The Experience-First Commerce Revolution

Where AI Search Transforms Discovery Into Delight

Author

Anand Ganesh Rao
October 08, 2025

In partnership with

🧭Opening Thought

Why Legacy Search is Killing Your Customer Experience

For the modern retailer, the digital storefront is the flagship. Yet the main entry point—the search bar—is often treated as a simple utility, a checkbox function inherited from legacy platforms. This is a critical flaw.

The search bar is not a help desk; it is the customer's direct, natural language connection to your product catalog. It's where intent is most clearly expressed. When it fails, you don't just lose a session; you damage a relationship. The era of transactional, list-based e-commerce is over. We are now in the age of Experience-First Commerce, and AI-powered product discovery is its non-negotiable foundation.

The shift is clear: stop optimizing for product visibility and start optimizing for customer satisfaction. The governing metric is Findability—a measure of whether shoppers actually locate what they want. Retail leaders, lets deep dive.

🚀Deep Dive: The Experience-First Commerce Revolution

AI search has evolved from a nice-to-have to the cornerstone of modern retail experiences. Platforms like Algolia, Constructor, Coveo, Bloomreach, and innovators like Lucidworks, FactFinder, Netcore Unbxd, Rezolve are proving that intelligent search transforms customer interactions from transactional to experiential.

1. From Utility to Experience: The Search Revolution

• Beyond Keywords to Intent: When customers search "cozy winter outfit," AI platforms understand they want warm, comfortable clothing—not products containing those exact words. Motorola Solutions saw a shocking 35% of website visitors hit zero search results with their legacy system . After implementing Coveo's AI search, visits to search finding relevant content increased by 97% .

• The Findability Imperative: Traditional conversion rate metrics miss the point. Findability measures whether shoppers actually locate what they wish to find—a composite score evaluating the entire journey from query to click . It's the difference between facilitating a transaction and inspiring customer loyalty.

• Real-Time Personalization: Constructor's platform uses "clickstream data together with transformers, LLMs, and the latest in AI technologies" to understand intent from the first visit . The result? Petco achieved 13% higher search conversions, while Target Australia generated $13M growth in search revenue .

2. The Business Intelligence Engine: Beyond Search to Strategy

Modern AI search platforms don't just find products—they understand customers and inform business strategy:

• Merchandising Revolution: The Berner Group, managing over 20 online shops, found their previous solution frequently delivered "irrelevant products or no products at all" . After implementing FactFinder's AI platform, they achieved a 20% increase in search usage with pinpoint accuracy .

• Operational Transformation: Office Depot achieved a "100% reduction in search maintenance costs" while increasing ecommerce revenues by 12% within one month . At Shoe Carnival, merchandiser productivity doubled, with changes to content and search made in "a fraction of the time" .

• Global Scale Intelligence: Lenovo implemented Lucidworks across 180 markets in 60+ languages, achieving 95% revenue growth through search and 55% relevancy improvements after implementing user signals .

3. The Experience Multiplier: Visual, Conversational, and Contextual

• Visual Discovery Revolution: Rezolve AI's visual search transformed AJIO's fashion discovery, where "1 out of every 5 customers who utilize visual search converts into a purchase" . The "See. Search. Shop." workflow resonates perfectly with digital-native consumers.

• Conversational Commerce: Nespresso Oceania's partnership with Coveo delivered +182% higher conversions with search and +10% higher AOV from recommendations . As YC Eu, Head of eBusiness notes: "Our goal is to evolve from electronic to experience commerce" .

• Contextual Intelligence: Caleres manages 600,000+ SKUs across 13 distinct brand websites, achieving 21% revenue growth year-over-year with search and 74% revenue growth with recommendations . The key insight: "About 30-50% of visitors use facets, and they convert nearly 2X more than those who don't".

📈 ROI: Financial Impact of Experience-First Search

The business case for AI search isn't just compelling—it's transformational across every retail vertical.

Immediate Revenue Impact:
•Nespresso Oceania: +182% higher conversions with search, +10% higher AOV
•Caleres: +21% revenue YoY with search, +74% revenue YoY with recommendations
•Office Depot: +12% increase in ecommerce revenues within one month
•House of Indya: +30% increase in conversion rate with personalized recommendations

Operational Efficiency Revolution:
• Office Depot: 100% reduction in search maintenance costs
• Shoe Carnival: Merchandiser productivity doubled with Dynamic Re-Ranking
• Berner Group: 20% increase in search usage with dramatically improved accuracy

Long-Term Value Creation:
• Lenovo: 95% increase in annual revenue through search
• Camper: 10% uplift in sessions involving search with multilingual support
• Motorola Solutions: 97% increase in visits finding relevant content

The evidence is unequivocal: retailers moving from legacy search to AI-powered platforms see immediate revenue acceleration, operational efficiency gains, and long-term customer relationship improvements.

Tools & Platforms for Implementation

The right technology is the backbone of a successful returns management strategy, transforming complex operations into streamlined, value-generating processes. Here’s a look at some of the leading platforms and their core offerings, categorized by common retail use cases. When selecting, consider factors like ease of integration and scalability for your specific retail stack:

Use Case

Best Options

AI-Driven Relevance and Personalization: Replace static, manual rules with dynamic, self-learning models that adjust search results based on real-time shopper behaviour and understand true intent to boost conversions.

Algolia, Coveo, Netcore Unbxd, Bloomreach, Constructor, Lucidworks

Merchandiser Empowerment & Agility: Empower non-technical business users with no-code tools and visual editors to implement campaign changes, pin products, and adjust listings without developer dependency.

Algolia, Coveo, FactFinder, Nosto, Hawksearch

Complex Catalog & Omnichannel Management: Manage large, multi-language catalogs while unifying the online and offline journey. Handle complex B2B requirements like product ID search.

Athos Commerce, FactFinder, Coveo, Scayle, Algonomy, Yext

Headless & Composable Architecture: Provide fast, API-first search solutions designed to integrate seamlessly into modern, composable e-commerce stacks, separating the front-end experience from back-end logic.

Algolia, Constructor, Coveo, Bloomreach

Other notable solution providers: Luigi's Box, SearchIQ, Lily AI, Elastic, Eazy AI 

📖Playbook Tip: The Newness Algorithm Strategy

One of the greatest challenges for merchandisers is generating traction for cold-start products—new items with no interaction data—in an AI-driven environment that relies on behavioural signals.

The Strategic Implementation: Implement a "newness algorithm" or temporary ranking rule to give newly introduced products a limited-time visibility boost. This serves two critical purposes:

First: Customer Inspiration - Promotes latest additions, showcasing freshness and giving loyal customers immediate access to what's new.

Second: Data Acceleration - The temporary boost quickly gathers crucial user interaction data—clicks, views, add-to-carts—that AI needs to learn optimal long-term positioning.

Execution Framework: For the "newness algorithm"

  • Apply 2-4 week boost windows for new products

  • Monitor engagement metrics during boost period

  • Gradually reduce artificial boost as organic signals strengthen

  • Balance newness promotion with personalization signals

By balancing this strategic boost with other personalization signals, you ensure AI-driven merchandising doesn't become stale while maintaining high Findability scores.

Key Takeaway:

AI-powered search is the single most powerful conversion driver for retailers today. Moving search from utility to an Experience-First engine:

  • Prioritizes Findability over raw conversions

  • Empowers merchandisers with no-code tools

  • Eliminates developer dependency

  • Unifies the journey across channels, languages, and contexts

Search is no longer just a feature—it’s the primary customer communication channel. Where shoppers express intent and expect instant, personalized responses.

💬 Retail Wisdom

“What our customers want today might be different tomorrow, and that's the level of speed that Algolia provides. Algolia's efficiency has led to increased conversion rates, higher revenue, and better overall experience.”

Courtney Grisham, Director of eCommerce, Shoe Carnival

“Visitors using ML-powered site search are converting at a rate 20 to 25% higher than the average rate on the legacy platform.”

Jessica Frame, Director of Ecommerce and Digital Experience, Caleres

“Our goal is to evolve from electronic to experience commerce. We want to move beyond being merely transactional to creating experiences that inspire, engage, and deliver real value beyond just product and price. Partnering with Coveo to improve our search experience has been a game changer for both our team and our customers."

YC Eu, Head of eBusiness, Nespresso Oceania

“Before we started working with FactFinder, shop visitors often found irrelevant products or no products at all. This was not only unfavorable for our conversion rate but also for our image - after all, the main entry point for us is the search.”

Katja Sallie, eCommerce Product Owner, Berner Group

“Partnering with Netcore Unbxd has transformed Vijay Sales ecommerce search into a powerful conversion driver, delivering personalized, relevant, and fast search experiences that delight customers and boost business growth.”

Chetan Mukne, E-commerce Product Head, Vijay Sales

“Search is where shoppers speak, and technology listens. It’s the single 1:1 moment that delivers instant, personalized responses — making it the most powerful touchpoint to influence and enhance the shopper journey.”

Retail Fountainhead

🗣️ Over to You

The Experience-First Commerce revolution is accelerating. AI search is transforming how customers discover, engage, and purchase products.

Where could an Experience-First search strategy make the biggest impact in your retail operation? Reply and share your thoughts.

Until next week, stay ahead of the curve.

Anand @ Retail Fountainhead

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