As presented at MAD//Fest 2026
Lazy shoppers aren’t lazy. They’re being served better somewhere else.
The Lazy Shopper Framework shows you exactly where your website loses them, and the three moves that take back control of your customers.
It asked one question back, then sold the whole outfit. That’s the framework working.
Hands up if you own black jeans.
Keep your hand up if you can name the cut. Go on, pick it:
The problem
Confused customers don’t convert.
Three ways sites lose the sale. Look familiar?
5,056 styles found10 filters in ‘style’ alone
0 results. 0 upsell.
The shift
Everyone built websites for the Researcher. Your customer is now a Discoverer.
Keith, “The Researcher”
- How he finds you
- Google search
- What he types
- Keywords: “[brand] black blazer”
- What he expects
- A list of products he can compare himself
Khloe, “The Discoverer”
- How she finds you
- TikTok, YouTube Shorts, AI chat
- What she types
- Conversations: “What top goes with these trainers?”
- What she expects
- An answer, a how-to, and the thing that goes with it
Meet the villain
Every shopper now has a personal advisor. You’ve never met it.
More and more buying journeys now start with a question to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI Mode, not a visit to your site. The advisor answering it:
- Asks no follow-up questions
- Might recommend your competitor
- Answers before shoppers ever reach your site
If you’re not the brand AI cites, you’re the brand AI replaces.
“SEO was getting Google to fancy you. Now you’ve got to get the robots to fancy you too. Same game, more robots.”Ash Maloney, on stage at MAD//Fest 2026
The good news
The “old” way is the “new” way again. The shopkeeper is back.
The best retail experience ever invented is a knowledgeable human behind a counter. AI finally lets your website behave like one, at scale. Boots is already doing it.
Listens to the actual question
“Help! I have dandruff” beats browsing 400 shampoos.
Recommends like an expert
Right products, honest guidance, and a pharmacist when it matters.
Sells the whole solution
Delivery options, alternatives, the thing that goes with it.
Boots already does this: ask about dandruff, get answered the way a pharmacist would.
(Not affiliated - just a great example)
The framework
Three moves to win the conversational customer
The framework scores your site on all three. Hover or tap each move to watch it work on a real build.
The demo build from Ash’s talk. Every move, one page.
Why trust it
The framework comes from work we’ve shipped
“The increase in daily search volume has far exceeded expectations.”Clare Cooper, Senior Growth Marketing Lead, Hammerson PLC
We built this for Direct Ferries. It’s live now, answering thousands of questions a month.
The people behind it
No juniors, no handoffs
Built by the team that engineers product discovery for brands like Hammerson and Direct Ferries. The people on this page do the work.
Ashley Maloney
Co-founder & CTO
Presented the Lazy Shopper Framework live on stage at MAD//Fest 2026.
Marc Firth
Co-founder & CEO
Engineers for marketers: helped grow Jellyfish's engineering team from 10 to over 100.
Helena Georgiou
Project Manager
Runs delivery on every build this framework comes from.
What lands in your inbox
The talk, turned into a tool
The framework, in full
Where your site loses the Discoverer, in a short, focused read.
The three moves, applied
Understand, Guide, Anticipate, with real examples to copy.
The 12-point scorecard
Rate your own product discovery and see what to fix first.
The Conversion Catalyst, weekly
Firney's email on engineering marketing that converts: what we're building, testing and seeing work.
Everything by email. The Catalyst lands weekly; unsubscribe anytime.
Questions
Before you ask
What is the Lazy Shopper Framework?
It's the framework Ash presented at MAD//Fest 2026: where product discovery breaks down on e-commerce sites, and how to fix it. You get the full breakdown by email, plus a 12-point scorecard to rate your own site.
Who is it for?
Marketing, digital and e-commerce leaders at consumer brands. If you own a revenue or conversion number, it's written for you. No technical background needed.
Is this a sales pitch?
No. It's the talk in written form. If the scorecard shows gaps you want engineering help with, we're easy to find; that part is entirely up to you.
Do I need engineering resource to act on it?
Some fixes are content and merchandising changes your team can make this week. Others need engineering. The scorecard separates the two, so you know which is which.