Prior to this fall, online retailer Figi’s Gifts in Good Taste had been creating product recommendations in house, guessing which products likely would go well with others. Recently, however, it automated product recommendations and has received quite a gift in return.
The conversion rate on recommended products clicked on has increased 119% this fall compared with last fall, the retailer reports. This is good news for Figi’s, which decided to automate product recommendations, using vendor MyBuys Inc., to increase conversions and customer satisfaction this holiday season.
Figi’s is a brand of Charming Shoppes, No. 103 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. It sells cheeses, meats, baked goods, chocolates and other gifts. Figi’s Gallery, which also displays product recommendations, sells home décor, housewares, jewelry, apparel and other products.
“This is the busiest time of year for Figi’s and we wanted to be prepared to serve our customers with the personalized attention they deserve,” says Kurt Officer, senior manager of e-commerce. “Out of the gate, web recommendations are converting with a 119% increase. We also anticipate that MyBuys recommendations will help increase the percentage of our orders placed on the web versus by phone or mail, which will improve service for our customers and make us more cost-efficient.”
MyBuys technology builds a profile for every customer based on the customer’s actions on the e-commerce site. It relies on anonymous cookies that give each consumer an identification number, allowing the recommendation system to track that consumer’s behavior.
“We look at everything: what they look at, what they abandon, what they check out with, their response to recommendations we make, whether they take action on abandoned items in their cart, how and where they navigate, what they search, and so on,” says Paul Rosenblum, vice president of products and strategy at MyBuys. “From all of that we derive attributes about the consumer. What is their price point sensitivity, are they a sale buyer, are they a trend follower? It’s a truly one-to-one approach, a unique profile for each and every consumer.”
54% of U.S. online shoppers notice product recommendations on e-commerce sites, according to a 2007 survey by Forrester Research Inc. 34% of those shoppers say they have made purchases based on recommendations.
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