Implicit vs. Explicit Signals: What Retailers Must Know About AI-Powered Personalization

What’s the real difference between implicit and explicit signals—and why does it matter in retail? In this episode of AI Academy for Commerce, Vivek Farias (MIT professor + CTO at Cimulate) breaks down how clicks, queries, and conversational context influence next-gen personalization strategies.

Retailers have traditionally relied on implicit signals—like clicks and time-on-page—to infer shopper intent. But now, with agentic commerce and LLM-powered search, customers are expressing their needs more directly. That’s explicit context—and it’s transforming the way AI systems tailor shopping experiences.

If you care about:

• AI-driven personalization
• Retail search innovation
• Building better customer journeys with real-time signals

…this one’s for you.