Le Bussole, launched by Confcommercio in 2014, started as a publishing initiative providing operational business manuals for member companies and later evolved into a website featuring articles and videos. Its primary goal is to offer new business ideas and advice to companies in the retail, tourism, and services sectors, helping them adapt to profound market transformations, primarily driven by digital innovation. Over more than 10 years, the website has grown to include over 20 books and more than 230 articles. These resources cover a wide range of topics, from general business management, market analyses, and consumer preferences to specific practical insights like how to make a shop window attractive, how to approach Black Friday, how to segment customer bases, and how to run promotions, often including economic and business management aspects with performance indicators. This vast body of information is continuously updated each week.

This extensive knowledge base now forms the foundation for Le Bussole AI, a recent (2025) chatbot service powered by Microsoft Azure’s AI software. This AI-powered online consulting service enables Confcommercio's member companies (mainly retailers) to access immediate advice on business-related topics through a simple online chat. Unlike open platforms such as ChatGPT, Le Bussole AI is built on proprietary and verified sources that are not shared with other AI models or external users. Each response provided by the chatbot includes a link to the most relevant webpage (book or article), allowing users to explore the topic in greater depth. Additionally, to ensure comprehensive support, each member company's query to the chatbot is reported to their relevant local association (in compliance with privacy regulations). This allows the associations to provide further support, including often-necessary face-to-face consultation, and helps them improve the overall assistance offered to member businesses, for instance, by sending a window display expert if the question concerns setting up an effective shop window for Black Friday.

The AI chatbot is based on books and articles edited by Confcommercio in Italian, but it answers in the same language of the question asked.
Every European retailer can ask the first question in its language, while going further in the chat is reserved to Confcommercio's member companies (ID required).