The Hidden Cost of Bad Product Content

Every week, I hear retailers and brands discussing AI, retail media, personalisation, and customer acquisition. These are all important conversations, but I believe we’re overlooking one of the biggest barriers to growth in modern commerce: product content. 

It may not be the most exciting topic in the boardroom, but it is increasingly one of the most important. 

Today’s customers discover products across multiple touchpoints. They might see an advert through a retail media network, browse on a marketplace, compare options through search, and ultimately complete their purchase on a retailer’s website. Every one of those interactions relies on the same thing: accurate, enriched, and consistent product information. 

The challenge is that content expectations continue to rise. 

According to Australia Post’s latest eCommerce report, Australians spent $82.6 billion online, with online shopping continuing to become a core part of everyday retail behaviour. As competition increases, consumers are comparing more brands, more products, and more channels before making a purchase decision.  

At the same time, retail media is rapidly evolving from an emerging channel into a mainstream investment area. Recent industry research found that 87% of advertising decision-makers now consider retail media a significant or regular part of their marketing activity.  

But here’s the question I often ask: 

What happens when you drive more traffic to a product listing that contains incomplete information, poor imagery, inconsistent specifications, or missing attributes? 

You simply accelerate inefficiency. 

Retailers can invest millions building media networks. Brands can invest heavily in advertising and customer acquisition. Yet if product content doesn’t meet customer expectations at the point of decision, those investments become far less effective. 

This is where I believe the industry’s next wave of innovation will emerge. 

For years, businesses focused on connecting channels. Today, the focus is shifting toward optimising the quality of information flowing through those channels. AI will undoubtedly play a role, but AI is only as good as the data it receives. Poor data at scale simply creates poor outcomes faster. 

Over the last month, including discussions with industry leaders at Power Retail’s recent Power Up: Retail Media event in Melbourne, I’ve been encouraged to see more organisations recognising the relationship between media performance, customer experience, and product information quality. The conversation is finally moving beyond traffic and towards conversion.  

As we head towards 2027, I expect product content to become one of the most undervalued competitive advantages in commerce. 

The businesses that succeed won’t necessarily be those spending the most on advertising. They will be the organisations that make it easiest for customers to discover, compare, understand, and purchase their products wherever they choose to shop. 

In a world driven by AI, retail media, and marketplaces, content is no longer a supporting asset. 

It’s the product experience itself.