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Margot Makes Wine Selection Easy

February 07, 2018

Picking the perfect wine is not always easy. With all the innovation taking place in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), automation and more, putting it to work to optimize your dining experience isn’t such a bad idea. In fact, one of the U.K.’s fastest growing retailers is relying on a new chatbot for just that.


Margot, Lidi’s new chatbot, is a product of a new partnership between the retailer and Aspect software. Aspect provided Lidi UK with an AI-powered, fully automated, Facebook messenger chatbot. The virtual wine consultant is more than capable of offering customers an educational and conversational experience.

Tobias Goebel, Aspect’s Senior Director of Emerging Technologies in charge of Aspect’s global chatbot program, noted “The chatbot solution we offer boasts a breadth of knowledge while also letting customers ask questions in plain English vs. pressing buttons or sending scripted commands. This innovative technology will make a real improvement to Lidi customers’ experience.”

Lidi recognized the need for an AI-driven chat service, and in selecting Aspect, chose a company at the fore of customer engagement and this rapidly growing segment of the market. Customers can take a quick, find a particular wine or ask Margot for assistance with a food pairing. Creating Lidi’s chatbot took 12 weeks, from idea to completion, bringing a comprehensive portfolio of Aspect’s tools for applications ecosystem management of Margot, Natural Language Processing (NLU) technology and multi-interface architecture.

Alex Murray, Digital Director at Lidl UK, explained. “At Lidl we have built a reputation for providing fantastic quality wines at highly competitive prices for our customers. Margot will ensure choosing the right wine is never a daunting process, and we hope this service – along with the existing in-store and online information we already provide – encourages customers to discover the perfect wine for any given meal or moment. We chose Aspect because of their deep understanding of what it takes to bring a superior customer experience to an international brand like Lidl. It’s been a fantastic collaboration throughout conception to roll out.”

Since its inception in the 1930s, Lidi favored a customer-first approach by offering high quality products at pocket-friendly prices. Lidi continues this tradition with Margot, building off this strong foundation for future success, in the age of omnichannel.




Edited by Mandi Nowitz



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