Why do some marketplaces convert browsers into buyers far more efficiently than others? Often it’s the search experience. Rappi, the Latin American delivery super-app spanning food, groceries, and retail, rebuilt search and recommendations around AI — and the results show why search is one of the highest-leverage investments in ecommerce.
The result: Rappi has reported a 102% increase in click-through rates and a 147% rise in revenue after implementing AI-powered personalized search and recommendations.
Search is the front door of a super-app#
A super-app like Rappi carries enormous breadth — thousands of restaurants and stores, millions of items. For the shopper, that breadth is only useful if they can find what they want fast. A slow or irrelevant search turns abundance into frustration, and frustration into a closed app.
Rappi attacked the problem on two fronts: relevance and speed. Working with AI search infrastructure, the company cut query response times by roughly 40% and improved conversion by around 25% on the engineering side, while layering personalization on top so results reflect each user’s tastes and context. Faster, more relevant search means more shoppers reach the product they want before they lose patience.
How AI search works#
Traditional search matches keywords; AI search matches intent. It understands natural language, tolerates typos and regional phrasing, and ranks results by what each shopper is most likely to order rather than by literal word match.
Three capabilities drive Rappi’s gains. Semantic understanding interprets what a shopper means, not just what they typed, so messy real-world queries still resolve. Personalized ranking orders results around each user’s history and context — time of day, location, past orders — so the best option leads. And tight integration with recommendations means even vague queries become curated suggestions instead of dead ends.
Why CTR and revenue move together#
A doubling of click-through and a lift in revenue are two readings of the same improvement. When search returns relevant, well-ranked results, more shoppers click (CTR up), more of those clicks convert, and the lift on your highest-intent traffic flows straight to revenue. Search users have already declared what they want — failing them is the most expensive mistake a marketplace can make, and fixing it is the fastest win.
Speed matters as much as relevance here. In a delivery context where shoppers are often hungry and impatient, shaving latency off every query directly improves the odds they complete the order.
What this means for your store#
You don’t need super-app scale to capture this. Any store with a search bar can apply Rappi’s playbook:
- Use semantic AI search so natural language, typos, and regional phrasing still convert.
- Personalize result ranking around each shopper’s history and context.
- Keep search fast — latency is a silent conversion killer — and pair it with recommendations so no query dead-ends.
Search is where your most motivated shoppers raise their hands. Answer them quickly and relevantly, and the revenue follows.
Bring AI search to your store with CartAmplify#
CartAmplify gives any store — Shopify, dropshipping, or marketplace — the AI-powered search and recommendations that helped Rappi lift engagement and revenue. Fast, semantic search that understands intent, plus recommendations that catch what search misses.
Related reading#
- How Rappi’s AI Browsing Drove a 147% Revenue Lift
- How Rappi’s AI Discovery Surfaces Products by Context
- How Flipkart’s AI Search Drove 20-25% Revenue Growth
The +102% CTR and +147% revenue figures are as reported in Rappi AI case studies; independently documented results include ~40% lower search latency and ~25% conversion improvement. Results vary by catalog, traffic, and implementation.
