Product discovery goes beyond search: enhance the entire customer journey

79% of users leave a website if they can’t find what they’re looking for immediately.¹ But how can you meet their expectations? It all comes down to product discovery. In this post, you’ll learn what product discovery means for eCommerce and how to use it to revolutionize your business. Read on for the keys to increasing eCommerce sales, boosting basket sizes and turning every website visitor into a loyal customer.

Definition: What is product discovery in eCommerce?

Product discovery is the process where online shoppers find, compare and choose products to purchase.

It goes far beyond search. Product discovery shapes the entire shopping journey, guiding shoppers from the moment they enter your online store to ensure they find the most relevant products and checkout without abandoning their cart. Sophisticated product discovery technology should also include post-sale services, personalized newsletters and repeat purchases.

Personalization, merchandising and recommendations are just a few of the powerful functionalities involved in product discovery. These capabilities not only help customers find what they are looking for fast but inspire additional purchases, recommending ideal complementary items and alternatives, resulting in a higher average order value (AOV).

Many people see search and product discovery as separate: search is a precise tool that allows customers to state their needs, while capabilities like recommendations provide passive inspiration. At FactFinder, we don’t make this distinction, as in practice, active search and passive inspiration merge together.

“77% of online retailers say their customers don’t know exactly what product they want until they see it.” – Salesforce²

Pro tip: Product discovery in eCommerce is not the same as in project management

The term product discovery might make you think of project management, but don’t be misled. In product management, it refers to evaluating and developing new products to test their market fit — a process within a company rather than a customer-focused process.

Why is product discovery vital to your eCommerce success?

Simply put: because your sales success depends on it. The faster and more reliably you connect online shoppers with the products that matter to them, the more revenue your store will generate. This applies to both B2C and B2B shops. Many businesses focus heavily on driving traffic but often neglect crucial steps to increasing eCommerce sales, conversion rates and revenue generated by visitors.

A bar chart showing a 0.05% in conversion and a 526,321 EU|R increase in eCommerce sales revenue

A quick thought experiment: Let’s say an online store generates €20 million per year with a 1.9% conversion rate. A small conversion uplift of just 0.05% would bring in over €500,000 in additional revenue. And improving conversion rate is only one of many goals that can be achieved by optimizing product discovery.

eCommerce goals you can achieve with smart product discovery features

Increase your conversion rate: Kübler Sport, a sporting goods retailer, saw a 35% increase in conversions by combining smart search with inspiring merchandising. See Case Study

Boost your AOV: KASTNER, Austria’s leading food wholesaler, saw shoppers add 2.3 more products to their carts, due to AI reminding them of forgotten items. See Case Study

Elevate revenue per session: Bergfreunde, an outdoor retailer, increased revenue per session by up to 70% in certain categories with automated, interactive shopping advice. See Case Study

Reduce bounce rate: Globus Baumarkt, a DIY chain, reduced its bounce rate by 50% in sessions with guided selling. See Case Study

Make your brand stand out: The quality of your product discovery directly impacts your company’s image. By implementing a more advanced product discovery solution, B2B giant Berner has improved its eCommerce experience—turning misinterpreted search queries and irrelevant results into a smooth, intuitive journey that boosts conversions and delights customers. See Case Study

Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty: RE-IN’s regular customer satisfaction surveys have revealed more positive feedback and fewer support requests, thanks to precise and efficient search. See Case Study

Free up internal resources: Since introducing an AI-based product discovery solution, Flaschenpost, a food delivery service, has saved valuable time and effort for other key projects. See Case Study

The product discovery matrix

You should approach product discovery holistically in your online shop. Search is just one of many key features that work together to provide the best possible shopping experience and increase eCommerce sales:

Phase	Touchpoint	Product discovery feature
Awareness	Homepage, landing page	Search, content search, suggest, navigation, merchandising, personalization, recommendations, Predictive Basket
Consideration	Landing page, category page, search results page, zero results page, product detail page	Search, merchandising, personalization, ranking rules, recommendations, guided selling, Geo, Customer-Specific Info
Conversion	Product detail page, cart, checkout	Recommendations, Predictive Basket
Retention	Email marketing (newsletters, cart reminders)	Recommendations, Predictive Basket

Checklist: Does your product discovery live up to online shoppers’ expectations?

Let’s quickly go through the stages of product discovery in your online shop. Drawing from our work with over 2,000 stores, we’ve identified key areas at each touchpoint that are essential yet often overlooked. Use this checklist to prioritize your eCommerce optimizations and take your online store to the next level.

1. Awareness – Win over shoppers the moment they enter your store

Search: Does your search work with error tolerance, understanding single-word terms, complex multi-word inputs and numerical queries?

“68% of customers believe that the search function in online stores should be improved.” – PR Newswire³

Suggest: What does your suggestion menu show after entering the first few letters? Help shoppers find what they are looking for faster by not only showing search terms but also categories, products with images and helpful content.

Navigation: Does your store’s navigation adapt to inventory changes automatically without manual effort?

2. Consideration – Cut bounce rates and smooth the path to purchase

Performance: Does your content load quickly enough? Shoppers don’t have time – or patience! – to wait around. Make sure search results and category pages load within milliseconds, including product listings, images and other rich content. Your eCommerce conversion rate will decrease by an average of 0.3% with every additional second your site takes to load.

Faceted navigation: Is your faceted navigation clearly structured and does it show all relevant filter options?

Personalization: Does your product sorting self-learn to align with each customer’s immediate requirements? 1:1 AI personalization enables your website to keep up with customers’ unique, changing needs from their first session.

“71% of customers expect personalized shopping experiences—and 76% become frustrated without personalization.” – McKinsey⁴

Ranking: Can you refine sorting according to your own rules, such as ranking by brand, margin or sale?

Guided Selling: Do you offer automated, interactive shopping advice to help customers make decisions?

Merchandising: Can you easily enrich product lists and zero results pages with inspiring content, like banners, best-selling products and guide videos? Turn low-converting queries into high converting recommendations.

Analytics: Can you track what’s being found and not found in the backend, so you can optimize accordingly?

5-minute checklist: Evaluate your search and discover untapped revenue potential

Preview of a checklist to improve product discovery and increase ecommerce sales

Get your 5-minute checklist

3. Conversion – Provide assurance and drive AOV

Cross-selling and upselling: Do you show relevant recommendations for selected products to increase revenue per customer, such as add-ons, accessories and higher-priced alternatives?

Personalized recommendations: Do you use AI to tailor your recommendations in real-time based on the buying signals and preferences of each customer?

“64% of customers want personalized shopping experiences tailored to their individual preferences.” – Adobe⁵

Predictive Basket: Do you remind customers in the cart or checkout about potentially forgotten items based on their purchasing patterns and seasonal trends?

4. Retention – Inspire and encourage repeat purchases

Merchandising: Can you easily integrate trending product campaigns from your store into your newsletter?

Recommendations: Do you inform cart abandoners about forgotten products and related recommendations?

Predictive Basket: Do you remind customers to reorder consumables, refills or replacement parts before they run out?

Single solution vs a patchwork of tools

While using multiple solutions might seem more flexible, it usually comes with high integration costs, system breakdowns and greater maintenance efforts.

An AI-based product discovery platform like Factfinder, on the other hand, connects all the key functionalities in a single solution. For example, search queries can instantly improve personalization, or user behavior in categories can refine recommendations without manual intervention. It’s an intelligent, self-optimizing system that not only increases revenue but also saves long-term costs, time and internal effort.

For businesses that require the option of automation and control, FactFinder provides unmatched transparency. The intuitive backend makes it easy to align the AI with individual business strategies — such as through ranking rules or product campaigns — to prioritize specific items or categories.

So, if you’re looking for a scalable, efficient and future-proof solution, an AI-based all-in-one platform far surpasses a mix of tools.

Customer testimonials on working with FactFinder

Read about their experiences and results with our platform.

Conclusion: Optimize your product discovery to drive customer satisfaction and increase eCommerce sales

An intuitive, personalized product discovery is more than just a technical measure — it’s the key to an outstanding shopping experience and achieving your goals. It ensures that online shoppers quickly and easily find the products that meet their expectations, thereby increasing eCommerce sales, conversion rates, revenue and customer loyalty. Additionally, product discovery plays a crucial role in strengthening your brand image. But it’s not just your business that benefits. Those who drive better product discovery projects see visible results and enhance their reputation as successful innovators.

Need support with product discovery for your store? Contact us today — we’ll help you unlock the full potential of your eCommerce business!

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