Netalico founder and CEO Mark Lewis recently wrote a guest piece for fabric on why product data is becoming the new competitive frontier in e-commerce. The core argument: AI agents are already driving significant traffic and conversions, and the merchants optimizing for this reality are pulling ahead fast.
A few key points from the piece:
On the traffic shift:
"According to Adobe Analytics, traffic to U.S. retail sites from generative AI sources increased 760% year over year from November 1 to December 1, 2025. On Cyber Monday alone, AI traffic was up 670% YoY."
On why this traffic converts better:
"Adobe found that shoppers arriving from AI sources were 54% more likely to purchase than those from other referral sources. People trust an LLM recommendation the way they used to trust a friend's suggestion."
On why traditional SEO isn't enough:
"LLMs don't care about any of that. They don't need links. They need mentions. A brand mentioned in the Wall Street Journal that doesn't include a hyperlink is worthless for SEO but incredibly valuable for AEO."
The performance gap is already showing up in the data. Shopify merchants grew 27% this BFCM while overall e-commerce grew 7.7%.
