product data enrichment

Sean Callihan

Sean Callihan Discusses Commerce’s Evolution and AI-Powered Data Optimization

Live from Ecomm Forum

Welcome to another episode of Talk Commerce, where host Brent Peterson sits down with industry leaders to discuss the latest trends shaping online retail. Recording live from the e-commerce forum in Minneapolis, this conversation features Sean Callihan, a partner manager at Commerce—the company formerly known as BigCommerce. During this engaging discussion, Sean shares insights into the company’s strategic rebrand, its growing focus on B2B solutions, and how the organization is positioning itself in the emerging world of AI-powered commerce. The conversation offers merchants and technology partners valuable perspectives on data optimization, platform flexibility, and the changing landscape of product discovery.

Key Takeaways

  • Commerce has evolved from BigCommerce into a parent company with three distinct products: BigCommerce (the SaaS platform), Feedonomics (a feed management and data optimization platform), and Makeswift (a low-code, no-code page builder)
  • B2B has become a strategic pillar for Commerce, with dedicated product development and go-to-market teams serving wholesale and B2B merchants alongside traditional B2C clients
  • The open SaaS approach allows merchants to integrate legacy systems without ripping and replacing their entire infrastructure, particularly important for B2B distributors
  • AI readiness centers on data optimization, with Feedonomics helping merchants prepare their product data for discovery through conversational AI and large language models
  • Product data enrichment serves dual purposes, improving both AI discoverability and on-site shopping experiences by pulling information from reviews, sizing charts, and social media
  • Makeswift will soon replace the native page builder within the BigCommerce platform, bringing advanced marketing capabilities directly into the core product
  • The low-code, no-code approach benefits both marketers and developers, allowing faster execution while still providing technical teams with workflow customization options

About Sean Callihan

Sean brings a unique perspective to his role at Commerce, drawing from six years with the company and an earlier six-year stint working within digital agencies. As a partner manager, Sean works extensively with both traditional system integrators and digital marketing agencies, helping them navigate the Commerce ecosystem and build successful merchant relationships. His agency background gives him valuable insight into the challenges partners face when implementing e-commerce solutions. Throughout his tenure at Commerce, Sean has witnessed the company’s transformation from a single-product SaaS platform into a multi-product organization serving diverse merchant needs across B2C and B2B segments.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Sean explaining the reasoning behind BigCommerce’s rebrand to Commerce. The strategic shift wasn’t merely cosmetic—it reflected the company’s evolution following two significant acquisitions. After purchasing Feedonomics, a leading feed management platform, the organization found itself in an awkward position. Feedonomics is platform-agnostic, meaning it works with any e-commerce system, including BigCommerce competitors like Shopify. This created messaging challenges when BigCommerce representatives tried to discuss the benefits of Feedonomics with merchants on other platforms.

The solution was creating Commerce as a parent company housing three distinct products. BigCommerce continues as the SaaS e-commerce platform that’s been serving merchants for years. Feedonomics operates as the data optimization engine, helping merchants push products to any channel they choose—whether that’s Walmart, TikTok, Instagram, or countless other marketplaces. The platform’s core strength lies in optimizing product data for each channel’s specific requirements, improving search rankings and return on ad spend.

The third product, Makeswift, came through a more recent acquisition. This low-code, no-code page builder solution doesn’t even require an e-commerce context—it works for informational sites as well. Marketers and developers both appreciate the tool because it brings stories to life on websites without requiring extensive technical knowledge. All three solutions can work together or independently, giving Commerce flexibility in how it approaches different market segments.

Sean then shifts the discussion to B2B, which has emerged as a major strategic pillar for Commerce. The company recognized that many merchants wanted to add wholesale or B2B arms to their businesses but lacked the tools to do so effectively. Rather than forcing merchants to cobble together various apps and workarounds, Commerce invested heavily in B2B-specific functionality. This wasn’t just a product decision—the company established dedicated B2B teams for product development, go-to-market strategy, and sales.

The B2B approach makes sense given Commerce’s B2C heritage. Business buyers increasingly expect shopping experiences that mirror consumer-focused websites. Since Commerce already excelled at B2C experiences, extending that expertise to B2B was a natural progression. The company maintains separate B2C teams to continue serving that market without alienation, while B2B teams focus on the unique requirements of wholesale, distribution, and business-to-business transactions.

Sean emphasizes the importance of Commerce’s open SaaS philosophy, particularly for B2B merchants. Many distributors and manufacturers work with legacy industry-specific systems they can’t easily replace. Commerce’s open API structure allows these companies to integrate existing systems without ripping out their entire technology infrastructure. If a merchant outgrows one solution, they don’t need to replace their e-commerce platform—they simply swap out the specific component that no longer serves their needs.

This approach acknowledges a fundamental reality: no single platform can feasibly build everything that’s perfect for every merchant. The e-commerce ecosystem contains numerous specialized players, each solving specific problems. Commerce’s extensibility allows merchants to assemble the right combination of tools for their unique business requirements, both today and as they scale tomorrow.

The conversation then turns to artificial intelligence and agentic commerce. Sean explains that Feedonomics provides Commerce with a significant advantage in this space because it’s fundamentally a data platform. This expertise positions the company well as it forms relationships with OpenAI, Perplexity, and other large language model providers. The way consumers shop continues to evolve, and merchants need their brands to be discoverable through these new channels.

Traditional search engine optimization focused on scraping websites and indexing whatever product information appeared on pages. AI-powered search works differently. Consumers have conversations with AI assistants, asking specific questions and expecting detailed answers. Merchants need their data structured to respond to these conversational queries. That data doesn’t come solely from product descriptions—it includes reviews, sizing charts, social media interactions, message boards, and other non-traditional sources.

Commerce is helping merchants prepare their data for this new reality through what Sean calls AI data readiness. An interesting byproduct of this work is that the enriched data optimized for LLM discovery can also feed back into the merchant’s own website. If the company is pulling proof points from multiple sources to educate AI systems, why not use that same enriched content to improve the on-site shopping experience? Merchants benefit twice: better AI discoverability and more robust product pages on their branded websites, where they maintain the highest profit margins.

Sean also discusses the future of product discovery pages. Many merchants currently provide minimal information—perhaps a few bullet points—on their PDPs. This approach doesn’t serve AI-powered search well. Through Feedonomics and its AI readiness initiatives, Commerce is helping merchants understand what data they need and where to source it. The result is product pages that satisfy both human shoppers and the AI systems that increasingly guide purchase decisions.

Regarding Makeswift’s roadmap, Sean shares his excitement about the tool’s integration into the core BigCommerce platform. Currently, Makeswift has been used primarily with Commerce’s Catalyst product for building headless websites. The next iteration will replace the native page builder within BigCommerce itself. This represents a significant user experience upgrade because Makeswift was built from the ground up with modern marketing workflows in mind.

The existing page builder serves its purpose, but it wasn’t designed with contemporary marketing needs as a priority. Makeswift brings that marketing-first thinking directly into the platform. Sean notes that the tool appeals to both marketers and developers, even though it’s positioned as low-code, no-code. Developers appreciate it because they can build out workflows and frameworks that marketers then leverage independently. This doesn’t eliminate development jobs—it shifts developer focus to enabling marketing agility rather than executing every individual page change or content update.

Sean wraps up by reflecting on why he returns to the e-commerce forum year after year. He’s attended four consecutive years, plus the virtual edition during COVID. He appreciates that Irish Titan, the event organizer, has created something inclusive rather than exclusive. Unlike some high-profile conferences that feel corporate and buttoned-up, the e-commerce forum welcomes the entire Midwest ecosystem—partners, merchants, and service providers all learning together in a relaxed environment.

The forum gives Sean opportunities to connect with the partner ecosystem he works with daily while also meeting merchants who attend to learn and network. Everyone arrives with their guard down, ready to share knowledge and have genuine conversations. It’s quirky, fun, and educational—a combination Sean clearly values as he makes the annual trip to Minneapolis.

Final Thoughts

Sean Callihan’s insights reveal how Commerce is positioning itself for the next evolution of online retail. The rebrand reflects strategic maturity, acknowledging that serving modern merchants requires more than a single platform. By housing BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift under one parent company, Commerce can meet merchants wherever they are in their growth journey without forcing awkward product conversations. The B2B focus addresses a significant market opportunity while leveraging existing B2C strengths. Most importantly, the emphasis on AI readiness and data optimization demonstrates forward thinking about how product discovery will work in an increasingly conversational commerce landscape. As merchants prepare their businesses for AI-powered search and agentic shopping experiences, having clean, enriched, multi-source product data isn’t optional—it’s foundational to remaining discoverable and competitive in tomorrow’s market.

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