commonsku AI Features for Promo Distributors | commonsku

Here's the thing nobody talks about with AI tools.

You can get really, really good at using ChatGPT for prospect research. You can master Claude for proposals. You can generate gorgeous mood boards in Gemini. But all these "new, shiny" tools don't help you if they don't make the work easier and more efficient. If you're adding more workflow to your workflow then who is winning the proficiency game, you or your AI tools?

So when we started building AI into the platform, we didn't start with what's trendy. We started with what you need. 

We've had a dedicated team building AI directly into commonsku for over a year. Not experimenting. building. The first features are live, and the rollout is happening in phases.

Here's what's shipping now, what's in beta, and what's on the roadmap.

AI Product Search

What it does: Uses your project details, client history, and sales data to recommend products that match what you're working on. Live now on all plans.

Product search in promotional products has always been the same story. Open multiple tabs, search multiple supplier sites, cross-reference past orders from memory, and spend way too long assembling a presentation you're not fully confident in.

commonsku's AI-powered product recommendations change the starting point entirely. When you search for products inside commonsku, the system looks at the specific client's purchase history, layers in the project name, event type, and industry, and surfaces products that actually make sense for the relationship.
Here's a look at how it works:

This runs on Connected+ supplier data, so the recommendations pull from accurate, real-time product information across the supplier network. And they get smarter with every order placed.

AI Product Search is live for all commonsku users now. See how it works.

skubot AI Mockup Generator

What it does: Generates realistic product mockups based on your decoration method, location, and client art. In beta now.

When we polled promo pros during the AI + Promo webinar, creating mockups and virtual proofs was the number one capability they wanted.

The skubot AI Mockup Generator is in beta now. What makes it fundamentally different from generating an image in Gemini: it's deeply embedded into the commonsku workflow.

The system reads how the product is actually configured. Decoration method, decoration location, client art from their files. Set something to embroidery? The mockup renders embroidery. It also pulls in Connected+ PromoStandards data from your suppliers, so supplier-specific decoration details are factored in. This isn't a standalone image generator that requires a text prompt. It already knows, because it's reading configuration data.
Here's the mockup generator in action:

That means a full presentation with realistic, branded mockups can be built without leaving the platform and without a design team.

Coming soon: lifestyle images, multiple decoration locations, and bulk mockup generation across an entire presentation.

skubot Opportunity Bot

What it does: Analyzes your commonsku data to surface cross-sell and upsell patterns across clients, orders, and verticals. Beta Q2.

85% of a distributor's business comes from existing clients and referrals. Which means the biggest growth lever isn't finding new clients. It's seeing what's being missed with the ones already on the books.

Most distributors know this instinctively. But actually mining years of order data to find the gaps? Nobody has time for that. So the cross-sells don't happen, the repeat orders slip, and money gets left on the table quarter after quarter.

The skubot Opportunity Bot is designed to fix that.

We've been working in the back end to connect AI tools in a very secure way to commonsku data. The Opportunity Bot will have access to your clients, your orders, your contacts, and all of the reports built into the platform. It has access to the same kind of information a human would have inside commonsku, but it can pull and analyze that data at scale.

It can do quantitative analysis (show me my top 10 clients by margin who haven't ordered in 90 days) and qualitative analysis (what patterns do you see in my fastest-growing accounts?). Which product categories are selling to hospitality clients that aren't being offered to healthcare accounts? Which clients ordered last fall and haven't come back? Where are the portfolio gaps that represent real, actionable revenue?

This is fully SOC 2 compliant. Your data stays within commonsku. No external AI systems get access to your client information.

Beta starts Q2 for Advanced and Enterprise customers. Beta invitations will be shared through the skummunity Forum.

AI Roadmap Beyond Mockups

What's ahead: Description rewriting, art configuration assistance, and more.

Everything above is either live or in active development. But we're building toward something much bigger: a complete AI assistance layer inside commonsku.

Description Rewriter. Product descriptions that know the client. Instead of generic manufacturer copy showing up on a presentation to a luxury hospitality brand, AI rewrites descriptions in a tone that matches who's actually being pitched.

Art Configurator. Give the system details about the project and a specific logo. It selects decoration options that make sense as a first pass and configures products automatically.

Presentation and Shop Builder. The long-term vision: tell skubot what's needed. It handles product selection (informed by what typically sells to this type of client), product configuration, art configuration, pricing, and mockup generation. You go in, make it yours, and send it.

Our goal is to automate work AI is good at so can spend your energy on the critical (client-facing) work only you can do.

These are further out on the roadmap and don't have firm dates yet but for a deeper look at commonsku's AI direction, read the full AI innovation update.

What's Also Shipping (Beyond AI)

AI gets the headlines, but we're also building the operational backbone that makes everything else move faster.

Connected Supplier Auto Billing automatically compares your purchase orders against digital bills from Connected+ suppliers, lets you one-click confirm perfect matches, and flags exactly where discrepancies are when they're not.

Here's how the matching process works:

The Potential Repeat Order Report is already live, it surfaces clients who may be ready to reorder based on your order history, lets you filter and act on each opportunity, and forces reps to intentionally dismiss anything they're not pursuing so no business falls through the cracks.

Both connect back to the same principle: less time on admin, more time on relationships.

Where This Is All Heading

Every feature we're building makes commonsku smarter about your business — your clients, your orders, your patterns. The platform already knows more about how you sell than any outside tool ever will. Now it's starting to use that knowledge for you.

Your workflow gets shorter. Your follow-up gets more automated. And you and your team get faster, more accurate, and more creative.

But Sometimes You Just Gotta See It

At a certain point, reading about features is the wrong move. You need to see them.

Frequently Asked Questions