While Christmas may still be months away, the groundwork for peak-season success is being laid right now. Brands are busy planning promotions, forecasting demand and securing inventory, but AI readiness is becoming another factor that will determine who wins or loses this year’s Golden Quarter.
Consumer discovery is evolving quickly. Our research found that 87 per cent of eCommerce leaders expect AI-powered search to drive direct sales growth within the next 12 months, signalling a shift in how shoppers find, evaluate, and ultimately purchase products. As AI-powered shopping assistants and generative search play a much bigger role in purchase decisions, brands can no longer focus solely on visibility in traditional search results.
The brands investing now in richer product content, stronger product data and AI-ready catalogues will be best positioned to surface AI-generated recommendations when peak season demand arrives.
AI is changing how consumers discover products
The traditional online shopping journey was built around search engines. Consumers would enter keywords, compare results and click through to product pages. Today, shoppers are increasingly turning to AI tools to do the heavy lifting.
Whether through Amazon’s AI shopping assistant Rufus or generative search experiences, shoppers are adopting a more conversational approach to product discovery. Instead of searching for “Christmas gifts”, they might ask: “What are the best Christmas gifts for a nine-year-old who loves gaming and science?”
Rather than showing hundreds of product listings, AI generates a shortlist of recommendations tailored to the shopper’s needs. As a result, the rules of visibility are changing. It’s no longer enough to rank highly for a keyword; brands need rich product content, detailed product attributes and strong customer reviews to give AI systems the confidence to recommend their products.
Why product data has become a competitive advantage
As AI-powered discovery becomes more prevalent, product data is becoming a competitive differentiator.
AI shopping assistants rely on structured, high-quality product information to determine which products best meet a shopper’s needs. Product descriptions, imagery, reviews, pricing and stock availability all help shape whether a product is surfaced, recommended or overlooked. As a result, brands with richer, more complete product data are gaining a growing advantage in AI-driven environments.
Historically, brands could offset catalogue shortcomings through advertising spend. Today, that approach is becoming less effective. If AI systems cannot confidently interpret or compare a product, visibility suffers. The result is fewer recommendation opportunities, lower discoverability and potentially higher customer acquisition costs, widening the gap between brands with strong catalogue foundations and those without.
July and August are a critical window
AI readiness isn’t something brands can tackle overnight. By October, most retailers are focused on executing peak-season plans, making major catalogue changes more disruptive and harder to implement. That’s why the summer months are so important. July and August provide a valuable opportunity to enrich product content, strengthen reviews, improve data quality and address gaps before peak-season demand begins to build.
In many ways, “Christmas in July” has taken on a new meaning. Brands shouldn’t just be planning festive campaigns; they should be ensuring their products are ready for the AI-powered discovery experiences that will increasingly influence what consumers see, consider and buy.
The new definition of Golden Quarter readiness
The Golden Quarter has always rewarded preparation, but the definition of preparedness is changing.
Success will always depend on great products, competitive pricing and effective marketing. Increasingly, however, it also depends on whether AI tools can understand, evaluate and confidently recommend those products to shoppers.
As AI becomes a larger part of the purchase journey, being consumer-ready is no longer enough. Brands must be AI-ready too. Those investing now in stronger product data, richer content and more intelligent catalogue management will be best positioned to capture visibility, drive conversions and maximise sales when peak-season demand arrives.
This year, the brands that win the Golden Quarter may not be those spending the most in November, but those laying the right foundations in July.
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