Epsilon's Esme Robinson urges brands to control AI search via retail media
FMCG brands face a squeeze between tighter household budgets and a shift in how people search, Epsilon's Esme Robinson writes in The Drum. Shoppers now ask AI tools such as Google AI and ChatGPT open-ended, comparison-heavy questions, for example 'what's the difference between brand X and brand Y when running outdoors in the rain?', reflecting a move beyond simple keyword lookups. Robinson says AI systems increasingly act as gatekeepers to discovery, assessing suitability, relevance and value before ever showing a shopper a product. Generative search tools and shopping agents draw heavily on structured product feeds from retailers' websites, leaving brands that sell mainly through retailers with limited influence over how they are described or recommended.
Brands gain a controllable channel by building richer, text-led product pages inside retail media platforms, since that data feeds directly into how AI agents read a shopper's query and decide what to recommend. Onsite visibility on retailer sites turns hardest to secure and most expensive to buy during the Black Friday to January sales peak, raising the stakes for planners locking in retail media budgets and co-branding placements, such as a snacks brand pairing with a beer brand around a major sporting event, ahead of that window.