GenAI Adds ~$5 per Customer in Annual Sales for Global Ecommerce Market Place, Lifts Chatbots Conversion 11–16% and Fuels 3% Gains in Search - but Personalisation Fizzles and Google Ads Backfire without the Right Tune-Up

Mi3 reporter Andrew Birmingham profiled new research by Columbia Business School’s Dante Donati and co-author Miklós Sarvary demonstrating how generative AI can materially improve productivity in online retail settings. Discussing findings from Generative AI and Firm Productivity: Field Experiments in Online Retail, Donati explained that AI-driven tools increased revenue by approximately $5 per user in early tests by enhancing product descriptions, personalizing content, and improving search relevance. The study offers some of the first causal evidence of AI’s measurable impact on firm performance in real-world environments.