Seef Properties puts AI avatars in its Bahrain malls.

Seef Properties, which runs Seef Mall and other shopping centres in Bahrain, has brought interactive AI avatars into its malls through a partnership with customer experience company Total CX.

The system combines on-screen avatars with web chat and voice, and helps visitors find stores, look up mall information, leave feedback and request services. Questions that need a person are passed to the customer service team. It builds on Sara, the WhatsApp smart assistant Seef Properties launched earlier this year, which the company is now linking to AI agents developed with Total CX.

The avatars also collect data. Seef Properties says the system will analyse what visitors ask, the feedback they leave and the services they use, and that it will use those patterns to understand visitor preferences and improve its services and operations. Chief executive Ahmed Yusuf described the move as a new phase after Sara: one customer experience system that joins up the company's channels with data analytics. Aseel Matar, interim chief executive of Total CX, said the company puts data security, regulatory compliance and transparency first.

Neither company has said how many avatars are installed, in which malls, or when the rollout started.

For brands and retailers in Gulf malls, the mall's own front door is becoming a data source: what shoppers ask an avatar about stores, offers and services is information the landlord now holds, and may one day package for tenants and advertisers.