Coldwater Creek Adds EasyAsk Search
Top-Rated Women’s Apparel Site Implements Precision Search Technology
to Further Improve Customers’ Online Shopping Experience
March 27, 2001 – Littleton, MA – EasyAsk Inc., a provider of natural language e-commerce search technology, announced today that Coldwater Creek, the leading women’s apparel, gift, and home retailer, will implement EasyAsk on its e-commerce Web sites, ColdwaterCreek.com and Gallery at the Creek. The new high precision search function will make finding products easier for Coldwater Creek customers.
EasyAsk is now live at www.galleryatthecreek.com and will be live on the Coldwater Creek apparel site within the next two weeks. With the EasyAsk precision search technology, customers can now efficiently search product catalogs as if they were speaking directly to a salesperson. For example, if a shopper is looking for pearl earrings for under $100, she can type in “pearl earrings under $100,” and EasyAsk will present only the products that match the requirements. EasyAsk’s language-understanding search technology allows customers to find exactly what they are looking for, through a standard search interface, without having to spend time sorting through irrelevant answers. Because EasyAsk is the only search technology that leverages all aspects of structured databases like product catalogs, merchants can even limit searches to items that are in stock at that moment and can present items in the most meaningful order.
While the Coldwater Creek site allows shoppers to use pull-down menus to search through the catalog, the site has had no free-form search function because the results that conventional search technologies generated were unacceptable. However, based on the results of detailed testing with EasyAsk, Coldwater Creek decided to implement the new technology.
“Coldwater Creek wanted a search technology that would enhance their already successful online business,” said Larry Harris, Chairman of EasyAsk. “EasyAsk dramatically improves the customer’s shopping experience by providing the only free-form natural language search interface that intelligently finds all directly relevant products using all the information in the site’s product catalog.”
“The number one request of customers at the Coldwater Creek Web site was a free-text search option,” said Karen Reed, Vice President & Director of Internet for Coldwater Creek. “We chose to implement the EasyAsk technology because we were impressed by the potential for additional revenue and customer satisfaction. We felt it was important to provide our customers with the ability to ask for exactly what they have in mind. EasyAsk’s emphasis on improving customers’ shopping experiences reinforces our own philosophy of providing superior customer service in every selling channel.”
Coldwater Creek, a multi-channel retailer of women’s apparel, jewelry, gifts and home merchandise, has operated one of the more successful consumer e-commerce sites. Media Metrix, a leading Web measurement company, has rated Coldwater Creek highly among all apparel sites on the Web. Coldwater Creek estimates that the Internet will account for 30% of its total business by year-end.
“We are pleased that Coldwater Creek customers will be able to experience how satisfying online shopping can really be,” said Harris. “At Coldwater Creek, customers will not have to sort through pages of irrelevant information. Instead, EasyAsk will allow Coldwater Creek customers to quickly find and buy.”
About EasyAsk
Headquartered in Littleton, MA, EasyAsk Inc. is a privately held, venture-funded company providing the most precise search technology for e-commerce Web sites and information portals. More than 6,500 companies have acquired the company`s core technology. Many small, medium, and large-scale deployments have been completed, including some with more than 10,000 users. Customers include e-commerce vendors, government agencies, major corporations and software developers. Investors include Sigma Partners, OneLiberty Ventures and Venture Capital Fund of New England.
About Coldwater Creek
Coldwater Creek is a multi-channel retailer of unique collections of classic, comfortable women`s apparel, jewelry, gift items, and soft-home merchandise through direct mail catalogs, e-commerce Web sites at http://www.coldwatercreek.com and http://www.galleryatthecreek.com, as well as retail stores in highly visible, well-trafficked locations. Through its core catalogs, which include Northcountry, Spirit of the West, Natural Elements and Coldwater Creek Home and through several specialty and seasonal books, the company uses its well-defined brand to target a large, affluent demographic of women between the ages of 35 and 55.
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CONTACT:
David Gunter
Coldwater Creek
208-265-3944
dgunter@thecreek.com
Jean Y. Bae
Ruder Finn
781-455-8250
baej@ruderfinn.com
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