Insights · Consumer Electronics
We read consumer electronics listings with one question in mind: could an AI shopping assistant confidently tell a buyer whether a product works with the equipment they already own?
Almost every electronics purchase is a compatibility purchase. A buyer is not choosing a charger, a cable, a dock or a memory card in isolation — they are choosing something that has to work with a device they already own. That makes the deciding question narrow and factual: does this meet the specification my equipment needs?
A specification is a number and a named standard. “Fast,” “powerful” and “universal” are neither.
The distinction is sharper here than in most categories, because the answer is usually a genuine comparison rather than a judgement. 65 watts either covers the laptop or it doesn't. USB Power Delivery 3.0 either matches what the device negotiates or it doesn't. A 5Gbps port and a 10Gbps port are different products at similar prices. An assistant can do that comparison instantly and reliably — but only against a stated figure. Given “fast charging,” it has nothing to compare at all.
There is a second effect worth naming. When a listing states a number, an assistant can also state the limit: this covers a 65-watt laptop but not a 100-watt one. That is a more useful recommendation than an enthusiastic one, and it is the kind of answer that gets a product chosen by the buyer it actually suits — instead of returned by the one it doesn't.
Why this happens
A specification can be published in several places: a manufacturer's spec-sheet graphic, a comparison chart, or a feature image built for a product page. Those are excellent for a human scanning quickly, and unreadable to an assistant reading text. What is left in the description is written to sell the benefit, and benefit language deliberately avoids numbers.
A broad compatibility claim also carries a hidden cost. “Works with most laptops” asks an assistant to vouch for something the listing hasn't established — so it won't. It will hedge, or recommend the product that named its wattage, its standard and its version. Precision is not a smaller claim than “universal”; it is a claim an assistant can actually repeat.
What to do about it
Put the headline number in the description text — watts, gigabits per second, hertz, milliamp hours, millimetres. One figure usually decides the purchase.
Name the standard and its version. “USB-C” is a connector shape; “USB Power Delivery 3.0” is what actually determines whether a device charges at speed.
Say what's in the box. Whether the cable is included, and how long it is, changes both the price comparison and whether the product works on arrival.
State the limits as well as the capabilities. The maximum resolution, the maximum wattage, the ports that can't run at once. An honest ceiling makes every other claim more credible.
Transcribe the spec image into text. If it's worth a comparison graphic, it's worth a specification list an assistant can read.
Give the model and part number. It lets a buyer — and an assistant — cross-check the exact item against a manual, a firmware note or a compatibility list.
Squiggle reads your entire Shopify catalogue and shows you which products describe a benefit where a buyer needed a specification — and what to add first.
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Squiggle's category guidance is informed by ongoing analysis of publicly available ecommerce product information. Illustrative examples explain common product-understanding principles and do not represent findings from any one merchant or the entire category. No individual store is named. Squiggle assesses the evidence a listing provides; it does not verify that any product meets a stated specification or works with any particular device. Public catalogue data only — no account access, sales data, or private information was used.