Lance Riedel Of Vantage Discovery On The Top 5 E-commerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping

An Interview With Rachel Kline

…To stay competitive in 2025, traditional retailers must invest in technology that keeps pace. Online stores must deliver a personalized shopping experience that converts first-time visitors into loyal customers. When shoppers come for one item, the goal is for them to leave with several — and come back for more.

As e-commerce continues to grow exponentially, businesses must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and innovations to remain competitive in the ever-evolving online shopping landscape. In this interview series, about “Top 5 Ecommerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping” we are talking to e-commerce experts, industry professionals, and thought leaders with in-depth knowledge and experience in online shopping trends. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Lance Riedel.

Lance Riedel is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vantage Discovery. Leveraging over 30 years of experience in the space, he is a seasoned technology strategist and builder, having founded three companies and led technical strategy at multi-billion-dollar enterprises. With a unique ability to bridge technology and business innovation, Lance has consistently built and led teams that drive new business opportunities across both consumer and enterprise sectors. His contributions extend to the startup ecosystem, where he co-founded The Hive, a leading Silicon Valley tech incubator.

As a company founder and CEO, Lance co-founded Kosei with Stanford Professor Jure Leskovec and Vanja Josifovski, leading the company from its inception to its acquisition by Pinterest. He also co-founded Proximal Labs, which was acquired by Jive Software.

At Pinterest, Lance assembled the content team, where he invented and built Pinterest’s search engine, Manas, which powers search, recommendations, and ad selection on the platform. His technical expertise is further demonstrated by the 14 patents he has filed in the matching and social search space, with 8 granted to date.

Lance has also served as the Industry Day Chair for WSDM and as a founding member of the Computational Advertising group at Yahoo! Research, where he contributed to the development of key platforms and numerous publications. He is also a passionate aviation enthusiast and holds both commercial helicopter and private fixed-wing pilot licenses. His lifelong dedication to mechanical projects includes rebuilding cars and motorcycles, welding, and working with drones and model airplanes.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you’re super busy. Before diving in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up? What led you to this specific career path?

My career path has been driven by a fascination with solving complex problems through innovative technology. From building search engines at Yahoo! to founding startups such as Kosei and building search and discovery systems at Pinterest, I have always been passionate about creating systems that make information and products easier to find. The idea for Vantage Discovery came from recognizing a significant gap in how retailers and brands could connect with their customers. Search, discovery, and personalization were treated as separate challenges, and I wanted to create a unified platform that could truly transform how people shop and browse online. Together with my co-founder, Nigel Daley, who brings decades of experience in data infrastructure and technology leadership, we set out to build Vantage Discovery as a game-changing solution. Our shared vision was to blend cutting-edge technology with practical, real-world applications to reimagine the future of e-commerce.

Can you share the most exciting story that has happened to you since you began at your company?

One of the most exciting moments since we began was when one of the largest retailers in the world reached out to us, asking to start a proof of concept and test our platform’s scale and performance. To put it in perspective, they sent us a product catalog with hundreds of millions of items to see what we could do, even before we landed our first customer.

It was a monumental challenge and an incredible opportunity — a true testament to the team we’ve built and the promise our technology has shown. Delivering on that test showcased not only the strength of our solution but also the level of trust we can inspire in industry leaders. Moments like this remind us why we’re building what we’re building and validate our belief that we’re creating something transformative for e-commerce.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

At Vantage Discovery, we’re leveraging AI-driven insights to create seamless shopping experiences that feel intuitive and tailored to each individual customer. One of the projects we’re most excited about is how we’re revolutionizing e-commerce with advanced personalization and discovery tools. Our implicit personalization tools, for example, enable retailers to deliver unique, customized recommendations based on browsing and purchasing behavior without requiring any explicit input from the user.

You’re a successful business leader. What are three traits about yourself that you feel helped fuel your success? Can you share a story or example for each?

I’ve always prioritized people, problem-solving, and maintaining a positive attitude. These three traits have been central to my leadership style and the way our company operates.

For example, when we started the company, we outlined our hopes and dreams for how we’d work together. That one page became the foundation of our values — like loving our customers and employees, giving thoughtful feedback, and leading with innovation. Even though we’re fully remote, we gather in person twice a year to connect deeply. We openly share everything happening in the company, solve challenges collaboratively, and take time to appreciate one another. Engineers sit in on sales presentations, and sales team members contribute to technical discussions, fostering a culture of trust and teamwork.

On top of that, our leadership team meets monthly, where we go around the room to give each other feedback and share what we appreciate about one another. This tradition not only strengthens our bond but also keeps us grounded in a positive, forward-thinking mindset.

These traits — valuing people, solving problems creatively, and staying positive — continue to drive our success and shape how we lead.

Excellent, thanks so much for sharing that. I want to shift gears and talk about ecommerce. What was the original vision for your ecommerce business? What pain point(s) were you trying to solve for your customers?

The original vision for Vantage Discovery was to simplify and elevate how people shop online. Retailers were stuck using fragmented systems for search, discovery, and personalization, which led to disconnected user experiences. We set out to create a unified platform powered by generative AI that understands the user’s intent and context, making online interactions seamless, efficient, and enjoyable, allowing the shopper to get results they were actually looking for, while the retailer increases conversion and LTV.

How do you see the ecommerce industry evolving in the coming years?

The e-commerce industry is undergoing a profound evolution, driven by consumer demand for experiences that are not just functional but also deeply personalized and intuitive. In the coming years, we anticipate a heightened focus on creating seamless omnichannel strategies, where online, in-store, and social shopping experiences merge into a cohesive whole. Consumers are increasingly expecting interactions that cater to their specific needs and preferences, no matter the platform or context.

Advancements in technology will play a pivotal role in this transformation. The kind of AI and machine learning that was only available to the largest retailers and technology companies are now available to all retailers with the rise of Gen AI. This enables any retailer to understand both their product catalog and their shoppers at a deep level to offer more accurate product recommendations, dynamic pricing, and predictive inventory management. Additionally, AI-powered tools are enhancing product discovery, making it faster and more relevant, especially for time-strapped shoppers.

At Vantage Discovery, we view these shifts as opportunities for innovation. By leveraging generative AI to enhance search, discovery, and personalization, we help retailers and brands meet these evolving demands while ensuring operational efficiency. The future of e-commerce will be defined by how effectively businesses can balance cutting-edge technology with human-centric experiences that resonate with their audiences.

How do you balance the need for innovation and experimentation with maintaining a stable, reliable ecommerce infrastructure?

We approach this balance by moving both fast and slow — fast in developing innovative features that can significantly enhance our customers’ offerings, and slow in ensuring that our system is robust, scalable, and capable of meeting the demands of some of the largest retailers in the world.

This is made possible because we operate with multiple environments: a stable production environment to maintain reliability, and separate environments for proofs of concept and early access features, where we can take calculated risks and explore new ideas. As features are validated and refined, they are carefully merged back into production to ensure stability.

This approach allows us to innovate boldly while delivering the performance and reliability our customers demand, ensuring we remain agile without compromising trust.

Ok super. Here is the central question of our interview. What five emerging trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on the future of online shopping? Please explain each in detail.

The cost per click to drive traffic to your site will continue to rise as competition for keywords intensifies, making it increasingly expensive to attract shoppers. In 2024, Google’s launch of AI-powered overviews began rolling out globally at an accelerating pace. This shift dedicates less real estate to ads, reducing the overall ad supply. With demand for ads likely to remain steady, the cost per click is poised to rise even further. This evolution underscores the importance of a strong customer experience — not only to retain loyal customers but also to effectively convert new ones in the face of rising acquisition costs driven by competitive keyword bidding. Providing a personalized, intuitive journey for shoppers will be a key differentiator as businesses navigate this increasingly competitive landscape.

Gen Z and Millennials are reshaping shopping behaviors through their love of social media. Influencers can drive millions of shoppers to your site with a single post, turning “shop the look” into a movement. This surge is fueling demand for fast, affordable fashion and accelerating the pace of trends like never before. To stay competitive in 2025, traditional retailers must invest in technology that keeps pace. Online stores must deliver a personalized shopping experience that converts first-time visitors into loyal customers. When shoppers come for one item, the goal is for them to leave with several — and come back for more.

Today’s time-constrained shoppers demand fast, effective product discovery. The experience on your site must align with the intent of the user. Search bar users, often the highest converting traffic, expect to find the most relevant products quickly. Meanwhile, browsing users are open to serendipitous discovery and want to be taken on a journey. To meet these needs, businesses must invest in AI that understands user intent and can customize the experience in real-time based on session data or other known shopper information. By delivering highly relevant results in search and personalized, engaging recommendations in browsing, customer satisfaction is significantly enhanced, ensuring every shopper’s experience feels unique and rewarding.

While leading retailers have begun investing in AI tools (e.g., Amazon’s Rufus, Walmart’s Shopping Assistant), we have yet to see a major retailer perfect the AI-enhanced experience. Most focus has been on starting with the technology and then thinking about how it can improve the shopping journey. The right approach, however, starts with the shopper: understanding what they want and need first, and then building technology that matches those desires. For example, we know that shoppers are unique, with distinct styles, but they are also complex. They may also shop for family members, kids, or friends. Applying blunt AI tools to this may result in poor shopper experiences — such as continuing to show wedding outfit recommendations long after a wedding — and misses the context of the shopper’s personal circumstance. Personalization from the shopper’s perspective, and incorporating the fuller context of their experiences, is what will truly elevate the shopping experience, improve satisfaction, and make shoppers fall in love with a brand.

The product listing page is becoming a relic of the past. For Gen Z and Millennials overstimulated by the endless scroll of social media, the thrill of shopping is no longer found in mindlessly browsing static grids of products. Instead, the future belongs to the search bar — not as a minimalist accessory, but as the dynamic centerpiece of the shopping experience. Why? Because the search bar holds the power to unlock intent. It’s where shoppers tell you exactly what they’re looking for, setting off a self-guided discovery journey tailored to their needs and desires. But to meet this challenge, the search bar must evolve. It can’t just search — it must understand. That means knowing the shopper deeply: their preferences, history, and context. It also means understanding every nuance of the catalog, from product details to how items connect and inspire. The search bar of tomorrow will be an interactive powerhouse, taking up real estate as an engaging UI element. It will do more than fetch results; it will suggest styles, offer personalized recommendations, and create a discovery experience that feels intuitive and exciting. The future of e-commerce isn’t browsing — it’s searching with purpose.

Is there a past trend that’s now common practice in ecommerce that you would have spent 50% more time focusing on? Which one and why?

If there’s one past trend we would have spent 50% more time focusing on, it’s merchandising tools. Historically, these tools have relied heavily on the intuition and manual effort of merchandisers, which often leads to suboptimal results and inefficiencies.

For instance, when creating product listing pages, merchandisers often focus on mass-market products due to time constraints, leaving niche or long-tail items overlooked. Similarly, the repetitive tasks involved in refining search experiences — such as managing query lists, fixing “no results” pages, or manually adding synonyms — consumes significant time and energy. This busy work draws merchandisers away from high-impact efforts like creating truly personalized shopping experiences.

We’re beginning to see exciting progress as data-driven and algorithmic solutions start to replace these manual, intuition-based processes. However, the pace of change could be faster. Investing more effort earlier to accelerate this shift would have made a big difference, enabling merchandisers to focus on strategic, impactful work, letting smarter, scalable systems handle the grunt work.

Looking ahead, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the ecommerce industry, and how do you plan to address them in the coming years?

One of the biggest opportunities and challenges the e-commerce industry faces is AI shopping agents because they hold the potential to redefine how consumers connect with products. Several players are poised to benefit, however we still don’t know how it will play out exactly.

Our vision is to be the glue that binds this ecosystem together — powering search & discovery, owning the personalization layer, and enhancing the data layer to enrich catalogs, making them fit for this new era of shopping. More specifically, here’s how we’re addressing these:

• Powering search and discovery: We create the engines that guide shoppers from intent to discovery. By unifying search, recommendations, and personalization, we deliver intuitive journeys that match user intent with precision and delight.
• Owning the personalization layer: Personalization will be the cornerstone of future shopping experiences. We aim to harness shopper behavior, preferences, and context to create hyper-relevant, engaging journeys that feel uniquely tailored.
• Elevating the data layer: Retailers have the product data; we make it shine. By enriching catalogs, harmonizing taxonomies, and translating product attributes into shopper-friendly terms, we ensure products are discoverable and appealing.

You are a person of significant influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

If I could start a movement aimed at bringing the most good to the most people, it would focus on empowering the next generation through education, specifically in reading and STEM. Reading is the foundation for all learning, and by improving literacy, we open doors to endless opportunities. I’m also a tinkerer and would love to give more kids the opportunity to explore engineering, problem-solving, and technology through hands-on learning with robotics and drone technology.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanceriedel/

Website — https://www.vantagediscovery.com

I want to thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise with us. I wish you continued success!