Retail runs on speed and thin margins. Behind the scenes, supplier invoices without order references pile up, customers ask about deliveries and returns, and new products wait for complete master data. This is the world of Aurelia Haustechnik, the case story in our practical guide.
Industry 06/103 example agentsAutonomy level L3–L4
Example agents
Three agents that take over work here
Examples from typical workflows, not client references. Which agents pay off for you is shown by assessing your own processes.
01
The incoming invoice agent
Finance · accounts payable
Reads supplier invoices from email, portal and e-invoicing, matches order and delivery note even when the order number is missing, posts clear cases and presents price or quantity deviations with reasoning.
Clear invoices up to the amount limit at L4, up to €10,000 in the case story; deviations at L3.
Systems
ERPE-invoicing · portalDMSRPA for portals without API
Guardrails
Amount limit for autonomous posting, no bank detail changes, segregation between posting and master data.
Human in the loop
Accounts payable works the exception queue within a service level.
What to measure
Straight-through rate · early-payment discounts taken · cycle time per invoice
02
The delivery and returns agent
Customer service · all channels
Answers questions about delivery status and invoices from web shop, email and chat using ERP and carrier data, creates returns under the return policy and issues credit notes for standard cases.
Status answers and standard returns at L4; goodwill and complaints at L3.
Systems
Web shop · CRMERPCarrier APIsChat · email
Guardrails
Credit notes only within the return policy and amount limit, labelled as AI, no promises outside the terms.
Human in the loop
The service team takes complaints, goodwill cases and every request where the customer asks for a person.
What to measure
First-contact resolution · response time · complaints after agent answers
03
The product data agent
Assortment · master data
Reads supplier data sheets, price lists and catalogues, creates new products with attributes, units and classification, detects duplicates and applies price changes on their effective date.
Autonomy level
L0
L1
L2
L3
L4
Start L3 · Assisted agents
New products at L3; recurring price lists from known suppliers can move to L4 later.
Systems
PIMERPSupplier portalsBMEcat · ETIM
Guardrails
Selling prices only by pricing rules, no product deletions, every change with its source document.
Human in the loop
Product management approves new products and price changes above the threshold.
What to measure
Time to a sellable product · data errors · duplicates
Framework
What to factor in for this industry
Customer contact: Customers must be able to tell that they are writing to an agent; the transparency obligations under Art. 50 AI Act have applied since 2 August 2026.
E-invoicing: In Germany, businesses have had to be able to receive e-invoices since 1 January 2025. The agent reads structured invoices directly, paper and PDF through document recognition.
Consumer law: Returns, warranty and credit notes follow fixed rules in the tool layer, not the model's judgement (guardrails).
Note, not legal advice: whether a specific use falls under these rules is for you and your legal counsel to decide. We provide the technical facts for it, from the agent profile to the audit trail.
Incoming invoices are easy to measure and worked through in the practical guide. The tools involved, ERP lookup, order matching and the queue, are reused by later agents.
