Connect, Automate & Improve: How to Best Execute Connected Commerce
Shoppers no longer follow predictable paths – some start on Google, others on Amazon, and many turn to AI tools like ChatGPT for recommendations. With no single channel controlling demand, the real challenge is connecting marketplaces and D2C so they operate seamlessly as one system.
While search remains important, recommendation engines are on the rise. AI tools, including ChatGPT, are becoming significant sources of discovery. Brands have to think beyond simple visibility, ensuring their products are understood in terms of who they’re for, when they’re used, and why they matter – something fragmented channel management can't achieve.
Connect, Automate, Improve
Most discussions about Connected Commerce focus on channels, but the real bottleneck is infrastructure. When Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), webshop, and marketplaces each operate on their own logic, brands end up with duplicated work, inconsistent data, and a ceiling on how many channels they can realistically serve. Brands preparing for Connected Commerce establish a single source of truth for product data:
Connect
Link ERP, webshop, marketplaces, and feed tools. Define who owns product data and ensure stock, pricing, and attributes are not managed separately.
Automate
Apply rules for titles, categorization, and publishing logic. Sync marketplace orders back into one system. Introduce automated price recommendations where the assortment and category dynamics justify it.
Improve
Enrich product content over time. Once the system is connected, improvements made centrally flow everywhere automatically. This is when brands begin to see how changes in one channel influence performance in others.
Without this backbone, Connected Commerce remains theoretical.
75%
of consumers worldwide think about shopping multiple times a week¹. There's a need for connected systems that adapt to constant, fluid shopping behavior across all channels.
89%
of consumers worldwide rely on tailored recommendations. Automation should focus on delivering personalized, real-time product suggestions across platforms for seamless consumer experiences.
72%
of consumers worldwide engage with products during entertainment. It's smart to integrate product data into interactive, entertaining moments that inspire purchase.
Marketplaces and D2C Should Share the Same Spine
Instead of worrying about marketplaces cannibalizing D2C, brands should treat them as different expressions of the same system. Product data is created and governed centrally, and marketplaces pull from that shared source. Orders from those channels sync back into the same backend for invoicing and stock management.
Once this loop is in place, expansion stops being a full project and becomes a configuration task. A retailer can add new products into their ERP and have them flow automatically into Shopify, into a feed tool, and onto selected marketplaces based on predefined criteria. The work happens once; the distribution happens everywhere.
Rules and Automation Handle Channel Differences
Platforms behave differently, but that does not require separate datasets. Strong core product data combined with rule-based automation solves the problem.
Rules like “append the brand name to titles for specific marketplaces”, “publish only when a minimum number of images is available” or “exclude products below certain price thresholds on selected channels” preserve consistency while adapting to platform-specific requirements and eliminate repetitive manual work.
Using the strictest platform – often Amazon – as your imagery benchmark strengthens quality across both D2C and marketplaces. This mindset aligns creativity, conversion, and operational efficiency.
Being Recommended is the New Visibility
As recommendation engines grow, product data must become clearer and more structured. Engines need specifics: distance, performance, pain reduction, or the type of user a product suits. Vague descriptions do not help them understand real use cases.
This is where reviews and user proof matter. Some feed tools already include mappings for AI environments, showing exactly what these engines require: structured attributes, use cases, and real customer context. Brands that are aware of this shift will be surfaced not just in searches, but in recommendations.
Where Front Row Comes In
Building this backbone touches ecommerce, marketplaces, IT, operations, brand, and analytics. That is why many brands delay marketplace expansion or manage channels separately and accept inefficiency.
We at Front Row help brands design the infrastructure that makes Connected Commerce operational: mapping where shoppers discover and validate products, structuring the systems that support every channel, creating automation that keeps product data consistent, and preparing feeds that both search and recommendation engines can interpret.
Connected Commerce is not about being everywhere. It is about having the foundation that lets you scale everywhere without losing control. If you want your D2C and marketplace presence to work together – and if you want your products to be not only found but recommended – it starts with the structure behind them. That is where we come in.
¹ Beyond the Buy (Amazon, 2025)