The AI Edge The New Value of the Commerce Marketer.
AI is not just changing what marketers do. It is changing where marketers create value.
The New Value of the
Commerce Marketer.
Last winter, I planned to write about how shopper and commerce marketers were using AI. Then the goalposts kept moving — and they keep on moving. New tools. New use cases. New anxieties.
So instead of writing a "State of AI" report that will be out of date as soon as it's posted, Aperture wants to clarify where we are from the marketer's POV: AI is not just changing what marketers do; it is changing where marketers create value.
A signal from the marketers
A recent LinkedIn poll asked shopper, trade, and commerce marketers a simple question: How does their company expect them to use AI in their marketing work?
The results reflect many of the conversations we've had with marketers over the past few months.
For all marketers, AI has moved from "a nice to have" to an expectation — not surprising. The company's operating model, however, remains uneven.
Why? AI is moving faster than organizational processes, and companies don't want to slow down the usage. Shopper and commerce marketing is full of high-potential AI use cases — and full of messy data, legal and brand guardrails, and questions about what good output actually looks like. And there's the ever-present fear of hallucinations.
Frustrating as it can be, it is not necessarily all bad. It shows that many companies are in a world of experimentation and pilot programs. Meanwhile, the burden lands on the individual marketer — to decide what to use AI for, what data to put in, how much to trust the output, and when the answer is actually good enough to act on.
The Big Shift: tasks are fast
becoming commonplace
Most CPG shopper and commerce marketers are using AI to streamline time-consuming tasks. A few popular use cases:
All of these save time and help teams move faster. AI is beginning to perform tasks marketers used to own. That is creating a bigger shift than simple productivity — it is changing how and where marketers create value.
Where marketers create the most value now.
Upstream: Know the right questions to ask
The best marketers are not just good prompt writers. They are better problem framers and curious thinkers.
For example
Downstream: Know which answer to trust
AI creates answers, but the marketer needs to decide what to act on.
The experienced marketer knows:
- Which insight uncovers the true purchase barrier?
- Which recommendation is commercially realistic?
- Which result is worth scaling?
- Which answer sounds smart but is strategically empty?
AI can tell you all sorts of answers that seem plausible. The marketer has to know what is practical, powerful, and profitable.
For example: your brand's retail media performance is down unexpectedly at a key retailer. AI may suggest increasing spend on high-performing keywords, trying a new offer, refreshing the creative, or shifting budget to stronger SKUs.
A seasoned marketer asks: are those SKUs actually in stock? Are ratings and reviews competitive? Is the media the problem, or is the real barrier availability, perceived value, weak content, or an unclear message? Or is it something far less digital — like in-store traffic?
The new skillset for shopper and commerce marketers.
As we codify AI, we should also create expectations and training for these skills.
Curiosity
Harness the power of "why" by asking better questions, challenging easy answers, and staying open to what might be true.
Context
Understanding the brand, retailer, shopper, category, channel, competitors, and business constraints.
Discernment
Recognizing deep insight from generic AI output or noisy data.
Taste
Knowing whether an idea has energy, relevance, and emotional truth.
Test-and-learn discipline
Knowing when to act, what to test, how to measure, and when to scale.
Implications for teams and leaders.
Marketing leaders should not only ask, "Are our teams using AI?" They should ask, "Is AI making our teams better thinkers?"
Questions leaders should ask:
- Are we using AI to create more output or better decisions?
- Do our teams know how to frame better business questions?
- Are we teaching people how to evaluate AI-generated answers?
- Do we have clear standards for what "good" looks like?
- Are we rewarding speed, or are we rewarding judgment?
The marketer's edge.
AI will keep getting better at producing answers — and quickly moving the goal posts of what's possible. That is not bad news for marketers; it is an invitation to move up the value chain.
The best shopper or commerce marketers will not be the ones who use AI to get to the fastest answer. They will be the ones who use AI to ask better questions, see patterns sooner, choose more wisely, and test with more discipline.