Growth, Interrupted Podcast is a conversation series for senior leaders in DTC and paid media, exploring what drives real business impact today in the newera of AI and human judgment. Host Amy Tran is our Senior Director of Growth, bringing 9+ years of paid media expertise across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

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In this episode of Growth, Interrupted, host Amy Tran sits down with Marcel Hollerbach, Co-Founder and CIO at ProductsUp, one of the leading enterprise product feed management and syndication platforms, powering commerce connectivity across more than 2,500 channels. With nearly two decades of experience in ecommerce and digital technology, Marcel brings a practical perspective on what's actually changing beneath the surface of AI-driven commerce.

They explore what agentic commerce really means beyond the buzzword, why winning Google still means winning the broader ecosystem in 2026, and why Marcel believes your product feed is becoming your sales pitch, not just a data requirement.

AI Commerce and Product Discovery: How Shopping Is Moving Beyond Keyword Search

Marcel breaks down the shift from keyword-driven search to goal-based shopping, where consumers no longer search for specific products but instead describe what they are trying to achieve. Rather than searching for a black tuxedo, someone might ask Gemini what to wear to a black-tie event in New York on Saturday night.

He explains what that means for product attributes, why richer catalog data increasingly shapes how AI systems recommend products, and which new information fields, from reviews and Q&A content to contextual use cases and themes, are becoming more valuable as AI-powered discovery grows.

Agentic Commerce vs. Agentic Checkout: Where Brands Should Focus Today

The conversation dives into one of the most debated topics in commerce today: agentic checkout. Marcel shares why Walmart ultimately stepped back from it, why many enterprise retailers remain cautious, and why he believes checkout is currently overhyped while discovery is underestimated.

They also discuss the competing commerce protocols emerging from OpenAI and Google, why timing technology investments matters as much as making them, and what OpenAI's growing focus on advertising may signal for the future of AI commerce.

Product Feed Optimization for AI Commerce and Performance Marketing

Marcel makes the case that as campaign automation becomes increasingly accessible, product data is becoming one of the few remaining areas of differentiation. If everyone is running Performance Max and AI is optimizing bids for everyone, your catalog increasingly becomes the competitive advantage.

He shares why brands that settle for the minimum required product fields are leaving visibility on the table, how seemingly small changes can improve campaign performance, and why applying a testing-and-optimization mindset to product data may become just as important as optimizing bids, budgets, and creative.

If you work in ecommerce, paid media, retail media, or digital commerce strategy, this episode offers a practical look at how product discovery is evolving and what businesses can do today to remain visible as AI becomes a larger part of the customer journey.

This episode is also available here on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

About Growth, Interrupted and Crealytics

Growth, Interrupted Podcast is brought to you by Crealytics, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Crealytics is an award-winning full-funnel digital marketing agency fueling the profitable growth of over 100 well-known B2C and B2B businesses, including ASOS, The Hut Group, Staples and Urban Outfitters. A global company with an inclusive team of 100+ international employees, we operate from our hubs in Berlin, New York, Chicago, London, and Mumbai.