Salesforce has announced the finalisation of its acquisition of Cimulate. Cimulate, a startup specialising in contextual engines, brings a unique ability to interpret user behaviour to the Salesforce ecosystem. While most e-commerce systems still rely on rigid keywords, Cimulate’s technology combines data from real and simulated purchase paths to predict what a customer is actually looking for, even if they can’t name it precisely.
For Salesforce, this integration is a key element of its Agentforce Commerce strategy. Marc Benioff and his team are betting on ‘agentforce commerce’ – a vision in which autonomous AI assistants not only answer questions, but actively guide the customer through the product discovery process. In this model, AI ceases to be just a chatbot and becomes a sophisticated advisor that can close the gap between a vague purchase intention and the final transaction.
From a business perspective, the move is deeply justified. Retailers are struggling with rising customer acquisition costs and declining loyalty. Tools that can deliver real-time, relevant results can dramatically increase conversion rates, while relieving marketing departments of the tedious optimisation of manual search rules.
Salesforce’s Nitin Mangtani emphasises that the future is intuitive, conversational product discovery. And while the AI market is currently saturated with promise, the acquisition of the Cimulate team, with its deep retail expertise, gives Salesforce a real advantage in delivering tools that are not only ‘smart’ but, more importantly, useful for retailers’ margins.
The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, signals that SaaS giants are stop buying features and start buying context.
