Messaging app Kik has launched its Bot Shop, where users can download chatbots.

The store is broken down into three categories – Entertainment, Lifestyle and Games – with 18 bots available at launch, including The Weather Channel, H&M and cosmetics brand Sephora. Its interesting to see how these brands are making use of the platform: H&Ms bot offers an automated personal stylist that will suggest an outfit based on a single piece of clothing, while Sephora can deliver video and pictorial make-up tutorials, as well as acting as an in-store assistant by serving up product reviews and ratings.

Kik is eager to expand on this initial offering, and has launched an API for developers to build more bots.

Kik says the decision to launch Bot Shop was driven by the continuing decline in app downloads, and the increasing time spent in chat apps – it reports that users spend an average 35 minutes per session in the Kik app.

“We wanted to find a way to get more out of chat without adding to the clutter or detracting from the simplicity of the experience in Kik,” reads its announcement. “We’ve found that bots offer a great low-friction way to do that. There’s nothing to download, no new registration required, and you can use an interface you’re already familiar with: chat.”

To support the launch, Kik has also introduced mentions, which enable users to call a bot into another conversation by tagging their name with an @, and revamped its suggested responses to give users automated responses when chatting to a bot.

Kik certainly isnt the only messaging app bringing bots on board. Microsoft unveiled chatbots for Skype at its Build conference last week, and Facebook is expected to follow suit at F8 next week.