Practical guides for better retail discovery

Find a starting point for the decision in front of your team. These guides explain how to diagnose a problem, prepare the right data and evaluate a proposed change. Choose a topic, use the accompanying checklist and connect the result to a measurable business objective.

Start with the problem you need to solve

### Search and merchandising Improve the journey from a shopper’s query to an eligible product. Start with a sample of real searches and record the expected result, available inventory and current failure. Use the search rules audit to decide which exceptions still serve a purpose. Use the migration checklist when a new engine or integration changes that journey.

### Recommendations and product relationships Decide whether a placement should show substitutes, complementary products or replenishment choices. Those tasks need different evidence. Product descriptions can help establish similarity; compatibility needs explicit product relationships; repeat purchasing needs an appropriate customer context. Set the task before judging a recommendation carousel.

### Retail media operations Trace the path from a sponsored opportunity to a relevant, eligible and billable event. The fill-rate guide helps locate missing supply or demand. The rate-card resource turns an inventory description into a commercial planning document. The billing guide connects delivery records to a reconciliation process.

### Pricing and supplier-funded promotions Define the offer, the eligible products and the way you will measure the result. A competitor price comparison, a personalised offer and a supplier-funded promotion answer different commercial questions. Keep the price decision, funding agreement and experiment design visible to the people who own them.

### Procurement and implementation Turn a requirement into something a vendor can demonstrate. Use an RFP to capture the workflow, evidence, dependencies and acceptance test. Compare the proposed deployment with your existing stack, including the work needed to maintain data quality and measure outcomes after launch.

## How to use these guides Start with one commercial question and one accountable owner. Record the current position, choose a bounded change and define what would make that change successful. Use the linked product documentation to establish which parts are supported in your deployment.

The guides separate worked examples from reported customer results. A worked example explains a calculation; a case study describes a particular implementation. Use both to improve your questions, then evaluate your own catalogue, traffic and operating conditions.

Frequently asked questions

Where should I start if search performance is weak?

Start with a small set of failed or unsatisfactory queries. Record the expected products, the available stock and the actual results. The rules audit, zero-results guide and product-feed checklist help separate data issues from retrieval, ranking and presentation issues.

Are the worked examples customer results?

No. Worked examples are labelled illustrations of a method or calculation. Reported customer results link to a separate source and should be read with their population, comparison and measurement limitations.

Can I use the resources before choosing a vendor?

Yes. Use the evaluation methods and checklists to define what you need to test. Ask each shortlisted vendor to supply evidence for the same requirements and use a common acceptance process.