The world of e-merchandising, i.e., the art of presenting products and services in an enticing and captivating way online, has evolved significantly over time. Now, the profound impact of significant AI advancements on the future of e-merchandising is becoming increasingly evident. However, data inputs need to be sufficient to realize meaningful insights and harness the power of AI.
Google is pulling out all the stops to incorporate generative AI across its ecosystem, in an effort to demonstrate to the world that the search giant is a leader and not a follower when it comes to the biggest disruptive technology to hit the business world in decades. A handful of new products announced at Google I/O enable a range of capabilities built on its Vertex AI generative engine.
Google saw a 50%-plus increase in search traffic in December to its “popular products” integrations, where shoppers can view and filter results with a variety of product details in an ecommerce-friendly carousel display, as it works to claw back the enormous flow of checkouts to dominant Amazon. Google is leveraging aggregated shopping feeds based on structured product data from merchants.
Inflation may continue to impact overall ecommerce volume, but mobile shopping is here to stay, and mobile product discovery will be at the forefront. Yet nearly one-third of American adults will opt out of a mobile purchase due to an unsatisfactory shopping experience. Here are three ways to wow your customers at every step of the journey, and drive more ROI from the mobile experience.
Marketers must understand Amazon’s tactics across search engine results pages (SERPs). By monitoring Amazon’s Share of Voice (SOV) trends, you can make informed decisions on allocating marketing budget, reducing ad spend in segments where Amazon’s presence is strong and reallocating it in areas where they’re weak.
Are there any instances where it’s not advisable to spend in search? Sure, if you’re a brand-new product with no organic ranking, and it’s going to cost you $10 per click to get to the first page of the keyword to sell a $4 product, you might be better off moving those dollars elsewhere. But spend wisely and don’t go entirely dark.
Google parent Alphabet is reportedly considering splitting up parts of its business that handle digital advertising into a separate unit, to avoid antitrust litigation from the U.S. Justice Dept. as part of an ongoing investigation, according to the WSJ. It’s not clear whether anything short of an asset sale would satisfy federal regulators.
If you take a step back and remove your retail or trading or marketing or technology hat for a moment, doesn’t it seem ludicrous we spend so much time trying to control what consumers see in ecommerce search? The idea of giving up control is not one that’s often considered, yet this could in fact be the key to better performance.
Your ecommerce website must be a living, breathing content channel to drive meaningful success. Why? Business goals, audience preferences, digital capabilities and best practices are all constantly evolving, and your site must reflect these changing expectations. Optimize these three areas of your website continually to improve results.
Today’s ecommerce architectures are fragmented and disconnected. There are many important components to plug gaps and make customer experiences consistent, with an infinite number of journeys. Creating connected customer experiences that are personalized across all channels takes time, but doing it right is critical.