How FortNine is rethinking search, service, and shopping with AI

What happens when you stop asking, “Where can we use AI?” and start asking, “What are we actually trying to solve?” Kailin Noivo sits down with Ramzi Rahbani, Chief Product Officer at FortNine, to explore how the company is building AI into ecommerce without letting the technology dictate the strategy. Ramzi explains why AI should remain an enabler of the business vision, not become the vision itself.

Ramzi walks through the AI agents already shaping FortNine and Defender, from shopper assistants navigating highly technical catalogs and 1.5 million marine SKUs to product comparison, review summarization, virtual try-on, customer service, merchandising, and website optimization. 

This conversation also tackles where human judgment still matters. Ramzi shares why AI should remove repetitive service work rather than replace people, how FortNine is experimenting with self-improving digital experiences, and why too much AI-generated feedback can become a problem of its own. His answer is to keep humans in the loop and filter aggressively so teams see the real issues and decisions that truly matter.

Ramzi Rahbani is Chief Product Officer at FortNine, where he leads product and digital initiatives across FortNine and Defender Marine, as well as the broader group’s dealership footprint. His focus is on connecting technology with customer value and creating a stronger end-to-end ownership experience for powersports, boating, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Ramzi has worked across banking, telecom, insurance, retail, travel, ecommerce, and dealerships, with experience spanning corporate innovation, digital strategy, product development, and channel management. He has built and led multidisciplinary teams across design, engineering, analytics, data science, AI, and marketing, and is known for taking a customer-first approach to technology and product development.

 

 👉 Watch the full episode here: https://www.noibu.com/blog/podcast/fortnine-ai-agents-for-ecommerce
 

Want to uncover hidden friction and convert more revenue? Click https://go.fame.so/HESFWhVY to book a demo of Noibu — the ecommerce monitoring and experience analytics platform. 

 

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