How Modern Retailers are Moving Beyond Zendesk & Freshdesk

For years, platforms like Zendesk and Freshdesk have been the go-to solutions for managing customer support in retail. They helped brands transition from scattered emails and phone logs to organized ticketing systems. But as customer expectations rise and support volume grows, many modern retailers are finding these traditional helpdesks no longer enough.

Today, forward-thinking brands are moving beyond conventional ticketing tools and adopting AI-powered solutions that automate, personalize, and scale customer service like never before.

📉 Where Traditional Helpdesks Fall Short

Zendesk, Freshdesk, and similar platforms were revolutionary in their time, but they rely heavily on:

• Manual ticket creation and assignment

• Human agents for even repetitive questions

• Static knowledge bases that require constant updating

• Linear workflows that don’t adapt in real time

While effective for basic support, these systems struggle with:

✅ Handling spikes in ticket volume during peak seasons

✅ Delivering instant, 24/7 support without ballooning staff costs

✅ Providing the kind of personalized, conversational experiences today’s shoppers expect

🚀 What Modern Retailers Need Instead

To keep pace with the demands of today’s customers, retailers are adopting AI-powered solutions that:

✅ Instantly resolve common inquiries—like order tracking, returns, or policy questions

✅ Provide proactive, personalized updates and recommendations

✅ Scale effortlessly during high-demand periods without hiring more agents

✅ Reduce average resolution times by 50% or more

✅ Integrate seamlessly with CRMs, OMS, and eCommerce platforms to fetch and update real-time data

🤖 How AI Moves Retail Support Beyond Ticketing

Unlike ticket-based systems, AI agents don’t just organize problems—they solve them. Advanced conversational AI can:

• Understand customer intent with natural language processing (NLP)

• Complete tasks autonomously, such as processing refunds or updating shipping addresses

• Escalate to human agents only when necessary, including full conversation context

• Learn and improve over time with real customer interactions

This isn’t just faster; it’s a new way of delivering customer service that feels personal, instant, and efficient.

📈 Real-World Impact

Retailers embracing AI-driven support are seeing:

• 60–80% fewer tickets requiring human intervention

• Higher CSAT scores, thanks to immediate resolutions

• Significant cost savings, as fewer agents are needed to deliver 24/7 coverage

They’re freeing support teams to focus on complex, high-value interactions while AI handles the repetitive, time-consuming work.

✨ Final Thoughts

Zendesk and Freshdesk helped shape modern customer support, but they’re not designed for the speed, personalization, and scalability today’s shoppers demand. By adopting AI-first solutions, modern retailers can move beyond ticketing to provide a truly conversational, customer-centric experience.

Platforms like Nurix’s conversational AI agents enable retailers to automate support with intelligence, delivering faster, smarter, and more satisfying experiences that leave legacy systems behind.