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The Outdoor and Country Store , the parent website of Barbour By Mail, is a UK-based multi-channel retailer of brand-name outdoor and sports clothing and accessories, and also operates two UK retail stores. The two sites implemented SLI’s search solution in late 2010 to replace their previous site search, which was a standard feature of its e-commerce platform.
E-Retailer of Casual and Sports Apparel Streamlines Search Experience and Sees Higher Conversion Rate, More Page Views and Larger Orders Among Site Search Users
Learning Search is part of SLI Systems’ full-service, customized site search, navigation and merchandising offerings. The solutions help online retailers like Barbour By Mail and The Outdoor and Country Store meet customer expectations for relevant results and information, as well as promote particular products and brands, all based on previous visitors’ search and click-through activity. The solutions are dynamic, so results change as customer buying trends and search terms shift. Additionally, SLI’s offerings are backed by the company’s team of search and navigation experts, who oversee deployment of Learning Search and provide ongoing management and support.
Barbour By Mail and The Outdoor and Country Store sought a new site search solution to both improve relevance of results and drive more sales. “The amount of sales we would see coming through the search were very small, and we wanted to increase that number with a more sophisticated, customer-friendly site search solution,” said Dominic Eves, operations manager for Barbour By Mail and The Outdoor and Country Store.
Since implementing site search from SLI, the average time spent on the Barbour By Mail site for visitors using search is more than double that of visitors who don’t use search. Transactions involving site search now account for approximately 15% of total transactions on the Barbour By Mail site, a number that is still increasing.
With SLI’s Learning Search in place, Barbour By Mail visitors that type varied phrases in the search box will see relevant results, as Learning Search accounts for misspellings and synonyms – something the company’s previous static SQL search could not do.
“Our former site search solution was very rigid, and would only return results that exactly matched a search phrase – for instance, a search for ‘coat’ would exclude results for products with ‘jacket’ in their descriptions,” said Eves. “Customers would often receive poor results or no results from a search, and then would call our customer service department because they were unable to find the product they wanted. With SLI on our site, shoppers now see relevant results even when they don’t enter a precise search term – and calls to our customer service team have dropped significantly.
“SLI Systems provided us with the right combination of relevant site search, reporting that helps us understand how shoppers search, and the simplicity of the product feed,” Eves added. “On top of all that, their expert team gave us useful tips and suggestions for improvements, and they manage everything. It’s definitely taken away the headaches we had from our previous solution.”
“Site search needs to be flexible and intelligent enough to deliver results for search terms that don’t match product terms precisely, or that are commonly misspelled,” said Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems. “Online retailing websites like Barbour By Mail and The Outdoor and Country Store recognize the value of relevant results – and the ultimate benefits such as increased customer satisfaction and larger orders.”
About SLI Systems
SLI Systems provides full-service, customized, on-demand solutions for site-search, navigation, merchandising, and user-generated SEO. SLI Systems’ solutions empower businesses to enhance customer satisfaction while increasing sales, reducing costs and increasing site conversions. Unlike traditional search and merchandising software, SLI Systems’ patented technology continuously “learns” from the behavior of visitors over time to deliver more relevant results. SLI Systems is a privately held company with offices in San Jose, California; London; New Zealand and Australia. For more information, visit www.sli-systems.com , or read the company’s blog, watch the SLI YouTube Channel or, follow SLI on Twitter .Listen to SLI hosted ecommerce podcasts
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