An ecommerce merchant might sell the exact product a generative AI shopper wants and still not appear in the platform’s recommendations.

The disconnect starts with how consumers use AI chat and shopping.

For example, a shopper could specify in a single prompt the price range, size, material, compatibility, intended use, delivery date, and more.

The merchant’s job is to make those specs easy to find and verify. The task is traditional search optimization, but elevated. More than ever, today’s product data must answer questions that shoppers once had to uncover themselves.

Here are five tests to see whether AI-driven shoppers can find your product.

Extensive product data, such as what’s on this Salomon boot page, helps AI appeal to shoppers.

Identify

Can an AI shopping agent or chat understand the item?

A product listing should include the item’s name, brand, category, SKU, and, when applicable, a GTIN, UPC, EAN, or manufacturer part number.…