Company
Date Published
July 15, 2024
Author
Ryan Chen
Word count
1313
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

A key challenge for e-commerce retailers is providing context to their products and shoppers, which can be overcome through the use of site search and personalized merchandising. Merchandising is a retailer's way of affixing context to their products, aiming to accelerate users to the shopping cart, enlarge the average basket size, and increase overall conversions. However, e-commerce retailers face limitations in navigating and merchandising digitally, with a typical user interface relying on clicks and scrolls. Integrating internal search into an omnichannel architecture can help mitigate navigation challenges, but actual merchandising remains a challenge. Personalized merchandising addresses this by communicating directly with users individually, while also collaborating with business goals. By using site search, e-commerce retailers can provide relevant results that touch on both user intent and business metrics, resulting in increased conversions and sales. Successful implementations, such as Lacoste's 210% increase in search use and 37% conversion rate boost, demonstrate the potential of personalized merchandising to transform e-commerce businesses.