Customization as a key factor
Fahrrad XXL is Germany's largest bicycle retail chain with a multichannel strategy. Customers find a wide range of bikes, e-bikes, accessories and cycling apparel – both in the online store and in numerous physical stores. The company places special value on expert advice, high-quality products and extra services like workshop and repair offers.
To provide personal support digitally too, Fahrrad XXL introduced an AI chatbot from melibo in April 2024. It lets customers get information about the store, products or their orders and get in touch directly – around the clock, seven days a week.
"We chose melibo because custom development is possible there – something we missed with competitors," says Harald Schättler, Head of Quality and Customer Care at Fahrrad XXL. "Other providers only offered onboarding, with no technical support afterwards. That may be enough for companies with simple structures, but it wouldn't have worked for us."
A flood of requests in peak season
With a steadily growing customer base and seasonal order peaks, Fahrrad XXL's support team faced a growing flood of recurring requests. Until working with melibo, the company relied on Zendesk live chat to answer standard requests. This provided basic information, but quickly hit its limits with more complex issues. At the same time, the huge automation potential – for questions about order status, complaints or cancellations – remained largely untapped.
Close collaboration for outstanding results
Fahrrad XXL's complex store structures called for a rethink in customer service. Previously, a custom-built widget combined with Zendesk Chat served as the e-commerce chatbot; with the switch to melibo, artificial intelligence was to take center stage. The goal was to reduce manual processes, increase efficiency and get customers to the information they want faster. "We can work on our product together with melibo's developers and integrate it deeper into our systems step by step," says Harald Schättler. "Besides melibo, we evaluated other AI chatbots. But in our conversations, they couldn't give us confidence that we'd get the support we needed after signing. They also lacked the option of custom development."
Community know-how right in the chat
A special service extension is the integration of the Guuru chat: "In our melibo widget, customers can talk not only to the chatbot or directly to our support agents, but also to experts from our community. This exchange is especially valuable for product advice," explains the Head of Quality and Customer Care. "Integrating Guuru into melibo makes this possible." Guuru connects online shoppers with passionate brand fans who share their knowledge in real time, providing authentic advice. Combined with melibo's chatbot, personal recommendations and automated processes mesh perfectly – raising Fahrrad XXL's service quality even further.
Implementing it was a challenge, though: "melibo was the only provider that could promise us an integration with Guuru – and actually deliver it," stresses Harald Schättler. At the same time, the close connection to Zendesk remains: although the AI chatbot replaced the previous Zendesk Chat, the seamless link to the customer service platform means live chats with the support team are still possible and support tickets are captured smoothly.
Automating order status
"The feature we and our customers use most is the automated order status response. It's the question asked most often. With the integrations into our systems, melibo gives the correct answer with very high probability," says Harald Schättler. Above all, relief around requests like these has led to clear improvements in Fahrrad XXL's customer service since the melibo chatbot went live.
Smart reply suggestions in Zendesk
In Zendesk, Fahrrad XXL's support agents are now actively supported by melibo's AI agent. For incoming customer requests, the AI automatically generates suitable reply suggestions that agents can use directly or adapt. That saves valuable time, increases efficiency in day-to-day support and ensures consistently high answer quality.
melibo live chat in action
Besides the AI chatbot, Fahrrad XXL's team also uses melibo's live chat within the Customer Service Automation Platform. This lets them contact customers directly, resolve complex issues personally and switch seamlessly between automated and individual support.
Key results
- 45% fewer manual requests
- 30% faster response times
- 24/7 customer service availability
- 20% higher customer satisfaction
Conclusion
Summer is peak season at Fahrrad XXL – and with it comes a sharp rise in request volume. Delaying a more efficient solution would have meant not only extra strain on customer service, but also the risk of hurting customer satisfaction at a critical time. To avoid these bottlenecks and secure clear competitive advantages, it was crucial to launch the chatbot before the season started.
With the chatbot, Fahrrad XXL has taken its customer service a big step forward. Recurring requests are now answered automatically, noticeably relieving the support team and freeing capacity for more complex issues. At the same time, customers benefit from fast, efficient service available around the clock – tailored to the growing demands of e-commerce.
