ChannelEngine launches tool for retailer visibility in AI tools

Online marketplace integrator ChannelEngine is launching a new capability, called AI Attribute Builder, in April. The company wants to ensure that products from online retailers will remain visible in AI-driven discovery environments.

Earlier this year, we already wrote about research that indicated that 58 percent of consumers use AI tools to research products. A new recent report from McKinsey shows that between 59 and 74 percent of consumers in major European markets have used AI tools in the last three months. The main reasons for using those tools were to research products, compare options and discover brands.

Increase in AI in ecommerce in Europe

According to ChannelEngine, an online marketplace integrator based in the Netherlands, the European AI in ecommerce market is expected to grow from around 1.6 billion dollars in 2025 to more than 7 billion dollars by 2035.

This means that consumers will increasingly use places like marketplaces and AI tools to learn about products. Online retailers need to make sure that they use structured product data. Listings with incomplete specifications, missing identifiers, or inconsistent attributes are less likely to be found in these places.

“We are seeing a fundamental shift in what product visibility means”, said Niels Floors, VP of Strategic Development at ChannelEngine. “The question used to be: how do I get my products found? Now it is: how does an AI agent understand them? They do not browse product pages; they evaluate structured data and decide what to recommend. Missing or inconsistent attributes do not just hurt rankings. They take products out of the running entirely.”

‘We are seeing a fundamental shift in what product visibility means’

Standardizing product data for specific channels

To help online sellers, ChannelEngine is launching AI Attribute Builder in April. The tool will help brands to generate, standardize and enrich their product attributes to meet the requirements of each channel they sell on. According to the company, this covers everything from complete specifications and descriptions, to product identifiers that AI agents can read, assess and recommend.

“Clean and consistent product data has always been important for marketplace success”, said Jorrit Steinz, CEO and Founder of ChannelEngine. “What is changing is who is reading it. Today, it is marketplace algorithms. Tomorrow, it is AI agents influencing purchasing decisions. The brands that get their product data right now will be the ones that stay visible.”