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Use AI to give customers extra product suggestions and to check your pricing

who Jon Phillips, owner of Phillips Hardware in Altamont, New York, who also runs Phillips Mini Mart and a Mobil gas station, in the Times Union

What it does

Per the Times Union, Phillips has used AI to help direct customers to the products they're looking for at Phillips Hardware, and uses it for price analysis at his Phillips Mini Mart and Mobil gas station. "I'm trying to find all the ways (to use) AI, whether it's looking at pricing or budgeting, so I can put more time into human connection," he says. He also used AI to make building renderings of a proposed mini-golf course, pizza and ice cream shop to present to the Guilderland Planning Board. The article doesn't name the AI tool.

Tool cost

The article doesn't name the tool; ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (our DIY build)

Setup

Easy · or we do it from $149/mo

Tools

AI tool (not named)

Customer questionsOperationsRetail

The problem

Phillips wants to spend more of his time on what he calls "human connection" with customers, not on pricing and budgeting work.

What happened

Phillips says "I'm finding out my customers really like the extra thoroughness in sales," for example when he tells them, "Here's a suggestion, but I'm even going to take a couple minutes to see if I have any other suggestions." No figures were given. Self-reported.

Quoted in the source: Jon Phillips, owner, Phillips Hardware. Source: Times Union: 'A virtual assistant': How Capital Region businesses are using AI (Lilli Iannella) (2026-05-31) · Added 2026-10-20.

How to set it up yourself

  1. What Phillips Hardware does: per the Times Union, the owner uses AI to help point customers to the products they need, often taking a couple of minutes to look for other suggestions, and uses it for price analysis at his mini mart and gas station. The article doesn't name the tool, so the steps below are our DIY build with ChatGPT.
  2. At the counter, describe the customer's project or problem in a sentence and ask ChatGPT what products and parts the job usually needs. Check every suggestion against what you stock and what you know works before you recommend it.
  3. For pricing, export or type a short list of items with your cost, your current price and any competitor prices you've checked yourself.
  4. Ask ChatGPT to flag items that look out of line and explain why. You set the final prices.

Copy-paste prompt

I run {STORE NAME}, a {HARDWARE STORE / CONVENIENCE STORE} in {TOWN}. A customer says: {CUSTOMER'S PROJECT OR PROBLEM}. List the products and parts this job usually needs, plus 2-3 related items they might forget, and one question I should ask them. Don't invent brands, sizes or prices; I'll match everything to what's on my shelves. Then, separately, here are items with my cost, my price and competitor prices I checked: {ITEM LIST}. Flag any that look out of line and explain why. Don't recommend final prices.
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