E-commerce Expert: ‘Stop Chasing AI Hype – Here’s What Actually Drives Sales

While everyone’s obsessing over the latest AI tools, Roberto cuts through the noise with a reality check: most e-commerce businesses are still making fundamental mobile mistakes that kill conversions. In this exclusive interview, he reveals what technologies actually move the needle versus what just sounds impressive at conferences.

His insights aren’t theoretical. After a decade of digital transformation projects, Roberto has watched companies burn millions on flashy tech while ignoring basic user experience principles. The result? Even in 2025, most mobile e-commerce experiences are still “desktop thinking in a mobile wrapper.”

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by new tech trends or wondering why your conversion rates aren’t improving despite investing in “innovation”, this conversation will refocus your priorities on what actually drives business growth.

🎤 Roberto, you’ve had an incredible journey from a small startup in Bristol to leading innovation at a major multinational. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in how businesses approach digital transformation over the past decade?

The biggest shift has been from technology-centered transformation to value-centered transformation. A decade ago, digital projects were often driven by the desire to “go digital” — without a clear link to business outcomes or user experience. Today, that mindset has matured. Businesses are far more focused on solving real problems, delivering measurable impact, and aligning tech decisions with long-term strategy.

Another big change is speed. In the past, transformation was a multi-year plan. Now, it’s about continuous adaptation. Cloud, AI, and modular architectures have made experimentation cheaper and faster — but they’ve also raised the bar for execution.

What hasn’t changed is the human side: the hardest part is still cultural. The companies that succeed are the ones that build a strong tech foundation and foster a mindset of learning, collaboration, and resilience across their teams.

🎤 Everyone’s talking about AI in e-commerce, but what are you actually seeing work in practice? What’s the difference between AI hype and AI that actually drives sales?

The real impact of AI in e-commerce comes from solving specific, high-friction problems — not from flashy demos. What’s actually working today is AI applied to areas like dynamic pricing, personalised product recommendations, intelligent search, and customer service automation. These use cases directly affect conversion rates and customer lifetime value.

The hype, on the other hand, often centers around generalised AI platforms or chatbot gimmicks that sound impressive but lack integration or measurable ROI. The difference comes down to two things: context and execution. AI only drives sales when it’s tightly aligned with business logic and embedded into the customer journey in a way that’s seamless and fast.

In other words, the companies seeing results are the ones treating AI as infrastructure — not as a campaign. It’s less about “doing AI” and more about building systems that learn, adapt, and scale.

🎤 From your experience leading product development, what’s the biggest mistake you see e-commerce companies making when designing their digital experiences?

The biggest mistake is designing from the inside out — building based on internal assumptions, org structures, or legacy tech constraints instead of customer behaviour. Too many e-commerce platforms are still cluttered, slow, and built around how the company thinks, not how the user shops.

Great digital experiences come from relentless simplification. That means fast load times, frictionless navigation, and interfaces that guide the user intuitively, especially on mobile. And yet, many brands treat mobile as a “responsive version” rather than the primary channel it is.

Teams that succeed are the ones who design with data, test constantly, and empower cross-functional collaboration between product, UX, and engineering. They treat the customer journey like a living system — not a checklist.

🎤 You’ve been on both sides – startup innovation and enterprise solutions. How do you balance pushing technological boundaries with solving real customer problems in e-commerce?

The balance starts by recognising that innovation isn’t about novelty — it’s about impact. In startups, you’re often forced to move fast and challenge assumptions, but in enterprise, you learn the value of scale, resilience, and process. The sweet spot is where those two worlds meet: when you bring disruptive thinking into environments that can actually operationalise it.

In e-commerce, this means grounding every technological bet in a real customer pain point. I always ask: What part of the customer journey are we improving, and can we measure that improvement clearly? If the tech doesn’t enhance speed, clarity, personalization, or trust — it’s not innovation, it’s distraction.

The best teams I’ve worked with are obsessed with outcomes. They prototype boldly, but they validate relentlessly. That’s how you build solutions that feel futuristic but solve today’s problems.

🎤 Having led smartphone development during the mobile revolution, what do you think most e-commerce businesses still get wrong about mobile experience in 2025?

Even in 2025, too many businesses still treat mobile as a secondary channel — a smaller version of desktop — rather than the primary touchpoint it truly is. Mobile is not just a form factor; it’s a different context entirely: shorter attention spans, real-time needs, and high expectations for speed and simplicity.

The most common mistake? Overcomplicating the interface and underestimating performance. Users expect zero friction — from landing to checkout — and every extra tap or second of load time is a lost sale. Yet I still see mobile experiences weighed down by legacy thinking, unclear navigation, or bloated features.

The best mobile experiences today are built with native behaviours in mind: thumb-friendly design, real-time personalisation, instant load, and deep integration with payment systems. Businesses that master this aren’t just “mobile-friendly” — they’re mobile-native. And that mindset makes all the difference.

🎤 With technologies like AR/VR and IoT in your expertise, what should e-commerce leaders be preparing for now that will matter in the next 2–3 years?

Over the next 2–3 years, the winners in e-commerce will be those who focus less on isolated technologies and more on building adaptable, experience-centric ecosystems. AR, VR, and IoT are powerful — but only when they enhance context, reduce friction, or increase emotional connection with the customer.

For example, AR for product visualisation is already driving higher conversions in categories like furniture or fashion — not because it’s flashy, but because it removes doubt. IoT-enabled commerce, from smart replenishment to voice-based shopping, will expand as interfaces become more ambient and less screen-bound.

My advice to e-commerce leaders: don’t chase trends — invest in capabilities. Build architectures that support modular experimentation, real-time data flow, and omnichannel consistency. The future isn’t about one “killer app,” it’s about orchestration — seamlessly blending emerging tech into journeys people already value.

🎤 If you could give one piece of advice to an e-commerce entrepreneur who’s feeling overwhelmed by all the new technologies they “should” be using, what would it be

Don’t chase technology — chase clarity. Start with your customer’s biggest frustration or unmet need, and work backwards. You don’t need to use every new tool; you need to solve one real problem, really well.

Technology is only powerful when it’s purposeful. The entrepreneurs who win are not the ones who adopt the most tools but the ones who make the best decisions — choosing simplicity over noise and value over vanity.

So my advice is: slow down, zoom out, and focus on building something that actually works for your users. The rest — AI, AR, automation — will follow naturally, once you’ve earned their trust.