How data and genAI are helping retailers boost conversions in a tough economy | MarTech

"Retailers are facing increased competition at a time when high inflation and higher prices are limiting consumers' spending potential. This year, brands will have to work harder than ever to cut through the noise and drive purchase intent, and data marketing can and should play a central role in retailers' and brands' ecommerce strategies. From personalization to product feed, effective data management and utilization support a leak-proof customer journey, driving more consumers towards the bottom of the funnel and subsequently boosting sales and revenues."

"The volume of traffic being referred to retail websites by Generative AI (GenAI) tools is rising rapidly, with U.S. and U.K. sites experiencing increases of 4700% and 1200% over the past year. While traditional search engines like Google and Bing still dominate the market, this rapid growth means that retailers now have to consider GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) in addition to SEO. Retailers and brands with a significant online presence often spend most of their media budget on Search Shopping campaigns, which draw on product feed data to determine what information appears. Consistency and reliability are key, but with much of the data for search lifted from retailers' websites, which are rarely optimised for this use, inaccuracies start to slip in."

"Improving product feed titles and descriptions typically yields the greatest success in terms of performance. However, manually updating this data would be highly time-consuming. It is possible to overcome this challenge by using GenAI to drive automated edits, resulting in a measurable impact on the bottom line. Working with Salomon, a major sporting goods brand, fifty-five designed and integrated a Gen AI prompt that adapts these key attributes into specific formats following best practices. In a proof of concept study, fifty-five implemented A/B testing with FeedX"

Retailers face intensifying competition while high inflation and higher prices constrain consumer spending, requiring stronger efforts to drive purchase intent. Data marketing should play a central role in ecommerce strategies by enabling personalization, accurate product feeds, and seamless customer journeys that increase conversions and revenue. Generative AI is rapidly increasing referral traffic to retail sites, prompting the need for Generative Engine Optimisation in addition to traditional SEO. Heavy investment in Search Shopping campaigns depends on consistent, reliable product feed data, yet many retailer websites are not optimized for feed use, causing inaccuracies. GenAI can automate and scale feed title and description improvements to boost performance.

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