Galaxus introduces MCP interface for AI assistants
Galaxus is the first Swiss retailer to link up its product range to AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT. Customers can now browse through around 13 million items while chatting with the bot and get information on anything from prices to customer reviews. Purchasing products, however, isn’t possible for now.
«Find me an Android mobile that’s no older than two years, has a good camera and costs under 500 francs.» A few seconds later, the chatbot presents images, prices and star ratings of devices that meet this description, along with a summary of what buyers liked and disliked about them. All the information is retrieved from the Galaxus range in Switzerland without the customer having to click a single thing in the online shop.
A plug for chatbots
This is made possible by an MCP, which stands for Model Context Protocol. An MCP is best described as a plug that allows an AI assistant to connect directly to a third-party data source instead of having to laboriously gather information from the web. The standard was introduced by Anthropic, the company behind Claude. It’s now also supported by ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
Galaxus is now also connected via this plug. Galaxus’s MCP has been live for a few weeks now and draws on the same database as the online shop. This means that the AI finds new products as soon as they’re listed in the online shop. Customers don’t even need a Galaxus account to receive up-to-date information. However, the service is only available on the Swiss Galaxus shop for the time being.
It all started with a forum post
Nine months ago, a Community member posted a question in the Galaxus Forum asking about an interface for the range. To date, there’s no other Swiss retailer officially published in Anthropic’s directory. Anything else you might come across for other shops was built by private individuals and isn’t official.
«With a little technical know-how, anyone can technically build their own interface to our shop,» says Hennadii Sivashov, Senior Product Owner at Digitec Galaxus. «The trouble is that it breaks as soon as we make any changes to the website. Our interface, on the other hand, is official, well-maintained and stable.»
Two-minute setup
If you want to use the MCP, you don’t need any programming skills or a fee-based subscription. You simply go to Claude’s settings, go to Connectors, search for Galaxus in the Discovery tab and add it. Alternatively, type the following prompt in the chat window: «Find the Galaxus MCP for me and display it here so I can install it.»
For ChatGPT, the MCP can currently only be entered manually as a separate connector. The official publication in the ChatGPT directory is currently underway.
Anonymous and an uncertain future
Galaxus analyses which AI assistants are browsing the website, what they’re looking for and whether a price filter was set. Galaxus doesn’t store the full prompts or track user IDs.
«We’re interested in people’s search behaviour, not who they are», says Hennadii. «That’s why we deliberately decided against linking the data to customer accounts.»
The chatbot displays product name, brand, price, description, availability, images, ratings and a summary of the pros and cons based on customer reviews. Discounts aren’t transmitted, nor is shopping cart information or payment method. Shoppers wanting to make a purchase are directed to our shop via a link.
About four per cent of organic traffic to both our online shops, Digitec and Galaxus, now stems from AI systems. Although the share is still small, it’s growing rapidly. How people will search for products and purchase them in the future is anyone’s guess. With its MCP, Galaxus is now providing an interface for everyone. Plus it’s gaining insights for the future.
Meanwhile, the next idea is already on the table: making it possible for customers to log in, create shopping lists or add items to their cart directly in a chat window. «We’ll decide in the coming weeks and months if and when this function will be introduced,» says Hennadii.
Have you ever used the Galaxus MCP, or do you plan to use it in the future? What’s been your experience, and where do you see room for improvement?
As a Multimedia Producer, preparing multimedia content and knowing about cutting-edge technology is my business. My main focus at digitec is producing videos. I can’t wait to try out new products such as cameras, drones or smartphones as soon as they’re launched. This is where being at the source comes in rather handy. When I’m not working, I’m probably skiing, biking or hiking – the mountains are my place to be.
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