There was a time when shopping for outdoor gear wasn’t just about finding one item; it was about wandering.
You’d walk into a local outfitter looking for hiking boots and leave with a new pair of socks, a headlamp you didn’t know you needed, and a trail guide that caught your eye near the register. Carefully arranged displays told a story: Here’s what you need for your next adventure.
Online, that kind of discovery is harder to replicate. Search bars don’t wander. Filters don’t inspire. And when discovery breaks down, customers don’t browse. They bounce.
For outdoor brands selling online, the challenge is clear. How do you turn search into a story again?
When Search Becomes a Dead End
In ecommerce, especially for outdoor and recreational gear, zero-result searches are one of the fastest ways to lose a customer. Yet they happen all the time.
That's because shoppers search using:
- Activity-based language (“cold weather camping gear”)
- Situational needs (“rainy trail run jacket”)
- Partial product names or brand nicknames
- Experience level (“beginner climbing gear”)
Traditional keyword-based search struggles here. If the exact term doesn’t match a product title or attribute, shoppers are met with the worst possible message: No results found.
That moment breaks trust and momentum. Instead of discovering something new, customers feel like the site doesn’t understand them, so they leave. And with so many products, it's incredibly difficult to keep up with tagging keywords and ensuring products are correctly covered by all potential search topic words. Even when they are tagged correctly, products are often not linked in catalogs so customers have to find each product individually to get them to show up.
Keywords Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Outdoor shopping is rarely transactional. It’s emotional, contextual, and experiential.
For example, a customer isn’t just buying a tent: They’re planning a weekend away.
Or they’re not just searching for a jacket: They’re preparing for unpredictable weather.
Keywords alone can’t capture that intent. Even manual merchandising can struggle to tie these products together in a way that makes sense for the shopper.
This is where AI-powered search changes the experience. Instead of asking, “Does this query match a product name?” AI asks, “What is this shopper trying to do?”
For outdoor brands, that means:
- Understanding the intent behind vague or exploratory searches
- Interpreting synonyms, misspellings, and natural language
- Connecting activities to relevant gear automatically
Search becomes less about matching words and more about guiding your customers' journey.
From Search to Discovery: How AI Recreates the In-Store Experience
In a physical store, discovery happens naturally. Online, it needs help.
AI search and AI merchandising work together to recreate that sense of exploration by:
- Surfacing relevant products even when searches are broad
- Suggesting complementary gear based on context
- Adapting results as customers browse, filter, and add to cart
- Highlighting products that fit the moment, not just the query
For example, a shopper searching for “backpacking essentials” shouldn’t land on a single product page. They should be guided through a curated experience—packs, hydration, cooking gear, layers, accessories—all working together to tell a story. Just like that brick-and-mortar display, the search results can build a full scene for the customer and make it easy to find everything they need.
That’s how AI turns search into discovery.
Eliminating Zero Results Without Overwhelming Shoppers
One of the biggest advantages of AI-driven product discovery is reducing zero-result searches without flooding customers with completely unrelated options.
Instead of failing silently, AI can:
- Suggest the closest matching products
- Expand results intelligently when inventory is limited
- Redirect shoppers to related categories or collections
- Adjust recommendations based on behavior and context
The result is a smoother, more forgiving experience. This keeps customers moving forward instead of hitting a wall and encourages a sale where customers might have given up previously.
Smarter Merchandising, Less Manual Work
For ecommerce teams, merchandising large outdoor catalogs is time-consuming.
Manually creating “related products,” seasonal bundles, or activity-based collections doesn’t scale, especially when catalogs change frequently or inventory fluctuates.
AI merchandising simplifies this by allowing teams to:
- Define strategy in plain language (“Show accessories for this product”)
- Automatically suggest compatible or complementary items
- Adapt recommendations in real time as context changes
Instead of managing hundreds of rules, teams manage intent. The AI handles the rest.
Why This Matters More for Outdoor Brands
Outdoor Sports & Recreation ecommerce is uniquely suited for AI-driven discovery because:
- Products are often used together
- Shoppers browse by activity, season, and experience level
- Discovery drives larger carts and higher lifetime value
- Inspiration matters as much as specification
When discovery works, customers don’t just find what they came for. They find what they didn’t know they needed yet. Think of merchandising as building endcaps with products that your customers may not even realize they need for a particular activity. And all without spending hours individually building recommendations.
Inspire Discovery, Not Just Search
The best outdoor stores don’t just sell gear; they tell stories about what’s possible.
AI-powered search and merchandising bring that experience online by:
- Reducing zero-result searches
- Understanding intent beyond keywords
- Guiding customers through meaningful discovery
- Making product merchandising easier to manage at scale
For outdoor brands, the future of ecommerce isn’t about better filters alone. It’s about turning every search into the start of an adventure.
When search becomes storytelling, customers stay longer, explore more, and head into checkout feeling confident and inspired.
Miva