Product Discovery

What is Product Discovery?

Product discovery in ecommerce is how shoppers find products they want, through site search, category navigation, filters, recommendations and external channels such as Google Shopping, marketplaces and AI assistants. Good product discovery shows the right product within a few steps, even when the shopper does not know its exact name. It depends on two things: the discovery tools, such as search engines and recommendation widgets, and the product data those tools read. A filter on material only works if every product has a material value, and a search for a waterproof hiking jacket only finds the right items if waterproof is stored as an attribute. In retail, product discovery also covers browsing in store and on social media. In software teams the same term means validating what to build, which is a different topic. A clear product categorization is the base for discovery.

Why Product Discovery matters for e-commerce

A shopper who cannot find a product cannot buy it. When search returns nothing for a common term, or a filter hides half the relevant items because their attributes are empty, visitors leave for a competitor even though you had the product in stock. Discovery also happens outside your shop. Google Shopping, marketplaces, comparison sites and AI shopping assistants decide which products to show based on the titles, categories and attributes in your feeds. Products with thin or inconsistent data are shown less often or not at all. Because of this, improving discovery often starts with the catalog rather than the search tool. Complete attributes, consistent values, clear titles and the right category give every discovery channel better material to work with, from your own filters to external feeds.

Examples of Product Discovery

• 1Channel: Site search, Query: waterproof hiking jacket, Data needed: Waterproof rating attribute, Activity, Product type
• 2Channel: Category filters, Filter: Material = Merino wool, Data needed: Material value on every product in the category
• 3Channel: Google Shopping, Signal: Title, Google product category, Color, Size, Data needed: Complete feed attributes
• 4Channel: Recommendations, Widget: Goes well with, Data needed: Linked accessories and compatibility attributes

Tips for Product Discovery

• Review your site search terms with no results every month and fix the data or synonyms behind them.
• Make sure every filterable attribute is filled for every product in the category.
• Write titles with the words shoppers use: brand, product type and key attribute.
• Check how your products appear in Google Shopping and marketplaces, not only on your own site.

Trends around Product Discovery

• AI shopping assistants that answer questions and suggest products based on structured product data.
• Conversational and natural language site search instead of exact keyword matching.
• Visual search, where shoppers upload a photo to find similar products.
• More discovery on social commerce channels such as TikTok Shop and Pinterest.

Tools for Product Discovery

• PIM systems such as WISEPIM, Akeneo and Salsify, which keep the attributes and categories that discovery relies on complete.
• Site search and discovery platforms such as Algolia and Klevu, which handle search, ranking and recommendations.
• E-commerce platforms such as Shopify and Magento, with built-in search, filters and merchandising.
• Analytics tools such as Google Analytics, which show site search terms and where shoppers drop off.

Related Terms

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