When shoppers phrase their search as sentences, your product catalog has to be the answer 

Shoppers rarely start their online search with a perfect query. It’s usually an idea of something, like “I need a couch good for a small apartment,” or “storage that can fit underneath a bed.” And Generative AI is making it easier for shoppers to get trustworthy recommendations, from those questions. 

In the Gartner report, Use GenAI to enhance commerce search and discovery experiences, they write: “Generative AI (GenAI) offers customers the ability to search by asking natural language questions or queries of what they intend to buy.” GenAI turns a shopper’s question into a useful set of products and context. Then there’s agentic AI, which goes one step further and takes actions, like narrowing choices and moving a shopper toward checkout. That flow still starts with discovery, and this report focuses on the GenAI patterns that support it. 

With GenAI, results are accompanied with context alongside products with recommendations connected to the shopper’s question. With guided selling, a shopper’s questions narrow down options, so it is important to have the most accurate and up-to-date product catalog information to ensure your products are included in those responses. 

When selling across multiple channels, consistency gets harder to maintain. If a shopper is directed to a webpage only to find that the product doesn’t match or is out of stock, they move on to another option and someone else gets the sale. GenAI can help shoppers decide faster. 

Download the Gartner report to see the full examples, diagrams, and recommendations.  

Gartner, Use GenAI to Enhance Digital Commerce Search and Discovery Experiences, By Aditya Vasudevan, Mike Lowndes, 27 November 2024 

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