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Boden, LED Hut and SwimShop Talk ROI at Internet Retailing Expo

Posted by SLI SystemsConferences, Search Conferences, Success Stories

This week at the Internet Retailing Expo in Birmingham, England, thousands of e-commerce retailers are attending presentations, browsing the exhibit hall and taking part in workshops to connect with peers and gain insight into how they can improve their business in a multichannel ecosystem. Among the 60 retail speakers at the event are several SLI customers.

MarkSmearPrezIRX14In a presentation on the topic of connecting shoppers to the products they’re most likely to buy, Keith Scott of LED Hut and Mark Sear of SwimShop spoke to an over-filled room about the results they’ve seen using SLI Learning Search technology and other SLI e-commerce acceleration solutions. LED Hut is the UK’s largest retailer of LED lighting products, while SwimShop is the Swim Specialist for Sports Direct, the UK’s largest sports retailer.

 

Here are a few comments from their presentations:

  • “SLI is giving us an estimated 400% to 500% ROI.” – Mark Sear, SwimShop
  • “My recommendation: I would implement SLI.” – Mark Sear, SwimShop
  • “Keyword suggestions with images and descriptions help our customers find what they’re searching for.” – Keith Scott, LED Hut
  • “The technology learns from visitor behavior to deliver the most relevant products.” – Keith Scott, LED Hut
  • “We use SLI search to examine the customer journey and improve the user experience.” – Keith Scott, LED Hut

In a separate presentation, Boden E-commerce Manager Paul Knutton presented a session on best practices for offering your e-commerce site across multiple countries and languages. Also speaking to a standing-room-only crowd, Knutton provided examples and metrics on how SLI Systems has helped with Boden’s international reach. His comments included:

  • “What SLI does particularly well is make sense of non-English languages.”
  • “Our search users convert at 1.77x the rate of non-search users and spend 2x more than what non-search users spend.”

To read more about how Boden, LED Hut and other leading companies around the globe use SLI to increase their profitability, take a look at our case studies.

If you’re at IRX today, stop by to see us on the show floor or in the Top 500 Lounge. Otherwise, keep an eye on our Events page to see where SLI will be in the coming months.

Advice for eCommerce Success, Live from IRCE

Posted by Terry CostaConferences, eCommerce, Mobile/Tablets, Navigation Tips, Site Search, Site Search Tips, Success Stories

We may be halfway through the last day of the exhibit hall at the World’s Largest eCommerce Event, but there’s a lot yet to see and learn today for those at IRCE 2013, the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Here are some of the highlights so far, and a couple opportunities still coming up today.

Al Gore Keynote: Focus on Mobile and Go Global

In his keynote address, Vice President Al Gore showed excitement about the growth of eCommerce. He noted that retail comprises 7% of the U.S. GDP, and presented other facts suggesting that he understands the potential boom in growth of online retail – especially in the mobile area, as there are already 1.5 billion smartphone users in the world.

He also focused on the need to think globally, saying “Your customers are global, your competitors are global. The Internet connects billions of people and smart devices… If you keep on your toes and innovate properly, the opportunities are boundless.”

Success Stories from eTailers

While the show is filled with vendors that promise to optimize one area or another of your online business, one of my favorite parts of conferences like IRCE is hearing from the online retailers themselves.

I have had the opportunity to listen in on success stories from seven different eTailers presenting at the SLI Theater in booth #501. JAM Paper, Samuels Jewelers, PartySuppliesDelivered and Envelopes.com have already presented on how they’ve increased their conversions with better search results and site navigation. One of these businesses, Samuels Jewelers, said in a press release today that by using advanced site search features, they were able to realize three times higher conversion rates and double the per-visit value for search users on their site.

Still on the Schedule Today

The following success story presentations are happening at the SLI Theater, booth #501, today:

1 p.m. ReNew Life

2 p.m. Steiner Tractor

3:30 p.m. Vermont Teddy Bear

If you can’t make it to the above live presentations, take a look at some of the following case studies for ideas on how to improve your online business.

Find Your Way Out of Any Paper Jam with This Online Store

Posted by Dawn MortensenConferences, eCommerce, Navigation, Site Search, Success Stories1 comment

This is third in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. Also in this series, read about Party Supplies Delivered and Vermont Teddy Bear, and see live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June 3-6.

Jam Paper & Envelope, a top source for paper crafts, creative giftwrap and all other things paper-related, has been featured in Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living and Country Living Magazine, among others. With its flagship New York City store, a successful online retail operation, and two other store locations, the paper company has been able to succeed both in the brick-and-mortar and eCommerce worlds.

JamPaper.com offers more than a million variations of specialty envelopes, paper, cardstock, gift cards and other paper goods, with 70% of its sales going to businesses that place large orders for marketing promotions, weddings or other events. The business started two generations ago and has remained in the family, with grandson Andrew Jacobs leading the effort to create the eCommerce site. Jam Paper first went online in 2004 and the site traffic is growing steadily.

“Our initial site search was rudimentary,” Jacobs said. “But since we’ve started online we’ve been constantly working on improving.”

One of the challenges for JamPaper.com was to help their users find the exact product they wanted among the enormous number of items and pages. Envelopes, for example, are one of their most common searches, but envelopes can come in 50 colors and 50 sizes – with many small variations for each. Since they improved their site search and navigation, Jam Paper has made the following improvements so users can more easily find and purchase the exact product(s) they want:

  • Made site search results more relevant and incorporated sales data into search results tuning so the most popular items come up higher in results.
  • Added synonym suggestions to improve the results on search terms that previously turned up with poor results.
  • Incorporated Rich Auto Complete to auto-populate suggestions based on popular search terms and take users directly to the product page.
  • Analyzed and restructured data internally to improve search results.
  • Added merchandising banners to search results pages.
  • Used A/B testing to identify additional improvements that will increase conversions.

By analyzing their search data on an ongoing basis, Jam Paper continuously improves their online user experience. The impact on online sales is “crawling upwards and keeps getting better,” Jacobs said.

At IRCE in Chicago June 4 and 5, Andrew Jacobs will be at the SLI Theater to share the tips and tricks he’s learned for improving Jam Paper’s eCommerce site search, navigation and SEO. Stop by Booth #501 to meet him or to get a free site critique from the SLI Systems team.

Other SLI Theater presenters include Steiner Tractor, Envelopes.com, Samuels Jewelers and ReNew Life. See the full schedule of presentations here.

A Beary Good Success Story: Vermont Teddy Bear

Posted by Dawn MortensenConferences, eCommerce, Navigation, Site Search, Success Stories

This is second in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. See live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June 3-6.

Ever heard of a Bear-Gram®? How about a Pajama-Gram®? The same company that sends both types of cuddly gifts to more than 150,000 customers each year is Vermont Teddy Bear. As an 11-time Platinum Honoree in BizRate.com’s Circle of Excellence awards, Vermont Teddy Bear is among the world’s best online stores in Ease of Ordering, On-Time Delivery, Product Selection, Customer Support, Repurchase Intent and Overall Satisfaction, according to millions of BizRate customers.

Since 1981, Vermont Teddy Bear has offered high-quality, U.S.-made bears in the style of the original Teddy Roosevelt Bear from 1902. The bears can be personalized and are delivered overnight in a special box complete with air hole, game and candy treat (in case the bear gets bored or hungry on the way to its new owner, says the company).

As the word about Vermont Teddy Bear’s BearGrams first spread through radio ads in the ‘80s, the company expanded to include PajamaGram, which delivers gifts of cozy, quality pajamas, as well as CalyxFlowers, which delivers bouquets and other floral gifts from growers around the world. The sister companies have operated successful online retail operations for well over a decade.

Partnering to Increase Online Sales

Vermont Teddy Bear has its own team of eCommerce experts who work with partners to optimize their online reach. Since early 2008, Vermont Teddy Bear has used SLI Systems to improve the brand’s site search, navigation, mobile commerce and search engine rankings. At PajamaGram.com, SLI Learning Search ensures that the most popular products – as well as those the company specifically wants to promote, like their family set pajamas – are those first displayed in relevant search results. SLI Learning Navigation pages also make it easy for visitors to shop for pajama gifts by size. The result? More families and gift-givers finding matching pajama sets in the right size.

Vermont Teddy Bear’s Director of eCommerce Operations, Victor Castro, will showcase the business’ online successes at the SLI Theater, booth #501, during the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) in Chicago June 3-6, 2013. See our full lineup of scheduled feature presentations, or just stop by at 3:30 on June 5 or 6 to see Victor. Wearing your pajamas is optional!

Reason to Party: 203% More Conversions

Posted by Dawn MortensenConferences, eCommerce, Navigation, Search Conferences, SEO, Site Search

This is first in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. See live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June 4-6.

Every eTailer knows this: You can’t get people to buy what they can’t find.

In the online party supply world, for example, a consumer has dozens of choices for where to buy a $250 life-sized Dr. Who TARDIS. If your site doesn’t appear high in Google results for this item – or if your customers can’t find the science fiction party supplies on your site – then your conversion rates will be as unpredictable as is the TARDIS’ ability for accurate time travel.

PartySuppliesDelivered.com is one among dozens of online party supply stores. With more than 4,000 products and the backing of parent company Mattress USA, PartySuppliesDelivered.com had a couple great things going for it. But there was one major problem: Customers could not find what they were looking for.

The party supplier’s original site search technology was the default search included with its eCommerce platform. It ranked search results only by the number of times the search term was found in the description, instead of ranking search results by relevance. This limited approach led to skewed results and frustrated potential customers.

To solve this problem, Party Supplies Delivered put its search function and site navigation into the full-service care of SLI Systems. As customers began to find more relevant results for their searches, the business improvements were remarkable; the bounce rate dropped 40 percent, page views increased by 132 percent and conversions went up by 203 percent. Key features like focused category pages, rich auto-complete and user-generated SEO are among the changes that are turning the business around.

“Now when customers drill into a subcategory, they really browse around; pages per visit are up 111 percent. This increases their average order too,” said Ian MacDonald, VP of eCommerce & Marketing for Party Supplies Delivered.

To learn more about how advanced site search and navigation technology helps Party Supplies Delivered, read their case study. If you’re coming to IRCE, stop by the SLI Theater at booth #501, where you can see a live demo from our customers including Ian from Party Supplies Delivered – plus get a free site critique. We look forward to seeing you there!

SLI at the Search Marketing Expo!

Posted by Kemberly GongConferences, eCommerce, SEO

Terry Costa, VP of Marketing at SLI Systems, spoke last night at the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) in San Jose, Calif., on how to improve your eCommerce site’s search engine optimization (SEO). In addition to using techniques like User-Generated SEO, he also highlighted the importance of improving the user experience of landing pages.

According to Costa, most consumers use similar keywords when searching the Internet for an eCommerce site that offers the product they want. When searching for a product on a retail site itself, they tend to vary their search phrases more. He also mentioned that the search box on an eCommerce site is one of rare places where visitors actually tell a retailer what their intent is. Matching those keywords with products they actually click-on and capturing this data is very important in improving not only your conversion rates, but also your SEO efforts.

motorcycle superstore - MBOS1

motorcycle superstore - MBOS

Costa also talked about how imperative it is that you help customers find what they’re looking for quickly once they land on your site. Focusing on the user experience by showing visitors more sorting options, refinements, similar products, merchandising information like “3 left” or “free shipping”, is important to help reduce abandonment.

It’s also helpful to show users other recommended products when they enter your site through a link from an Internet search engine. Let’s say a customer searches google for “scorpion exo 900” and clicks on the first link with that title. It will take them to a Motorcycle Superstore product detail page.

However, if that exact helmet isn’t what they want, Motorcycle Superstore uses that search term to recommend other relevant items that match the phrase, to ensure that customers see other possible items they might like.

Surveys by SLI Systems have shown that 73% of visitors will leave a site within two minutes if they are unable to find what they are searching for. By giving them other options, you’re increasing the chance they’ll stay on the site and make a purchase.

To learn more about improving your site’s SEO, email us at discovery@sli-systems.com

Customer Profile: Steve Elkins from WEBS

Posted by Kemberly GongConferences, eCommerce3 comments

While we love talking with our clients about site search and navigation, it’s also a nice break to see our clients in action. Last week, I caught up with Steve Elkins, Co-Owner with his wife Kathy, of WEBS, one of the largest independent retailers of yarn in the country.

photo 5

Elkins was attending Stitches West 2013, one of the largest yarn and crochet shows that features classes and sessions as well as a market for knitting and crochet enthusiasts to buy skeins of yarn in thousands of colors, weights and varieties.

WEBS is a family-owned business that Elkins’ mother started in their basement in 1974. Since then, it has grown to be the largest brick and mortar yarn retailer in the United States. When Elkins took over the business in 2002, he began working to improve the web business. In 2007, WEBS brought on SLI Systems to manage the search for their eCommerce site, www.yarn.com.

For knitters that live in the Northeast, making pilgrimages to their 16,000 square foot store in Northampton, MA is not uncommon. “Some people will go two, maybe three hours out of their way to visit the store,” said Elkins, who said the store has been likened as a Mecca for knitters.

photo 3

But for customers throughout the country who don’t have access to such a wide variety of products, they can access the huge inventory and wide selection that WEBS offers through www.yarn.com. They have a separate, larger warehouse to handle all shipping for the eCommerce business.

Elkins estimated that WEBS stocks roughly 400,000 units of yarn at any given time. With huge varieties, weights and colors to stock and sell, sorting through those products can be confusing for customers. SLI’s search and refinements have figured strongly in helping customers search a product or material, such as angora, and then refine the large selection down by brand, fiber, weight or price range.

“We tend to carry products you won’t find in the larger chain stores,” he said, such as hand-dyed yarns, a larger selection of wool yarns, discontinued and close out items and their own line of products.

photo 7

They’re continuing to develop their online business, starting with redesigning their site with responsive web design, to ensure that the site works well across a variety of mobile devices. He said they are also looking at smaller tweaks to improve the overall usability and site features.

Additionally, Elkins added, SLI’s reports help him stay up-to-date such as trending keywords to indicate popular products and other important analytics. SLI’s customer service team keeps him informed about new features that he can implement to continually improve the online shopping experience. As a longtime customer, he said the personalized service SLI has given through the years and the effectiveness of the search has made the choice easy.

“We have stayed with SLI for so long because it works,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

 

 

Come See Us at IRWD 2013

Posted by Terry CostaConferences, eCommerce, Press

Join us at the Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability Conference next week in Orlando. We’re talking usability and web design next week. Ryan Hennig from Miles Kimball is doing a presentation on Feb 12 at 9:00 am on the Top 10 Usabilty Challenges. Shaun Ryan, SLI Systems CEO and Kevin Metz VP of e-commerce at Caché will be presenting also Feb 12 at 1:30pm.

You won’t want to miss their presentation, “Take search beyond words: Develop a multi-faceted refinement strategy to deliver more sales”. Learn their best-practices for improving the online shopping experience through refinements and search facets, and hear new ideas for future innovation and improvement.

We will be holding an event on Monday evening from 7:15 pm – 8:15 pm in the Ballroom Commons, just outside from the Expo and Session halls. All attendees can try to ride a YikeBike! Never heard of a YikeBike? Well come see for yourself. There will be food and beverages provided.

Don’t forget to stop by our booth and learn how you can easily increase your site conversions with optimized site search and navigation. We’ll be at Booth #301.

See you there!

Improved Usability & Merchandising Are Keys to Growing Mobile Commerce

Posted by Terry CostaConferences, Merchandising, Mobile/Tablets, Reporting and Analytics
It’s no surprise that the mobile commerce market is growing incredibly fast – and this year experts predict a lot more mobile purchases during the holiday season than we saw last year. According to studies by Forrester Research, mobile retail and travel spending will double in 2012 over 2011 — and they project the market size to quadruple by 2017, with retail being the fastest growing mobile segment. This research and the expectations for a big increase in mobile shopping activity validate the need for retailers to develop user-friendly mobile commerce sites.

With that in mind, we announced today several new enhancements to our SLI Mobile site search solution, including: mobile Auto Complete, QR code integration, mobile banners, analytics tracking and multivariate testing (see our press release for more details).The new features and capabilities are designed to give online retailers better merchandising and customization options while improving customer engagement and the overall mobile search experience. 

Many of these new features have been developed to accommodate the needs of our growing mobile customer base, which recognizes the need for good usability on the mobile platform, as well as the ability to merchandise, test, and track performance of various design elements. Many of our existing clients are turning to us for their mobile site search implementations, including Dooney & Bourke, 24-Hour Fitness, Cache, MakeMeHeal.com and U.S. Toy/Constructive Playthings, among many more – and they’re seeing strong results in terms of how people interact with their mobile site and how that translates to more purchases.

This week, we’re showing off these new features and talking about best practices for mobile search at Mobile Commerce Forum in San Diego. If you’re interested in going mobile or need guidance on how to take your mobile site to the next level, stop by and visit us in booth #305, and get a first-hand view of our solution and its benefits. If you’re not in San Diego, feel free to drop a comment here.

Making Connections at IRCE 2012

Posted by Terry CostaConferences

Next week’s IRCE 2012 is one of the biggest events in online retailing. As we talked about in our recent newsletter, this year’s event promises to be the biggest ever.

The theme this year is “Connecting with the 21st Century Customer”, and we took this message to heart by including a theater-style area in our booth, where a bunch of our clients will be sharing their experiences with SLI Systems, and how site search allows them to connect with their consumers. These retailers are benefiting from the latest advances in site search and including non-product content on their eCommerce sites, such as videos, blogs posts, tweets and Facebook ‘likes’ in search results. Most are also delivering a complete experience for their consumers not only on traditional websites, but on mobile devices and tablets as well. The presentations will take place throughout 3-days and will include:

• Ian MacDonald – US Mattress/PartySuppliesDelivered.com/Furniture Crate

• Ben Quigley – Healthy Directions

• Laura Santos – Envelopes.com

• Chris Reighley – totes-ISOTONER

• Richard Sexton – Carolina Rustica

• Franck Ardourel – 24-Hour Fitness

• Don Carnes – Revival Animal Health

• Joshua Wood – Ozbo

• John Santora (SLI CSM) – on behalf of Abe’s of Maine

• Jeff Hefland – Monsterproducts.com

Along with our clients, Shaun Ryan our CEO and recognized search expert, will be connecting with retailers by sharing site search best practices for driving visitors to the search box, and getting more people to convert and increase their average order value. Come listen to Shaun on June 6, at 1:30pm in the E-Commerce Technology Theater, located in the Exhibit Hall of the McCormick Place.

Some interesting workshops and discussions are also planned. I recommend catching as many as you can from the following:

Technology Workshop – Tuesday, June 5

  • 8:30-8:45am – Bernadine Wu of our partner FitForCommerce will open the workshop with a discussion of what all e-retailers need to know about tomorrow’s technology
  • 1:15-2:15pm – Ben Quigley, Vice President, Internet Channels of SLI customer Healthy Directions will participate in a panel on “Product + Content + Asset Management: Tools that improve efficiency and the bottom line”

Wednesday, June 6

  • 11:15-11:45am (Retail Chains Track) – Forrester Research analyst Brian Walker will lead a discussion on “Leveraging a commerce platform in the era of the anywhere, anytime, any device consumer”
  • 2:30-3:15pm (Advanced E-Marketing Track) – SLI customer Ashley Harmeling, Director of Marketing, Rue LaLa will lead a talk on “How mobile maximizes marketing”
  • 1:30-2:30pm (E-Commerce Tech Theater) — SLI CEO Shaun Ryan will discuss using site search, navigation and merchandising to create a better user experience and increase revenue

Thursday, June 7

  • 1:45-2:30pm (Social Commerce Track) – “Making your product reviews do more” will be given by Nadim Hossain, Vice President, Marketing, PowerReviews
  • 3:45-4:15pm (Design & Merchandising Track) – “Refining site search to meet your company’s needs” will be presented by Chris Reighley, Director of E-commerce for SLI customer totes-ISOTONER

If you’re planning on attending IRCE next week, don’t be a stranger, please drop buy our booth. We at #501.

Cheers!

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