On October 15th CEW hosted Flixmedia for an event on Content Syndication and using AI in the digital space. Flixmedia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Chris Grimason presented insights on shopper behaviour and how Flixmedia’s platoform can help brands.
Content syndication is presented as the strategic solution to close this gap and drive measurable growth.
- The Digital Challenge: The Necessity of Rich Content
The modern consumer journey is increasingly disrupted by AI-driven search tools (such as ChatGPT), which cause shoppers to bypass traditional marketing funnels and land directly on Product Detail Pages (PDPs).
The PDP has become the primary stage where the entire brand story must be told and trust must be built.
Core Content vs. Rich Content
- Core Content: Retailers prioritise efficiency and scalability, resulting in generic, minimalist templates containing only the essential information required for product listing.
- Rich Content: Brand-led, creative storytelling that delivers a strong brand voice and emotional connection.
The Problem of Commoditisation
Relying solely on Core Content forces a brand’s unique narrative into a generic format, creating a “commoditised experience” where shoppers feel like they’re “just one of 100,000 shoppers.”
- The Solution: Rich Content Syndication (RCS)
Content syndication acts as the strategic bridge connecting a brand’s rich media assets to a vast network of retailer digital shelves.
Mechanism
RCS enables a “one-to-many connection”, allowing brands to deploy, control, measure, and optimise product stories across hundreds or thousands of retail partners from a single centralised platform.
A simple one-hour JavaScript integration on a retailer’s site allows PDPs to pull brand-approved rich content in real time (e.g. videos, UGC, interactive visuals).
Key Benefits of Rich Content Syndication
| Benefit | Detail |
| Enhanced Shopper Experience | Immersive, visual stories increase trust for 70% of beauty shoppers. |
| Brand Consistency | Ensures brand voice, aesthetic, and key messages remain uniform across all retailers. |
| Improved SEO | Adds keyword-rich, crawlable content that boosts search rankings. |
| Increased Sales | Builds shopper confidence, driving higher engagement and conversions. |
| Time Savings | Enables overnight updates (e.g. ingredient changes) across all retailers from a central hub. |
III. Quantifiable Impact: Driving Sales and Loyalty
- Driving Conversions and Revenue
| Metric | Average Uplift/Rate |
| Add-to-Basket Rate | Up to +38% for shoppers who view rich content. |
| Sales Conversion (CVR) | +3.3% average uplift. |
| Average Order Value (AOV) | +5.2% average uplift. |
| Overall Revenue | +4.9% average increase. |
- Fostering Customer Loyalty
Rich content drives not just purchases but repeat engagement:
- +40% increase in shopper loyalty (re-buy rate).
- +12% increase in the number of return purchases.
- 42% of shoppers who viewed rich content made repeat purchases, compared with 30% who did not.
- In Skin Care, 66% of shoppers who viewed rich content made a repeat purchase — the strongest loyalty effect in the beauty sector.
- Actionable Content Strategy: Key Levers
- Win with Social Proof
- Visual Social Proof (UGC photos, videos, visual reviews) drives 78% Add-to-Basket attribution.
- Increases scroll depth by +11% and dwell time by +6%.
- For beauty, “UGC (real skin, real shades) reduces hesitation and accelerates purchase decisions.”
- Prioritise Premium Products
- The greatest conversion uplift occurs in high-price categories — Body Care, Fragrance, Hair Care, and Skin Care.
- Shoppers considering premium purchases seek more detail and reassurance.
- Focus on expensive SKUs for the highest ROI.
- Exception: In Cosmetics, the largest uplift occurs at lower price points, where rich content demonstrates value and encourages trial.
- Master Category-Specific Content
- Video is one of the strongest performers, especially for shade matching or application demonstrations — influencing up to 90% of Add-to-Basket actions.
- Augmented Reality (AR) experiences grew 22% year-on-year, helping shoppers overcome purchase hesitation.
- The Future-Ready PDP: Content Intelligence
The future lies in AI-powered content intelligence, enabling brands to personalise and optimise creative assets based on performance.
How It Works
- AI converts unstructured media into structured, analysable data — tagging assets by creative style, strategic intent, and emotional tone.
- These tags are then correlated with shopper events (views, clicks, add-to-basket actions) to close the feedback loop.
Outcome
Brands can scale what works and eliminate what doesn’t, streamlining future content production and maximising impact.
- Roadmap to Syndication
- Find Your Content: Centralise rich media assets across D2C, social, and marketing teams.
- Automate & Tag: Connect to a DAM or PIM system for real-time, automated updates.
- Start Syndicating & Learning: Get content live quickly — “Speed wins. There is no perfection here.”
- Prioritise for Premium: Focus on high-priced SKUs (excluding cosmetics) to maximise ROI.
