--- title: How to train an AI agent on your product catalog description: "Get an AI agent to answer price, size and stock questions from your own products: how to clean the catalog, connect it, write rules and test before launch." url: https://salemag.net/blog/train-ai-agent-on-product-catalog language: en published: 2025-11-13 updated: 2025-11-13 author: SaleMag Team tags: - ai agent - product catalog - ecommerce ai agent - f-commerce --- # How to train an AI agent on your product catalog > To train an AI agent on your product catalog, you do not retrain the AI model. You give the AI agent a clean, current product list to search, with names, prices, options, stock and photos, plus short rules on how to sell. The AI agent looks up each product before it answers, so its replies match your catalog. - ‘Training’ a shop AI agent means connecting it to your product data, not building a new AI model. - A clean catalog matters more than clever prompts: one product per item, real option names, current stock. - Name products the way customers ask for them, and put prices only in the catalog, not in loose PDFs. - Write a short selling guide: what to recommend, what never to promise, when to call a person. - Test with your 20 most common questions, including products you do not sell, before going live. Say a kurti page in Mohammadpur sets up its first AI agent by pasting the page’s About text into it, then expects it to sell 300 kurtis. A customer asks "eta M size e ache? dam koto?" and the agent replies with a polite paragraph about quality fabric. No price, no size, no sale. The agent is not stupid. It has simply never been given the products. This guide shows how to give an AI agent your catalog the right way, so it answers the questions that actually make money: price, size, colour, stock and "send pic". ## What does ‘training’ an AI agent on a catalog actually mean? Training an AI agent on a catalog means connecting it to your product data so it can look products up, not teaching the AI model new knowledge. The AI already understands language. What it lacks is your prices and stock, and those change every week. Modern shop AI agents use a method called [retrieval-augmented generation](https://salemag.net/glossary/retrieval-augmented-generation). When a message arrives, the AI agent searches your product list and other content, picks the few items that match, and writes a reply using only those. Some go further and use tools: a "search products" step that returns live price, stock and options before the AI is allowed to quote anything. That has a practical meaning for you. You will not "upload once and forget". You keep the catalog current, and the AI agent stays current with it. ## What product information does the AI agent need? The AI agent needs the same information a good salesperson would check before answering: what the item is, what it costs, which options exist, whether it is in stock, and what it looks like. The table shows each field and the customer question it answers. | Field | Customer question it answers | Common mistake | |---|---|---| | Name | "Black panjabi ache?" | Codes like "PNJ-0042" with no words | | Price and sale price | "Dam koto?" | Price written only inside the photo | | Options (size, colour) | "XL ache? Maroon e pawa jabe?" | Each size added as a separate product | | Stock | "Stock e ache?" | Stock never updated after a sale | | Category and brand | "Ki ki saree ache?" | Everything in one "Products" category | | Description | "Fabric ki? Wash korle rong uthbe?" | Copy-pasted supplier text in Chinese English | | Photos | "Pic den" | Only one photo for six colours | | Product link | "Website e dekhbo" | Old links to deleted pages | You do not need all of this on day one. Name, price, options and stock are the minimum. Photos come next, because in Bangladesh most buyers decide from the picture. ## How do I clean my catalog before connecting it? Clean your catalog by making each product one real item with clear options, a plain name and current numbers. An hour of cleaning saves weeks of wrong answers. Work through this list: 1. **Merge duplicates.** If "Cotton Panjabi Black" and "Black Cotton Panjabi" are the same item, keep one. 2. **Use options for sizes and colours.** One product "Cotton Panjabi" with Size: M, L, XL and Colour: Black, Maroon is much easier for the AI than six separate products. 3. **Write names customers would say.** "Women's Lawn Three-Piece, Printed" beats "LP-23 New". Keep your code in the SKU field. 4. **Fix the prices in one place.** If your Facebook post says ৳1,450 and the catalog says ৳1,390, the AI agent will quote the catalog, and the customer will screenshot the post. 5. **Set stock honestly.** If you sell from a shared stock with a physical shop, update the online stock at least once a day during busy periods. 6. **Remove dead products.** Items you will never restock should be archived, not left at zero stock with an old price. ## How do I connect the catalog to the AI agent? Connect the catalog by syncing your online store or by adding products to the AI agent tool directly, whichever keeps the data most current with the least effort. | Your setup | Best way to connect | What stays in sync | |---|---|---| | Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce store | Connect the store and sync products | Prices, options and stock, as the store changes | | Facebook page only, no website | Add products by hand in the AI agent tool | Whatever your team updates | | Excel price list | Import or add the items, then retire the sheet | Only if you stop editing the sheet | The trap for page-only shops is keeping two lists. If the team updates the Excel sheet but not the AI agent, the agent is wrong by Friday. Pick one place to edit prices and treat it as the truth. ## How do I teach the AI agent how to sell, not just what I sell? Teach the AI agent how to sell with a short written guide: a few rules about recommendations, promises and handover, in plain language. The catalog says what you have. The guide says how to behave. A good guide for a clothing page fits in ten lines: ``` - Recommend only products from our catalog. If we don't have it, say so politely. - When someone asks for a colour or size we don't have, suggest the closest item in stock. - Never promise a delivery date. Say: inside Dhaka usually 1-2 days, outside Dhaka 2-4 days. - Never offer a discount that is not written in our offers. - Bulk orders (10+ pieces), custom stitching and complaints: hand over to the team. - Keep replies short. Send a photo when the customer asks to see an item. ``` Add your delivery charges, exchange policy and payment method as separate entries in the AI agent's knowledge, not inside product descriptions. Product text should describe the product. Policies change on their own schedule. ## Will the AI agent understand Bangla and Banglish product questions? Yes, a capable AI agent understands Bangla and [Banglish](https://salemag.net/glossary/banglish) questions and can match them to English product names. "Kalo panjabi XL ache?" can find "Black Cotton Panjabi" with option XL. You can make matching more reliable: - Use the plain English or Bangla word your customers use, not an internal code, in the product name. - Put common alternative words in the description: "three-piece, 3 piece, salwar kameez". - For local terms with no English equal, such as "jamdani" or "fatua", keep the local term in the name. If many of your customers write in Bangla script, test with Bangla questions as well. An agent that is perfect in English and confused in Bangla is half an agent. ## How do I test the AI agent before customers see it? Test the AI agent with the real questions your page gets, in the way customers actually write them. Open last week's inbox and copy 20 questions word for word, typos included. Include these on purpose: - A product you sell, by its exact name. - The same product described vaguely: "oi je blue ta, last week post korechilen". - A size or colour that is sold out. - A product you do not sell at all. - A price trap: "last time apni 900 bolechilen". - A request that needs a person: "50 piece lagbe office er jonno". For each one, check three things: the product is right, the price matches the catalog exactly, and the AI agent hands over when it should. Fix the data first and the rules second. Most wrong answers trace back to a messy product entry, not the AI. If prices are your biggest worry, our guide on [answering ‘price koto?’ automatically](https://salemag.net/blog/answer-price-koto-messages-automatically) covers that question in depth. ## How does SaleMag use your product catalog? SaleMag's [AI agent](https://salemag.net/solutions/ai-agent) can answer from your whole catalog: products synced from a connected Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce store, or products you add by hand. The knowledge base re-indexes when products change, so answers follow your current list. With [AI order taking](https://salemag.net/ai-agents/ai-order-taking) switched on, the AI must search the catalog by name, SKU, category or brand before it states a price, option or stock level. It translates the customer's words to your catalog's language when needed, sends up to three product photos per reply, and never offers an out-of-stock item as available. Any money amount in its reply that is not a real catalog price is caught and rewritten. A test playground shows the sources behind each reply before you go live. The AI runs on your own OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude) or Google Gemini key. ## Next steps Pick your 20 best-selling products and clean them first: one item, clear name, real options, current stock and at least one photo. Connect them, write your ten-line selling guide, and test with last week's questions. When the answers are right, add the rest of the catalog. To try it on your own products, [start free with SaleMag](https://salemag.net/register). ## Steps 1. **Clean the product list**: Remove duplicates, give each item a clear name, set sizes and colours as options, and fix prices and stock. 2. **Connect the catalog**: Sync your Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce store, or add products by hand with prices, options, stock and photos. 3. **Write the selling guide**: Add short instructions on what to recommend, what not to promise and when to hand the chat to a person. 4. **Test real questions**: Ask your 20 most common customer questions, plus products you do not sell, and fix every wrong or vague answer. 5. **Review the first week**: Read real conversations daily for a week and fix the catalog or the rules wherever the AI agent struggled. ## FAQ ### Do I need to fine-tune an AI model to sell my products? No. A shop AI agent does not need fine-tuning. It searches your product list for each question and answers from what it finds, which is faster to set up and updates the moment your catalog changes. ### How many products can an AI agent handle? An AI agent that searches the catalog per question can handle a large catalog, because it only reads the few products that match each message. What limits quality is messy data, such as duplicate items or unclear names, not the number of products. ### Will the AI agent know when a product goes out of stock? Yes, if stock is kept current in the catalog it reads. A synced store updates automatically; a hand-made list must be updated by your team, or the AI agent will answer from old stock numbers. ### Can a catalog AI agent understand Banglish product names? Yes. A good AI agent can match 'kalo panjabi' to a product named 'Black Panjabi', but clear product names and common alternative words in the description make matches more reliable. ### Can the AI agent send product photos? Yes, when the catalog has photos and the AI agent supports sending them. In SaleMag, the AI can send up to three product photos per reply when order taking is switched on. ### How long does it take to train an AI agent on a catalog? If your products are already in Shopify or WooCommerce, connecting them takes minutes. Most of the work is cleaning product names and options and testing real customer questions, which usually takes a day or two for a small shop.