Cocktails & Commerce with Kailin Noivo
January 21, 2026
Answer engines like ChatGPT are reshaping how consumers discover information but their real impact on ecommerce traffic today is far smaller than most headlines suggest.
In this episode of Cocktails and Commerce, hosts Brian Walker and Bill Friend sit down with Kailin Noivo, Co-Founder and President of Noibu, to cut through the hype around AI-powered discovery and focus on what ecommerce leaders should actually be prioritizing right now.
Answer engines like ChatGPT are reshaping how consumers discover information but their real impact on ecommerce traffic today is far smaller than most headlines suggest.
In this episode of Cocktails and Commerce, hosts Brian Walker and Bill Friend sit down with Kailin Noivo, Co-Founder and President of Noibu, to cut through the hype around AI-powered discovery and focus on what ecommerce leaders should actually be prioritizing right now.
Kailin shares real-world data showing that answer engines currently drive less than 1% of referral traffic for most ecommerce brands, even though conversion rates are often strong when traffic does arrive. The takeaway isn’t to ignore the channel but to treat it as an emerging signal, not a primary revenue engine.
The conversation then shifts to the far bigger forces reshaping ecommerce economics: two straight years of declining ROAS, rising acquisition costs, and growing dependence on intermediaries. Kailin argues that the brands best positioned for the next phase of growth are doubling down on retention, owned channels, and direct customer relationships - especially native mobile apps, which are quietly growing while web traffic compresses.
This episode is a practical roadmap for ecommerce leaders planning their next three to five years - grounded in data, realism, and long-term control over the customer journey.
Want to uncover hidden friction and convert more revenue? Click https://bit.ly/4qA5AJG to book a demo of Noibu — the ecommerce monitoring and experience analytics platform.
What You’ll Learn
- Why answer engines currently drive <1% of ecommerce traffic and why that still matters strategically
- How declining ROAS is shifting winning brands from acquisition-first to retention-first growth models
- Why native mobile apps are outperforming web as owned, high-converting engagement channels
- How clean, structured commerce data unlocks AI, automation, and trustworthy analytics
- Why horizontal analytics tools fail ecommerce teams and what vertical platforms do differently
- How to future-proof attribution in a fragmented, multi-channel discovery environment
- Why owning the customer relationship is the most important strategic bet for the next 3–5 years
- How internal AI automation frees teams to focus on high-leverage, revenue-driving work
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