In just three years, generative AI has changed how ecommerce businesses attract shoppers and close sales.
GenAI began for many users with ChatGPT, then a novel chatbot. But now the technology creates images, writes copy, produces videos, and even codes websites. The result is both easier-than-ever creativity and heightened competition.
When it debuted ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, OpenAI marked a turning point in productivity. Within months, millions of users were generating blog posts, ad scripts, and product descriptions.
The tools that followed promised to make creative work accessible to anyone. We now know this is only partly true.
ChatGPT launched three years ago.
Composition
First, consider writing. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and dozens of other AI tools can draft newsletters, create ads, or write search-engine-optimized copy.
In a recent ecommerce project, I directed AI to generate product copy from this manufacturer’s description:
At less than 5″ wide, the incredibly slim and easy-to-use K-Mini® single-serve coffee maker makes anywhere perfect for great coffee.
Before composing, the AI tool searched the web and considered SEO keywords. After a couple of research steps, it produced several versions, including this one:
The Keurig K-Mini Single-Serve K-Cup Pod coffee maker is so compact that it could fit in your sock drawer.
It was designed for those who live life on the edge of counter space. You know: it’s Monday morning, and your kitchen counter is as cluttered as a teenager’s bedroom floor. Too crowded for a conventional coffee machine.
At less than 5″ wide, this little marvel is here to rescue your mornings with a splash of style and a dash of caffeine.
AI produced descriptions for this coffee maker and then generated various background images from a single photo.
Whether or not the AI version is better or even just good enough is subjective. What makes it incredible is the speed. The site above aims to generate thousands of product descriptions in hours and then test each one to target shoppers.
Beyond product descriptions, marketers now employ large language models for research, outlines, and drafts of various sorts. AI has become indispensable for most writing projects.
Advertising
The design and images for ads are just as easy. Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, and Stable Diffusion can produce quality pictures and illustrations in minutes — for marketing emails, printed postcards, and more.
For digital advertising, Meta’s new Generative Ads Recommendation Model creates ad variations and tests them against pixel conversions. Other services, such as the start-up AdPrompt, similarly generate ads tailored to audiences.
There is more. Last week, Webflow, a website builder, announced App Gen, its AI-powered vibe-coding tool. This AI can access a site’s content management system and interact with its components, such as navigation.
Webflow’s integration is impressive, as are similar tools such as Shopify’s Magic and Sidekick.
Marketers at ecommerce SMBs can seemingly do more than ever without developers.
New Competition
Yet for ecommerce marketers, AI democratization cuts both ways.
While unlocking efficiency, genAI makes it harder to differentiate, get noticed, and keep up.
The value of a word or image is rapidly decreasing. Content is a mass-produced commodity.
The output itself even risks devolving into bland sameness. When every business can produce nearly unlimited copy, images, and ads, creative volume ceases to be an advantage. Distribution and platform control matter more.
Search engine results are increasingly generative summaries, which reduce organic clicks. Zero-click answers keep shoppers on the search platform rather than sending them to external sites. And AI-driven search ads enable automated bidding and creative optimization, which raises costs.
Finally, agentic commerce is the zero-click equivalent for transactions. AI assistants and chatbots can now purchase directly, removing the store’s website from the customer journey. The very technology that empowers productivity also consolidates discovery and conversion inside third-party ecosystems.
This is the new competition. It requires new skills.
New Skills
One of generative AI’s promises is a half-truth. These tools were supposed to make creative work accessible to anyone.
But it doesn’t.
Producing content, ads, and experiences requires a different kind of expertise involving prompt engineering, agent building, and AI-human collaboration.
It is simply wrong to assume all marketers can magically produce winning campaigns, great landing pages, or even effective content.
Next Up
Every wave of ecommerce automation and improvement, from hosted storefronts to marketing automation, has launched new service providers. The same pattern will likely hold in the AI era and solve the paradox described here.
Expect a new generation of tools to help SMBs and enterprise brands alike reach customers directly.
Generative AI has changed ecommerce marketing forever, but the opportunity remains. Success will come to businesses that use these systems strategically and find new ways to compete, create, and connect.