The Lenehans AI Product Assistant

For a hundred and sixty years, the most valuable thing in Lenehans wasn’t on a shelf. It was the person behind the counter, the one who’d ask what you were actually trying to do, then hand you the right thing and tell you what to watch out for. That still happens every day on Capel Street. But most of our customers now shop at half nine at night, from a kitchen table, halfway through a job that’s gone sideways. The counter is closed. The question is still there. So we built something to answer it.

The Lenehans AI Product Assistant is a conversational tool that knows our full catalogue, over 30,000 products, along with live prices, stock and delivery times. It is built into lenehans.ie, so help is available from every page without leaving the website. You describe your problem in ordinary language - in the language that comes naturally to you and, it works out what you need, tells you whether we have it and can help you move from question to basket in the same conversation. Behind the scenes, it uses our most up-to-date, high-performance AI models to make the experience faster, more responsive and better at understanding what you mean.

Help wherever you are on the site

• The website chat:  built into every page on lenehans.ie, so you can open the assistant from the bottom-right corner wherever you are browsing.

• The full-page version assistant.lenehans.ie, if you’re working through something bigger and want more room for the conversation.

• Ask AI on any product page, for questions about that specific item, without losing your place.

What an answer actually looks like

Easier to show than to describe.

Every product it suggests comes back with the useful details you need: the name, a short description, the price, the SKU, what’s on the shelf and where, when it would be dispatched, product imagery where available, and a link straight to the product page. You can view products visually while you chat instead of working from names alone.

The important part is what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t hand you a category page and wish you luck. It names a product and stays in the conversation while you think about it, so you can come back with “grand, how much do I need for 60 square metres?” without starting again. And when you are ready, you can add a recommended product to your basket directly from the chat, no need to break the conversation just to start shopping.

The kinds of questions it’s good at

People are often unsure what they’re “allowed” to ask a thing like this. The honest answer is: ask it the way you’d ask a person. It is language-sensitive too, so you can write naturally rather than learning special commands or search terms. Here’s the range.

“I have a problem and I don’t know what fixes it”

This is where it earns its keep. “There’s black mould coming through the paint in my bathroom, what do I do?” You don’t need to know that the answer involves a mould killer, a stain-blocking primer and a moisture-resistant paint, in that order. That’s the assistant’s job. Describe the symptom and let it work backwards to the products.

“Which of these is right for me?”

We stock dozens of lawn seeds and about forty different fillers. “What’s the difference between these two primers?” or “which grass seed for a shaded, north-facing garden?” gets you a straight comparison rather than a filter menu.

“Do you have this, and how much is it?”

If you already know the product, just name it. It will find it, price it, and tell you what’s on the shelf at Capel Street and Arklow.

“How much do I need?”

Coverage maths for paint, grass seed, compost, sealant. Give it the dimensions and it will tell you how many tins or bags, which is usually where people either overspend or end up back in the car.

“When would it get here?”

Dispatch and delivery timing for anything in the catalogue, including whether today’s cut-off still applies.

What it can’t do

We’d rather tell you this up front than have you find out at an awkward moment.

Stock figures are very good, not perfect. They refresh regularly, but a busy Saturday on Capel Street can move faster than the number on the screen. If you’re driving in specifically for one item, ring ahead — that’s true of any shop.

It can be confidently wrong. Every AI system can. It’s accurate the overwhelming majority of the time, but if an answer really matters - a chemical going near something delicate, a fitting that has to match an existing thread, anything structural, anything electrical,  check it against the product page or ask one of us.

It won’t certify your work. It can tell you which cable clips to buy. It is not a substitute for a registered electrician or plumber, and it will tell you so.

It only knows what we sell. If the right answer for your job is something Lenehans doesn’t stock, it should say so rather than steer you towards a near-miss. If you ever catch it doing otherwise, we genuinely want to hear about it.

The counter is still there

This isn’t a cost-cutting exercise and it hasn’t replaced anyone. Our team is on the phone at 01 873 0466 and on [email protected], Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm - and standing behind the counter at Capel Street and Arklow as they have been for six generations. What’s changed is that you no longer have to wait until nine in the morning to get the question answered.

Give it a go

The best way to judge it is to try it on something you’re genuinely stuck on. Open the AI Product Assistant, describe the job, and see whether it points you somewhere useful.
And if it doesn’t, tell us. We read the transcripts, and the assistant gets better because people push at its edges.

Common questions

Is it free to use?
Yes. No account, no sign-in, no charge.

Do I have to buy anything?
No. Plenty of people use it purely for DIY advice and never buy anything. But if you do find the right product, you can add it to your basket directly from the chat.

Does it know what’s in the shops, or just online?
Both. It reports stock by location, so it will tell you if something is sitting on the shelf at Capel Street or Arklow.

Can it help with an order I’ve already placed?
For anything involving an existing order, a return or a refund, contact the team directly on 01 873 0466 or [email protected], they can see your account, and the assistant can’t.

What happens to what I type?
Conversations are used to improve the assistant. Don’t enter card details or personal information you wouldn’t put in an email, it never needs them.

Can I add products to my basket from the assistant?
Yes. When the assistant recommends the right product, you can add it to your basket directly in the chat and carry on with the conversation.

Can I view product images in the chat?
Yes. Where product imagery is available, the assistant can show it as part of the conversation so you can see what you are considering as well as read the details.

Is there an app?
No app required. It is embedded across lenehans.ie and runs in the browser on your phone the same as on a laptop.