CheckoutSmart

In September 2025, we spoke with 33 Marketing and eCommerce leaders across major UK FMCG manufacturers to understand exactly how AI is being used today, where it is already adding value, and what is holding teams back. A few insights stood out. - Most FMCG brands are experimenting with AI, but only a small minority have moved beyond pilots into fully operational programmes. The biggest wins so far are in marketing effectiveness, retail media optimisation and shopper insight generation, with data analysis seen as the biggest opportunity. - Confidence, however, remains low. On average, teams scored themselves just 4.1 out of 10 on AI capability. Data governance is also a major blocker, with 62 percent citing data security as their biggest barrier to scaling. Yet the appetite is clear. Eighty four percent want their organisation to move faster, and ninety one percent want structured AI training. The message is simple. FMCG is past the phase of asking whether AI matters. The challenge now is turning experiments into execution. In the blog, we break down: • Why AI maturity is lagging despite strong intent • The use cases delivering the strongest commercial value • The steps brands should take to scale safely and effectively • How tools such as SmartReputation and SmartInsights support practical, day-to-day adoption If you are preparing your 2025 or 2026 plans, this is worth a quick read. See comments for the link to the full post.

AI is changing how grocery products get discovered. When someone asks, “What shampoo makes my hair smell great?” AI decides what to surface based on real shopper signals (if they can find them). We’ve just published our new guide: How to Get Your Grocery Products Surfaced in GEO which is based on the latest published thinking. It breaks down the seven most important levers for FMCG brands right now, including data hygiene, verified reviews, UGC, AAA content, FAQs and more. After eight years running 100 percent verified purchaser review programmes across Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Ocado, Waitrose, Iceland, Amazon, Boots and Superdrug, we’re seeing the impact first-hand. If GEO visibility is on your radar for 2025, this piece is for you. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/e_UdEzND To find out how we can help, contact us at [email protected] #Retail #FMCG #Ecommerce #ShopperInsights #Reviews #AI #GEO

The latest CheckoutSmart Review Impact Rankings are here. Every few months, we analyse how the UK’s biggest FMCG portfolios are performing across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons and Ocado, revealing who’s building shopper trust and who’s slipping behind. Our October 2025 ranking shows dramatic shifts: * Muller retains top spot with Lactalis a close second. ↑ Tropicana Brands Group up 7 places to 6th - top work! ↑ Picard up 32 after a frozen category comeback ↑ Heineken up 50, proving the power of review freshness ↓ KP Snacks down 47 after a rise in SKUs needing new reviews The message is clear: it’s not enough to reach 30 reviews once. The top 3 must stay fresh and representative. Without Always On management, portfolios slide fast. Categories showing the biggest movement since May include: • Frozen - Picard and Procordia surge ahead • Dairy - Arla Foods improves while Muller holds onto first, ahead of Lactalis • Spirits - Diageo climbs 39 places while Bacardi falls • Snacks - Jordans Cereals and KP Snacks both see steep declines Our "To Standard" analysis tracks the percentage of SKUs needing new reviews, the clearest indicator of shopper reputation today. If you’d like to know where your portfolio stands in the October cut and how an Always On programme can protect your conversion and ROI, read the full story here by clicking the link in the first comment. #FMCG #Retail #ShopperInsights #Ecommerce #DataDrivenGrowth #ConsumerBehaviour #Reviews #CategoryManagement

A new Columbia Business study on AI shopping assistants confirms reviews are central to how AI chooses products to recommend online. Across every model tested, reviews were a core signal of quality and trust. According to Similarweb, 20% of Walmart.com referral volume in August came from ChatGPT. This is happening now and at record pace! Here’s where brand and ecommerce teams need to act: 1. Having enough reviews matters. AI systems, like shoppers, trust products with a healthy number of reviews. The research found that products with more reviews were chosen more often. Brands should aim to keep at least 30 recent, representative reviews on each key SKU across their brand site and major retailers to stay competitive and credible. 2. Fresh, high-quality reviews have the greatest influence. The study confirmed that newer reviews carry much more weight than older ones, a finding that mirrors what we see in shopper behaviour every day. 3. Small differences are easily missed. Tiny shifts in score (for example, a 0.1-star change) rarely change outcomes. What matters more is ensuring your reviews are current, consistent, and representative. 4. Clean data counts, even when there’s no web page. The researchers found that AI systems still used reviews and counts even when shown only data feeds (no images or retailer pages). That means making sure your review information is properly connected and visible in product data feeds is essential. The takeaway: Maintain a minimum of 30 genuine, high-quality reviews per SKU per retailer. Keep them fresh, fair, and representative. Make sure your brand pages include up-to-date review and rating information that can be read by humans and AI systems. Speak to us about how to get reviews on retailer sites and on your own brand product pages. Don't get left behind as AI changes search forever. (Source: What Is Your AI Agent Buying? Evaluation, Implications, and Emerging Questions for Agentic E-Commerce Columbia Business School updated Oct 2025) #ai #airecommendations #reviewsmatter #aireviews

In toiletries, most brands have a freshness issue. 300,000 reviews sound impressive. But if the reviews shoppers actually see are a bit stale, they will look for brands with fresher ones. Sound familiar? 1. Big review numbers can hide a freshness problem. A strong historic review bank does not mean shoppers are seeing recent, relevant feedback today. 2. Freshness is something brands can win on. Always is already better maintained than several similarly large Toiletries brands but still needs new reviews on 62% of SKUs. 3. The real risk sits at SKU and retailer level. Brand averages can look healthy while individual products quietly fall behind. Reviews are not an asset you build once. Like everything on the digital shelf, they need replenishing. That is exactly what SmartReputation Always On is designed to do. It monitors review freshness, fairness and volume continuously. If a SKU drops below standard ie fewer than 30 reviews, a Top 3 review becomes more than six months old, or a Top 3 review becomes unrepresentative, we automatically start generating new, genuine reviews from verified purchasers. So instead of your ecommerce team manually checking product pages, SmartReputation helps you: - keep the reviews shoppers are most likely to read fresh and representative protect your online reputation throughout the year - identify SKU-level issues before they are left to drift - receive regular reporting on performance - generate genuine reviews from 100% verified purchasers Another important difference is retailer coverage. CheckoutSmart works across all the major UK retailers, including Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Ocado and Waitrose, plus specialist retailers such as Boots and Superdrug. Morrisons does not have to be a gap in your review strategy. If you have thousands of reviews but some of your most important SKUs are sitting on old or unrepresentative feedback, the total number isn't what matters. The latest reviews that actually get read are. To get your own bespoke report, including SKU-level data and a recommendation about where to start, contact us via our website. For the table and the SKU level data, go here: https://lnkd.in/gG-X9Rwu #beiersdorf #loreal #unilever #Procterandgamble #gillette #bulldog #ineos #colpal #wilkinson #johnsonandjohnson #bit #bodyform #ecommerce #productreviews #digitalshelf #omnichannel #freshreviewsarebest #talktous

Why should product reviews be fresh? A five-star review from years ago tells shoppers what somebody thought then. They want reassurance about the product they can buy now. - CheckoutSmart's standard is that none of the Top 3 visible reviews should be more than six months old. - Fresh reviews signal that a product is still being bought, used and discussed by shoppers now. ·-Always On monitors review age and automatically starts collecting new reviews when the Top 3 become too old. Reviews don't stay fresh on their own. When did you last check the age of the Top 3 reviews on your biggest SKUs? Remember: Never let a product page run out of fresh reviews. Source: PowerReviews, “The Importance of Review Recency and Volume Among UK Shoppers” (2022) — UK consumer study. URL: https://lnkd.in/ehJPBJuZ #reviews #ecommerce #freshnessmatters #keepitfresh #brandmarketing #digitalshelf