Callaway Golf Pre-Owned triples conversion rate with new site search

After it launched a new site search function earlier this year that assists cross-merchandising efforts, Callaway Golf Pre-Owned tripled its sales conversion rate, chief marketing officer Brian Henley tells InternetRetailer.com.

Callaway Golf Pre-Owned, a unit of Callaway Golf Co., sells over the web Callaway products that have been traded for new products at golf equipment shops. Callaway buys the pre-owned inventory, refurbishes the items, and sells them over CallawayGolfPre-Owned.com.

But because golf clubs can come in a large number of varieties—for example, steel or graphite shafts and other characteristics catering to different levels of a customer’s golfing ability—it can be difficult for Callaway’s online customers to find the particular product they need, Henly says.

“We do a pretty good job with our site navigation, but we found that site search is second nature to many people,” he says. “A lot of customers know what they’re looking for and want to search for it, and our new parametric search allows visitors to sort quickly through thousands of clubs.”

Callaway implemented a new site search engine from Verity Inc. earlier this year, replacing a basic search function that was limited in its ability to sort through product SKUs or support cross-merchandising.

The Verity search tool is integrated with Callaway’s product database and lets Henly create in minutes cross-promotions that appear in search results, he says. “We do in minutes what would have taken days under the old way, which would have require writing code into our web site,” he says.