Omnichannel personalisation solution enables fashion retailer to deliver a more relevant, meaningful and memorable experience to consumers across every channel
Paris, France – 9 December 2014 — RichRelevance®, the global leader in omnichannel personalisation, has been selected by French fashion brands, Daxon and Balsamik, to deliver highly authentic and tailored customer experiences on its web sites and via email campaigns. Using RichRelevance’s RichRecs recommendation solution, Daxon and Balsamik are tapping into real-time data to present tailored recommendations that help shoppers to quickly and easily find what they need.
Balsamik, a new brand created to complement Daxon, has reported an uplift of 3.5 per cent in revenue per session within months of the implementation of RichRecs. This performance was measured by the Balsamik team using a third-party AB testing solution. Using advanced personalisation tools, the fashion retailer has been able to dynamically up-sell and cross-sell merchandise to increase sales and average order value (AOV), while creating a more engaging overall experience for their customers. This is particularly important for a company that has undergone a major rebranding.
“We have been using RichRelevance to deliver personalised shopping experiences for our customers since 2013. When the company created the Balsamik brand earlier this year, our marketing and sales team faced the challenge of retaining existing customers whilst attracting new shoppers to our site against tough market competition,” said Eric Sarazin, Head of Marketing and Communication at Balsamik.
“One of the benefits of using RichRecs is its ability to fully automate merchandising. RichRelevance takes care of all the hard work so our staff can simply monitor performance without the need for technical and operational investment. This enables them to focus on sourcing the best product for our customers, and ensures recommendations across our website and email are highly tailored to each individual’s interests and shopping behaviour,” said Sarazin.
With RichRelevance, Balsamik has deployed an agile and highly profitable solution that automatically adapts to the seasonal trends and catalog evolution inherent to the apparel business. The solution offers integrated multivariate testing capabilities, with a new control panel to provide greater autonomy for the user. Based on its current success, Balsamik have requested RichRelevance’s local partner, Web Transition, to leverage further RichRelevance technologies in order to improve customer loyalty while attracting new customers.
“Following the successful launch of balsamik.fr, we are working closely with their web team to expand their personalisation capabilities to match shoppers with clothing and styles tailored to individual body shapes,” said Nicklas Larsson, EMEA Managing Director of RichRelevance. “Balsamik is leading the way in French fashion with new digital channels, and we’re excited to be part of the journey to create engaging and memorable experiences for the consumer as the brand continues to flourish.”
RichRelevance’s integrated product suite and proven, real-time infrastructure are built from the ground up to help retailers and brands improve shopping for their customers. The company was recently named the #1 most influential vendor in personalisation by Internet Retailer magazine for the second year in a row. Its leadership and core team were responsible for key technology developments at Amazon, Overstock, PayPal, eBay and Yahoo!, and brings an unprecedented understanding of the complexities and challenges of omnichannel retail today.
For more information on RichRelevance solutions, please visit: https://richrelevance.com/solutions/technology/
RichRelevance introduces ‘Hill Climbing’ initiatives with data analytics and consumer group testing to boost PriceMinister.com’s competitive advantage
San Francisco, CA — 13 October 2014 — RichRelevance®, the global leader in omnichannel personalisation, today announced a 1-year consulting engagement with PriceMinister – Rakuten, intended to further leverage the RichRecs solution that has been live for over two years on PriceMinister.com.
As one of the leading retail sites in France, PriceMinister.com offers over 200 million products to customers, including a wide selection of books, consumer electronics, household items and clothing.
Using RichRelevance’s Big Data solution, PriceMinister-Rakuten offers product recommendations to shoppers they browse through website, mobile app and email. The recommendations are personalized in real time based on traffic patterns and consumer purchases, allowing shoppers to quickly and easily find the products they want. The RichRelevance Big Data infrastructure which supports these solutions is the 7th largest global Hadoop instance, an essential element for supporting the volume of traffic for a site like PriceMinister.com
This year, PriceMinister.com will invest further in its personalisation objectives by executing a year-long optimization roadmap in partnership with RichRelevance. Based on a test and learn methodology called ‘Hill Climbing’, this initiative aims at driving continuous, incremental impact through personalisation by testing different aspects of the customer journey (from design to pricing to marketing programmes) against a control group. By consolidating all information onto one single platform, RichRelevance will help PriceMinister formulate clearer, more targeted strategies to deliver highly personalised campaigns for individual customers while maximising business growth.
“Our customers have shown a strong appetite for personalised recommendations when browsing on our website, mobile app and promotional emails,” said Olivier Mathiot, CEO at PriceMinister – Rakuten. “We expect this initiative to further improve the way shoppers engage with our product offering, and to present a unique competitive advantage for PriceMinister over other major retail brands in the long term.”
“One of the core benefits in using RichRelevance solutions is the automation of data analytics and personalisation. This engagement will free up time for our IT and ecommerce teams, as they no longer need to mine through massive volumes of customer data in search of vital business insights that can improve the bottom line,” said Mathiot.
“We are delighted to deepen our partnership with PriceMinister – Rakuten as they continue evolving their personalisation strategy and vision,” said Nicklas Larsson, EMEA Managing Director of RichRelevance. “Leveraging customer data to drive incremental improvements will reap benefits that translate to huge wins not only for an exceptional online shopping experience, but also for resource optimisation and business growth.”
Home improvement retailer leverages data-driven personalization to deliver recommendations based on consumer behavior, likes and profile data
San Francisco, CA – Sept. 12, 2013 – RichRelevance, the global leader in omni-channel personalization, today announced that Build.com has implemented the company’s RichRecs personalization suite to deliver highly relevant and curated experiences at every possible customer touch point. The implementation across seven sites, which was completed in a record eight days, enables the retailer to leverage data to present tailored recommendations, offers or content that provides a more helpful, intuitive customer experience for shoppers across channels, while driving sales and average order value (AOV) for Build.com, ranked #80 on the Internet Retailer 500.
“Personalization plays a key role in supporting our goal of being a trusted resource for our customers – regardless of where, when and how they choose to shop,” said Brandon Proctor, VP of Marketing at Build.com. “Great personalization leverages data to fuel an intuitive and helpful shopping experience in service to our customers as they move throughout a site. That’s the true power of personalization—when smart, behavior-based algorithms can pave the way from inspiration to installation. RichRelevance understand this promise and the emphasis we place on our customers’ satisfaction, and has been instrumental in making the experience better for our customers online.”
As the third-largest online home improvement company, Build.com leverages RichRelevance’s technology to present multiple recommendation placements on pages throughout all of its sites—home, category, item and cart pages, as well as in email.
Build.com had previously worked with two other vendors – one that had an add-on personalization solution as part of its ecommerce package, and another that was a stand-alone personalization vendor. While the first vendor integrated seamlessly with the company’s existing analytics platform, it required a major commitment of time and energy for customization from the internal team. The second vendor lacked the functionality and capability to customize and build out segments, or to create the frictionless personalized experience Build.com was searching for.
Ultimately, Build.com made the decision to partner with RichRelevance based on the sophistication and large number of RichRecs’ algorithms (100+) and the system’s massive customization abilities. “RichRelevance has customization abilities that are 4-5 times that of competitors, and has targeting capabilities built into the solution—with no separate vendor needed— and that was very appealing. The system had the equivalent of a lot of hard coding we were already doing. The fact that copy could be swapped out by our merchandising team and there was no heavy JavaScript required was ideal, ” says Proctor.
“Build.com has a deep commitment to its customers and has leveraged technology and data to deliver an experience that rivals that of an in-store shopping journey,” said Diane Kegley, CMO of RichRelevance. “We are excited to work hand-in-hand with Build.com to deliver personalization that builds and maintains lasting customer relationships.”
About RichRelevance
RichRelevance is the global leader in omni-channel personalization. More than 160 international companies use RichRelevance to turn data into actionable insight, which delivers the most relevant experience for consumers as they shop across web, store and mobile. RichRelevance drives more than one billion decisions every day, and has delivered over $8 billion in attributable sales to its clients, which include Walmart, Marks & Spencer and Cdiscount. Recently, the company opened its cloud-based platform to allow clients to easily merge disparate data sources and build real-time applications tailored to their specific business needs. RichRelevance is headquartered in San Francisco and serves clients in 40 countries from 10 offices around the globe. For more information, please visit www.richrelevance.com
The internet has created a platform where customers no longer value brand loyalty, according to a survey by Forrester Research.
Almost 60% of UK shoppers have not decided on the brand they will purchase before researching or buying a product online, the study suggests. Some 86% of respondents use ratings and reviews for online purchases and 44% go online before buying products in-store.
59% of UK shoppers have not decided on the brand they will purchase before researching or buying a product online.
Those of you working the very front lines in the retail sector know the realities of operating in this new, new economy. And frankly, we are entering un–chartered waters as we now must market and merchandise to a new type of customer motivated by not just price but something much deeper—fear.
As Paco Underhill, the renowned retail consultant and author of “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping” noted in his recent interview with Time, today’s consumer is “dazed and confused” and is making the decision to purchase or not to purchase based on fear of the unknown—will I have a job tomorrow? Will my credit card company shrink my credit line? Will my retiree benefits continue to be provided by my employer? It is the culmination of these true “life” issues that are ruling whether a consumer’s entire cart makes it to the check out, or if it’s abandoned mid-way through the shopping experience.
The fear driving the consumer mindset is one that we cannot directly control but one that online retailers may help ease by providing content tools to help consumers make informed purchase decisions. Brand new research we released this week with JupiterResearch and Bazaarvoice clearly proves that online shoppers value peer-influenced content almost as much as the web sites where they actually purchase products. And while peer-influenced content—including personalized product recommendations—is highly valued by all consumers, it is much more relevant to shoppers with tighter pocketbooks who are more reluctant to spend. It helps them feel confident that the purchases they are making are the right ones because their shopping peers are validating their decisions.
The Jupiter study found that nearly half of online shoppers (48%) plan to spend less this year but a majority (61%) of those reluctant to make certain purchases can be positively influenced by what Jupiter calls “Content Connectors”—shopping resources based on peer-input. The ultimate in peer-influenced content, personalized product recommendations, are considered useful by seven out of ten online shoppers who plan reduced spending in the coming year.
The message for online retailers is clear: we cannot hold out for an improved economy and a return to higher consumer spending. Even when growth returns, consumer behavior will most likely lag behind the growth curve. In response, merchants must align all their resources to capture and influence the consumers they do reach, using the tools and methods available to them to hold onto these shoppers. By neglecting to add tools that reassure the new, increasingly hesitant consumer, retailers risk customers visiting another site where they can obtain the content connectors to feel confident in their purchase decisions. Given the results of this study and the realities of this new, new economy, in the coming months, retailers should:
Bridge the Gap: Marketers must examine the customer shopping experience between the front door and the checkout to ensure shoppers are getting the information and “content connection” to increase confidence in purchase decisions.
Engage with Shoppers: Taking a page from Paco Underhil’s book, “Why We Shop: The Science of Online Shopping,” online retailers should pay close attention to the “Rate of Interception” – that is the level of interactivity a shopper has with the content, tools and resources on a web site which, according to Underhill, in the offline world generate higher sales and loyalty among customers. Introducing interactive elements to encourage consumers to engage with merchandise and product selection will encourage shoppers to stay and shop – rather than jump off to another competitive site.
Be Social: Assist consumers with their spending reluctance by personalizing their online shopping experiences with “peer” based shopping tools including the “Three R’s”: Recommendations, Ratings and Reviews.
Be Transparent: Help consumers overcome their spending reluctance with clearly stated customer service options, flexibility in multi-channel shopping and better returns and guarantee policies.
Online-retail industry analyst Patti Freeman Evans of Forrester Research will be joining executives from Bazaarvoice and richrelevance at two upcoming events to present and discuss the findings in further detail; the New York event takes place March 3rd, and the San Francisco event on March 26th. For more information please visit https://www.bmmreg.com/Engaged/