff to the lanes (TechSpot). Meanwhile UK retail employment is at a record low of 2.76 million (Retail Insight Network) — fewer associates covering more floor.
What changes with Upstream Works.
- FromA stalled kiosk and a shopper looking for helpToA remote agent on the screen in seconds who clears the hold.
- FromSeasonal agents learning six systemsToOne workspace with the order, the policy and the next step from day one.
- From“The bot handles it or nobody does”ToAutomation for where-is-my-order and returns status, with a person one tap away.
Where it fits in retail.
The platform comes in five editions and four deployment models; the edition that leads in this sector comes first. UWXP, UW Knowledge & Assist, UW Insights and AgentNow run inside every edition or on their own.
Totalix for Amazon Connect
Elastic, pay-as-you-go routing is the retail pattern for peak. Totalix adds the workspace, knowledge and analytics Connect does not ship with.
Totalix Embedded
Inside Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk or Dynamics, so the service console stays the system of record.
Totalix Mobile and Totalix for Cisco
The workspace on a phone for store associates, product experts and pharmacy teams; and the Cisco edition for the large estates still on Finesse.
UWXP
Where-is-my-order, returns status, store stock and appointment inquiries resolved autonomously with the order system behind them, and a human escalation path by design — the answer to chatbot abandonment.
UW Knowledge & Assist
Seasonal-agent onboarding knowledge and product and policy answers in the workspace; the same content serves an associate help center on the shop floor and a customer self-service portal.
UW Insights
Peak dashboards by hour and channel, where-is-my-order share, returns handling time, first-contact resolution and store-assist response time.
AgentNow
The headline capability for this sector: assisted self-checkout where the agent sees and controls the kiosk, an in-store product expert by QR code, remote pharmacist consultation and click-and-collect help.
Use cases we build for.
- 01
Self-checkout rescue
The shopper taps the screen, a remote agent appears on video, sees the transaction and takes control to clear the hold.
AgentNow
- 02
A product expert on every aisle
A QR code on the shelf-edge label reaches a specialist at another store or in the contact center.
AgentNow + Totalix Mobile
- 03
Peak-season care
Where-is-my-order and returns automated; exceptions routed to agents with the order on screen.
Totalix for Amazon Connect + UWXP
- 04
Returns and exchanges desk
Exchange-first guidance and policy in the workspace; returns status self-served.
UW Knowledge & Assist + UW Insights
- 05
Remote pharmacist consultation
A counter kiosk connects the customer to a pharmacist at a hub site.
AgentNow
- 06
B2B service and distribution
One desktop with dialer and recording integrated: 66% faster speed of answer and 80% fewer abandoned calls at Mitchell 1.
Totalix for Cisco
Proof
Mitchell 1 — 66% faster speed of answer, 80% fewer abandoned calls
Mitchell 1, the automotive software and service provider, put its service desk on one Upstream Works desktop with Cisco Dialer and MediaSense integrated. Average speed of answer improved by 66% and abandoned calls fell by 80% — the pattern for any B2B service or distribution operation.
Trust
Upstream Works is ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant. No card data is captured or stored in the workspace; AgentNow kiosks and mobile sessions are browser-based with no shopper app.
Questions retail buyers ask first.
The questions retail buyers ask us first, answered the way we answer them on a call.
Can a remote agent take control of a self-checkout kiosk?
Yes. With AgentNow the agent sees the kiosk screen, talks to the shopper by video or voice and can take control to resolve the hold.
How do we get a store associate or product expert to a customer by QR code?
A code on the shelf edge, fitting room or counter opens a video, voice or chat session with the right expert, in store or remote. No app download.
How do retailers handle Black Friday call spikes without hiring?
Automate order-status and returns-status with UWXP, give seasonal agents one workspace with the answers built in, and scale routing on Amazon Connect.
What share of retail contacts are “where is my order”?
Industry estimates range from a fifth to half of inbound contacts, higher at peak. UW Insights shows your own share by hour.
Does this work with Salesforce Service Cloud or Zendesk?
Yes. Totalix Embedded runs inside either, with voice and digital channels, history and AI guidance in the console.
How quickly can seasonal agents be productive?
With guided knowledge and suggested responses, days rather than weeks. A new team’s tenant goes live in minutes.
Can pharmacy counters offer a remote pharmacist consultation?
Yes. AgentNow connects the counter to a pharmacist at another site over a HIPAA-aligned video session.
Is Amazon Connect enough on its own?
Connect provides routing and telephony. Totalix for Amazon Connect adds the agent workspace, knowledge, AI guidance and reporting retail teams need.
Request a demo
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