Insights · Sporting & Outdoor
We read sporting and outdoor listings with one question in mind: could an AI shopping assistant confidently tell a buyer whether a product suited them and how they'd use it?
This category earns some credit up front. Activity is the attribute sporting and outdoor listings are naturally written around — running, climbing, trail, road, camping. That genuinely helps an assistant place the product.
But three details decide the sale, and none of them follows automatically from naming the activity.
The first is fit. A bare size chart is not fit guidance. “Runs true to size,” “sits narrow, size up,” “roomy toe box” — these are the notes a buyer uses to choose. An assistant reading only a chart can't tell a buyer with a wide foot, or between sizes, what to do, so it hedges.
The second is skill level. Beginners and experienced users need different products, and unstated, an assistant can't match the product to the buyer. The third — and the sharpest — is safety certification on safety gear. For a helmet or a personal flotation device, the relevant standard isn't a nice-to-have; it's the whole decision, and its absence turns a confident recommendation into a refusal.
Why this happens
The activity is exciting to write about, so it gets written. Fit, skill level and certification feel like specifications — so they're left to a chart, a variant, or the assumption that the buyer already knows. But those are precisely the facts that decide whether a specific buyer should choose a specific product, and an assistant can't infer them from enthusiasm alone.
The good news is that this is a small amount of writing standing between an already-strong listing and a confident recommendation. The activity is done; the deciding details are usually a sentence each.
What to do about it
Add real fit notes to apparel and footwear — how it fits, true to size or not, what to do between sizes. A size chart on its own isn't enough.
State the safety certification on safety gear — the relevant standard, in the description. For helmets and flotation devices, it's non-negotiable.
Signal the skill level — “beginner-friendly,” “for experienced riders.” It helps an assistant match the product to the right buyer.
State the compatibility spec on equipment and parts — axle, mount, standard. “Will it fit my setup?” is binary, and buyers won't guess.
Put the key specs in text — weight, capacity, materials, conditions — not only in a spec image an assistant can't read.
Keep stating the activity — you already do this well. It's the strong foundation the other details build on.
Squiggle reads your entire Shopify catalogue and shows you which products give an AI assistant the activity but not the fit, skill level or certification that decides the sale — 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. Safety certification claims should always follow the product's own official labelling. Public catalogue data only — no account access, sales data, or private information was used.