PLUS: Thorne's new AI wellness advisor and e-commerce platforms bet on AI search

“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter F Drucker

Afternoon All,

Every decision you make either takes you closer or further away from where you want to be. The people and businesses that get the results they want, all do this one thing. Stack good decisions on top of each other. For a very long time.

Better decisions, better results, more money.

Good decisions need experience and expertise, insight and institutional knowledge...and much more. But how do you compete if you don't have all of the above? This is where AI & ML come in. New AI tools that serve not as a replacement for human leadership, but as a powerful amplifier.

The hype machine claims a solopreneur will create a £1bn business with AI. Seems implausible. However, if you could permanently move from reactive thinking to proactive decisions, the possibilities might just be limitless.

We explore that next...

Today's dots:

• How AI Improves Decision-Making in Businesses
• AI driven ecommerce CRO is winning
• Thorne's AI wellness advisor
• $595bn AI search opportunity

How AI Improves Business Decisions

Here's the thing: Traditional business decision-making is built on the foundation of averages, and past performance. In today's economy, markets shift quickly, customer behaviour and sentiment can change over a tweet, and competition comes from everywhere. Human judgment alone, no matter how skilled, struggles to process this at scale. By the time insights are extracted from a handful of reports, the situation may already be different.

Machine learning addresses this and highlights emerging patterns before they become obvious.

Let's unpack that:

• One of the biggest challenges businesses face is not data scarcity, but data collection. POS systems, CRM's, sensors, and ecommerce platforms all generate massive datasets that are difficult to capture, aggregate and interpret manually. Consequently, a lot of useful data goes missing and is never fully utilised.
• Forecasting influences nearly every strategic decision, from hiring and budgeting to inventory planning and expansion. Incomplete data lead to poor forecasts, which lead to wasted resources. ML forecasts are dynamic and factor in more variables than static models.
• Customer behaviour is complex and constantly evolving. Machine learning helps businesses understand these changes and uncover what drives satisfaction, what leads to churn, and what influences long-term loyalty.
• Fast decisions are often necessary, but decision speed cannot be at the expense of accuracy, even when information is incomplete. Machine learning bridges this gap by delivering insights in real time.

If you remember nothing else: In competitive markets, technology alone is not enough. The real advantage comes from how well decisions are made. Businesses that use technology to improve processes gain an edge that compounds over time.

AI’s CRO Wins in E-Commerce

Here's the thing: E-commerce operators are soaking in data from analytics platforms, customer behaviours and traffic sources, yet many struggle to translate it into higher sales. AI tools now promise to sift through this monsoon of data and highlight opportunities that directly lift revenue. According to insights from industry experts, the secret to success isn't in gathering more metrics but actually in guiding AI systems with precision to drive measurable gains.

Let's unpack that:

• E-commerce conversion rates average 2-3% across sectors, with top performers leveraging AI to push toward 4% or higher, per reports from SuperAGI.
• Joe Turner, co-founder of Proof3, argues that “AI is brilliant at spotting patterns humans miss. But it needs guardrails. It needs context,” Forward-thinking teams are finding success by anchoring AI outputs to singular commercial metrics like profit per visitor or revenue per session.
• AI excels at identifying priority areas, such as high-traffic pages with low add-to-cart rates. A ladies’ fashion brand used behavioural AI to flag such pages, leading to tests on layouts incorporating social proof and size guides. The result: a 9% conversion uplift, translating to six figures over six months,
• ConvertCart predicts AI will reshape 2026 trends, from product discovery enhancements to automated campaign testing. Moonshot AI has the capability to dissect metrics like AOV and user paths to propose design variants drawn from thousands of sites.

If you remember nothing else: “Smarter CRO with AI in eCommerce isn’t about removing the human touch, it’s about amplifying it,” - ConvertCart. AI CRO is about using technology to enable business experts to what they do best...only better.

How Thorne is delivering AI-powered wellness

Here's the thing: Earlier this month, Thorne a leading supplement brand quietly launched a generative AI-powered wellness advisor chatbot named Taia. 

Let's unpack that:

"...what we wanted to do with the development of Taia — and what I think a lot of the AI systems that are being developed now [strive to do] — is to provide as much [health and wellness] clarity or guidance as we can as people are trying to sort out a solution in their life.” - Nathan Price, PhD., Thorne’s chief science officer

• Taia is trained on Thorne’s internal knowledge database, powered by a team of researchers and doctors, and AI foundational knowledge of health and wellness. It also sifts through Thorne’s library of blog posts and studies to recommend additional reading and delivers general advice, lifestyle and nutrition tips, and information on the brand’s products and policies
• The launch of Taia coincides with the release of a new Thorne study of 3,000 consumers earlier this month in which around half of the participants said there is too much conflicting information about supplements online, while one in three people said it’s too hard to decipher what their health data means.
• Thorne’s business is evenly spread across categories; there is no singular product driving its business, making personalisation and clarity essential for conversion,

If you remember nothing else: Data and generative AI today can and will make health outcomes more predictable. However, this new future isn’t for everyone - those who value privacy over visibility are likely to opt out, for now. 

Ecommerce platforms banking on AI-powered search

Here's the thing: There is a reason why OpenAI wants all the smoke with Google in the realm of search, and why both companies have recently launched solutions aimed at shopping powered by AI.

According to a new report by Euromonitor International, AI-powered search could result in a boost to the ecommerce industry of $595 billion by 2028.

Let's unpack that:

• “Unlike earlier evolutions such as social commerce or livestreaming, AI-powered search is rewiring how consumers discover brands, evaluate choices and make purchasing decisions online. This shift rewrites the rules of visibility, moving from share of views to share of conversations. AI-driven discovery is redefining how influence, trust and competitiveness are built online, with an impact on the global e-commerce market” - Rabia Yasmeen
• The more consumers stay on AI-powered platforms, the less they may compare products, which is what happened with traditional search.
• “The interaction has changed from typing keywords and scrolling through listed products to a conversational platform asking questions in natural language and expecting a precise, context-aware answer,” - Rabia Yasmeen.

If you remember nothing else: AI powered search and discovery is here and will fundamentally change how consumers interact with your brand. Hate it or love it, adapt or die. It's really that simple.

The Shortlist

• Some optimistic contrarian opinions about the future of the job market - Why AI Won't Wipe Out White Collar Jobs
• Larry Fink CEO of Blackrock thinks differently...we need to confront the impact of AI.
• Maybe your favourite chatbot isn't the best place to get medical advice...I let ChatGPT analyze a decade of my Apple Watch data. Then I called my doctor.