AI for small business owners

At a glance

Running a shop or a small business means a lot of daily writing and number work — product descriptions, replies to customers, simple accounts, social media posts. AI can save you time on all of these. The business decisions always stay with you. AI just lends a hand with the writing and the tidying up.

Where it helps most

Say you want to post a handmade scarf or a gadget for sale on your shop's social media page. Tell AI the product's features and it can write an eye-catching description — something that would take you ages to write yourself.

When the same questions keep coming ("How much is it?", "When will it be delivered?"), you can ask AI to draft a polite, standard reply. You can tweak it a little each time you send it.

Tell AI your daily sales, costs and profit numbers and it can put together a tidy summary. At the end of the month, it helps you see which products earn more and where profit is slipping.

Before you set a price, you can ask AI to help you organise your thinking — your costs, your competitors' prices, your profit margin. The final decision is still yours.

If it's hard to write a calm, professional reply to an angry customer, AI can give you a draft. You can then make it softer or firmer in your own way.

Try it yourself Time: 5 minutes

1. 1.Open an AI app on your phone.
2. 2.Pick one of your own products.
3. 3.Delete what's inside the square brackets [ ] and put in your own details, then send:

   I want to sell [a handwoven wool scarf, price $25, made by hand, red and white] on social media. Write a short post that will attract customers, with 2-3 hashtags.

   Copy
4. 4.Next, try asking for a reply to a complaint:

   A customer says their delivery was late and they are angry. Write a calm, polite reply that says sorry and promises a solution.

   Copy
5. 5.Read both texts, change them a little so they sound like your business, and then send them — it's best not to copy and paste everything word for word.