Survey Says: Shoppers Interested in GenAI for Better Product Discovery

The state of e-commerce search: If you asked about it a year ago, the consensus was that it’s pretty stale. Looking for an item? You’d need to keep it brief when typing in the search bar (no complete sentences, just a handful of keywords — adopting a form of “caveperson speak” ), hit “enter,” and hope for the best. If the search engine didn’t understand, you’d be forced to try different keywords and reformulate your query. Try, try again. This is the same way people have been searching online for decades.

And while it’s still the predominant form of search today, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has started to shake things up … and in a really good way. As companies move from rushing to embrace any form of GenAI to seeking value-driven use cases, there are some exciting, emerging and highly promising ways to use the technology in e-commerce search.

We explored this in Constructor’s second annual State of Ecommerce Search and Product Discovery report, analyzing data from about 900 shoppers in the U.S. and UK. The study covers a lot of topics: online shopping pain points, shoppers’ product discovery “wish lists,” the prevalence of mobile commerce, and more. The GenAI data is particularly interesting, with important implications for product discovery:

• Consumer behaviors are changing. More than half of shoppers (51 percent) say they’ve tried ChatGPT and other GenAI tools (e.g., Bing Chat and Google Bard) in their daily/personal lives. This up significantly from last year (29 percent).
• Consumers are more receptive to GenAI for product discovery. In fact, 52 percent of shoppers say they would be “very” or “somewhat” comfortable using GenAI tools to help discover the best products for them. This is up from 42 percent in 2023.
• Specific use cases resonate. The top four ways consumers are interested in using GenAI for better product discovery are searching for recipe ideas, getting personalized buyer’s guides, finding outfits by occasion or location, and comparing items.

Introducing AI-Based Shopping Assistants

Embedded in e-commerce search experiences, GenAI-based shopping assistants are one way retailers are addressing the use cases above.

These AI assistants find their sweet spot where traditional search often falls short: when shoppers want to make a purchase but don’t know what item, exactly, they need.

This isn’t a one-off: 80 percent of shoppers say they “often” or “sometimes” go to e-commerce websites unsure of what to buy. What’s more, one in three (32 percent) say that in those instances sites make it “somewhat difficult” or “nearly impossible” to find the right item(s).

Case in point: A shopper may be looking for appropriate supplies for a new hobby, the perfect birthday gift, or dinner ideas that will appeal to grownups and vegetable-averse kids alike. How do you get that across in a search bar that only understands short, keyword-driven queries?

Breaking from traditional search paradigms, AI shopping assistants enable shoppers to use all the space they need to explain themselves. For example: “I’m going to a beach wedding in the Caribbean in August. What should I wear?” Results make sense contextually, are in-stock, and are personalized to the individual shopper.

The Way of the Future is Here Today

Shoppers want this kind of functionality: 44 percent would like the ability to explain themselves in longform, natural language in search, and more than six in 10 (61 percent) say that when they’re unsure, they’d “definitely” or “probably” be willing to let an AI assistant help.

And while it’s not ubiquitous, the good news is this type of functionality is available today. Walmart and Amazon.com have proprietary solutions, and select vendors offer similar white-labeled AI assistants to other retailers as well.

These solutions are driving value for retailers and shoppers both. A large U.S. grocer using an AI assistant for recipe search (generating recipes with in-stock, personalized ingredients) saw a nearly 4 percent increase in search conversions.

And Amazon recently shared milestones since its launch of Rufus earlier this year, with the AI shopping assistant having processed tens of millions of shopper queries, often related to understanding product details, getting product recommendations and comparing options. In Amazon’s app, you’ll see the search bar now prompts you to “Search or ask a question,” reflecting the direction that shoppers and technology are moving in.

Change is Barreling Ahead: Stay Future-Ready

History shows that the companies that make bets on key future trends often rise to market leadership. As GenAI helps reshape various areas of product discovery, retailers have an opportunity to stake their claim — using the technology in a way that complements their brand, prioritizes the shopper experience, and engenders trust (as 49 percent of shoppers say it’s “very important" retailers are transparent about their use of GenAI).

In short, it’s a really exciting time. We’re on the cusp of transformative change. And with the holidays ahead — and many shoppers likely unsure about gift selections — it’s an apt time for retailers to trial GenAI functionality, turning AI shopping assistants into holiday helpers and using the technology to stay future-ready.

Nate Roy is strategic director of e-commerce innovation at Constructor, a leader in e-commerce search and product discovery.