Online retailers have been using generative AI for more than a year in attempts to improve on inefficiencies. And for many retailers, it has worked. For PRADCO Outdoor Brands, which has nearly 30 hunting and fishing brands, generative AI could help speed up website changes.

Its brands are available on five connected websites, and PRADCO is also a distributor for other brands, too. Trent Welbern, graphic design manager at PRADCO, works in the fishing division, where PRADCO sells items from its 20 fishing brands online through LureNet.com.

Welbern said PRADCO is “constantly adding brands on the fishing side,” and that requires efficient technology. He and his team use software from headless commerce provider Fastr — formerly known as Zmags — to help manage website updates for their many brands.

What is headless commerce?

Headless commerce is a type of ecommerce website structure that effectually separates the front end of a website (the user experience) with the back end of a website (the content management system where administrators typically make changes). In doing so, it allows brands to work on the front ends of their websites without going through web developers and IT teams, which often requires filing a service ticket.

In the case of PRADCO’s LureNet, it also allows designers like Welbern to create ecommerce pages without relying on web developers.

Headless commerce meets generative AI

Fastr offers headless commerce technology, which it refers to as Fastr Frontend. The option “allows non-developers to control every aspect of their ecommerce site without dependence on developers,” the company says.

Welbern has been using Fastr technology for three years. He said it has helped with efficiency as far as “not having to bog down IT” when PRADCO acquires brands. “It gives us a tool to work on the website,” he explained.

“All of our top-performing pages on LureNet, Fastr has had a part in that,” Welbern said.

In addition, Fastr has added generative AI to its technology suite, building on OpenAI’s GPT-4. Fastr Frontend, now implementing generative AI to its headless commerce technology, allows Welbern and his team to make more changes to LureNet’s website than before.

Welbern can type in what he wants in an ecommerce page, and Fastr AI will use that prompt to generate an entirely new web page. That could include specific images LureNet has selected, fonts that suit its branding guidelines and more.

“All of our top-performing pages on LureNet, Fastr has had a part in that — whether it be our custom lures section, our new brand, Bank & Creek, which is one of our subscription services, and some of our custom soft plastics. All those have been created using Fastr,” Welbern said. “They’re our top-performing pages.”

Can generative AI build web pages?

Ryan Breen, chief technology officer at Fastr, said ecommerce merchants and brands can set up asset libraries as a foundation. This means inputting fonts, images and logos for the generative AI to use. From there, the user would go to the Experience Canvas that Fastr provides and write a prompt with directions on how the generative AI should build the page.

Breen said every brand has its own style of what an H1 field should look like on its website, acceptable colors to use, and sets of images that suit its style. For example, when he tests FastrAI, he likes to have the generative AI include emojis in the copy it produces.

“I typically say, ‘go nuts,’ and it knows what I mean,” Breen said. 

Upon entering a prompt, the user sees the generative AI populate the web page in real time. It will pause intermittently to check in with the user about its progress, asking if the page looks good and if the user wants the generative AI copilot to proceed.

Breen added that users can reuse a prompt and the copilot will still ” trigger a really thoughtful, interesting, ‘I can’t believe it’s not a human’ type of feeling. It was disorienting at first, but every time you’re interacting with it, it’s going to say I have a different idea.”

Breen said Fastr’s team taught the generative AI tool “everything about what an asset means.” That includes what an experience means, how to create designs on a canvas, and where to put text and images.

How does generative AI build web pages?

“Content creation velocity and output can soar,” Fastr said in a statement. That provides “greater opportunities for experimentation to determine what content works best at driving conversions.”

At the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City this week, ecommerce platform provider Salesforce announced its own generative AI technology to build web pages. Salesforce debuted Page Designer, which is in its pilot stage. The tool allows online retailers to build web pages through text prompts. Retailers can customize the design or specify that it mirrors existing branded web pages.

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