You Can’t Price Your Way Out of Bad Discovery

Everyone’s talking about pricing strategies ahead of Black Friday. But pricing only works if shoppers can find the products in the first place.

During our recent session on IMRG’s Weekly Data Show, we challenged ecommerce leaders to think bigger about product discovery: not just the search bar, but the entire journey from off-site intent to on-site conversion. Here’s what matters most heading into peak:

1. Search that doesn’t break under pressure

Black Friday is not the time to find out your site search can’t scale. Whether it’s a typo, a natural-language query like “shirts under $50,” or a mobile shopper expecting instant results, speed and relevance are non-negotiable. Anything less leads to bounce, lost revenue, and brand damage.

2. Feed performance matters more than ever

Shoppers aren’t just Googling anymore. They’re using AI platforms, answer engines, marketplaces, and social discovery tools. These systems rely on well-structured product data and confidence signals. Poor feeds mean your products get ignored before a shopper even sees your brand.

3. Don’t confuse discovery with distraction

Throwing in unrelated products mid-search doesn’t count as upselling, it’s just noise. True discovery complements shopper intent. Well-placed recommendations and contextual merchandising increase AOV. Misalignment kills trust and conversion.

4. Rethink the role of your site

A growing share of shoppers will bypass your homepage altogether. They arrive via links from email, SMS, affiliate, or AI-generated recommendations. That means every PDP and landing page must convert like a storefront. Fewer clicks. No dead ends.

5. Use AI with discipline, not desperation

AI has a place in search and merchandising, but peak season is not the time for unproven tech. Large language models are expensive and unpredictable at scale. Look for solutions that use AI intelligently to enrich data, power personalization, and streamline workflows without introducing risk.

What to Prioritize Before BFCM

With Q4 already in motion, ecommerce teams don’t need more theory, they need clarity. Here are four tactical areas to focus on in the weeks ahead:

Audit your on-site search performance. Look at your top queries from last peak. Where did shoppers bounce? Are common typos or filter requests returning dead ends?
Clean and optimize your product feeds. Structure matters. Make sure your product data is readable, enriched, and tailored for every external channel, not just your site.
Plan your discovery experience across every entry point. From email clicks and affiliate links to paid media, treat each touchpoint as a start point. Your PDPs need to carry more weight than ever.
Pressure test your AI. If you’re using personalization or natural-language tools, simulate peak traffic and see how they hold up. If it’s not fast, relevant, and reliable, rethink your stack before it breaks under real demand.

Why Athos Commerce

Athos helps ecommerce teams take control of product discovery, wherever it happens.

Our solution suite connects on-site performance with off-site visibility to help you surface the right products, to the right shoppers, at the right time. That means faster discovery, higher conversion, and fewer missed opportunities during the most critical weeks of your calendar.

We support teams who want to: