Report:
Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery
How does Gartner define the Search and Product Discovery market in 2025?
Gartner defines search and product discovery as applications that augment digital commerce solutions to facilitate navigation, filtering, comparisons and, ultimately, selection of products. They provide search (keyword, semantic and visual), merchandising (automation, configuration and curation of business rules) and product recommendations. These applications also provide catalog navigation (including SEO keyword automation and guided selling assistants). Personalization, optimization and analytics capabilities should also be available. Platforms are deployed as SaaS. They provide administrative tooling to enable digital commerce roles (merchandisers, content managers and search specialists) to support customer experiences via no-code. With the emergence of generative AI, conversational search and guided selling assistants are now appearing. Search and product discovery applications can provide the digital customer journey from landing on a website or app to finding the correct product and adding to basket. Search results can be highly visual, using engaging layouts and multimedia. Content other than product information, such as educational information, compliance materials, customer reviews and related news may also be included in search results to engage customers and further support buying decisions.
Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery in 2025
- Publication Date: 24-Jun-2025
- Document ID: G00823079
- Coverage: Global
- Authors: Mike Lowndes, Noam Dorros, Sandy Shen, Aditya Vasudevan
- Core Purpose: This research helps digital commerce leaders understand the commerce search market and support related product discovery initiatives. It evaluates vendors that provide search and product discovery applications to augment digital commerce solutions, facilitating navigation, filtering, comparisons and product selection.
Strategic Planning Assumptions
- During 2026, at least one new generative AI (GenAI)-based conversational UI pattern in search and product discovery (S&PD) will disrupt traditional search and browse UIs, penetrating at least 5% of the market
How was the Search and Product Discovery market evolved in 2025?
- Search and product discovery innovations can be adopted without rebuilding entire digital commerce platforms
- Applications augment digital commerce solutions to facilitate navigation, filtering, comparisons and product selection
- Platforms are deployed as SaaS with administrative tooling for merchandisers, content managers and search specialists
- Mandatory features include product search (keyword), semantic search support, type-ahead/autocomplete, search analytics, results personalization, merchandising and product recommendations
- Common features include advanced semantic search, automated SEO content creation, visual search, guided selling assistants, and catalog enrichment
- GenAI-based conversational search and guided selling assistants are now appearing in the market
- Vector search has become firmly established as a basic expectation, enabling hybrid search combining keyword and semantic results
- AI-based algorithmic merchandising is automating product curation based on customer behavior data
- The market is on the verge of an inflection point to new discovery UI patterns combining visual and conversational experiences
- Retail media networks are impacting S&PD by requiring facilitation of sponsored product placement
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Product search (keyword)
- Semantic search support (natural language processing [NLP] and/or vector)
- Type-ahead/rich autocomplete
- Search analytics
- Results personalization
- Rule-based, curated and algorithmic merchandising
- Product recommendations (contextual, product substitution, complementary, etc.)
- Catalog navigation (browse) replacing a static taxonomy up to (but not including) product detail pages (PDPs)
What are the common features of top products in the Search and Product Discovery space?
- Advanced semantic search via natural language technologies, vector embeddings and/or graphs to understand query intent and map products to that intent
- Automated SEO content creation for product lists for category landing pages and subcategory product listing pages (PLPs)
- Productized integrations to digital commerce platforms
- Content search and other content types integrated with product search
- Optimization: A/B and multivariate testing (MVT) of ranking rules and merchandising
- Visual search
- Guided selling assistants
- On-site retail media support
- Catalog enrichment/product data normalization
Scope Exclusions
- General site search without product commerce focus
- Personalized recommendations only (without search and merchandising)
- Enterprise search solutions not focused on digital commerce
- Solutions primarily for content search rather than product discovery
- Deployments unrelated to commerce search and product discovery
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Must actively offer for sale a minimum of one SaaS digital commerce search and discovery product that meets the Market Definition and stated functionality
- Must support over 50 current production customers
- Must have onboarded more than five customers to the search and discovery product in 2024
- Must serve customers in more than one unique industry vertical within the digital commerce space (minimum 5% of production customers per industry)
- Must be used by paying customers in more than one geographic region
- Must have ARR software revenue from digital commerce search and discovery product of more than $9 million
Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting
- Product or Service - High
- Overall Viability - Medium
- Sales Execution/Pricing - High
- Market Responsiveness/Record - High
- Marketing Execution - Low
- Customer Experience - High
- Operations - NotRated
Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting
- Market Understanding - High
- Marketing Strategy - Low
- Sales Strategy - Medium
- Offering (Product) Strategy - High
- Business Model - NotRated
- Vertical/Industry Strategy - Medium
- Innovation - High
- Geographic Strategy - Medium
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates vendors in the search and product discovery market for digital commerce. It covers SaaS applications that provide search (keyword, semantic and visual), merchandising (automation, configuration and curation of business rules), product recommendations, catalog navigation, personalization, optimization and analytics capabilities. The research includes evaluation of 15 vendors across both ability to execute and completeness of vision dimensions.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: Digital commerce leaders should use this research to understand the commerce search market and support related product discovery initiatives. It helps organizations evaluate vendors when looking to adopt search and product discovery innovations without rebuilding entire digital commerce platforms. Users should compare vendor capabilities against their specific requirements for functionality, industry expertise, technology approach and cost, and use the companion Critical Capabilities research to rank vendors for specific use cases.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Vendors must provide product search (keyword-based), semantic search support using NLP and/or vector technology, type-ahead/rich autocomplete functionality, search analytics, results personalization, rule-based/curated/algorithmic merchandising, product recommendations (including contextual, substitution, and complementary), and catalog navigation that can replace static taxonomy up to but not including product detail pages. These capabilities must be delivered as SaaS and include administrative tooling for no-code configuration by merchandisers, content managers, and search specialists.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Fewer than 50 current production customers
- Onboarded five or fewer customers in 2024
- ARR software revenue below $9 million
- Presence in only one industry vertical or less than 5% of customers in any secondary vertical
- Customers in only one geographic region
- Revenue and customers primarily from non-commerce search deployments (e.g., general site search only or recommendations only)
- Does not offer SaaS digital commerce search and discovery product meeting market definition
- Missing mandatory features required for inclusion
- Focus primarily on content search rather than product discovery
- Not actively offering the product for sale
Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?
A: Ability to Execute focuses on the vendor's current operational capabilities and market presence - including their product quality, financial viability, sales effectiveness, market responsiveness, and customer support. It measures how well vendors are performing today in delivering and supporting their solutions. Completeness of Vision evaluates the vendor's strategic direction and future potential - including their understanding of market trends, innovation roadmap, product strategy, go-to-market approach, and ability to anticipate and shape future market needs. It assesses whether vendors have a clear, compelling vision for where the market is heading and how they will lead or adapt to those changes.
Reference
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery, 24-Jun-2025, ID G00823079
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