Catalogers have been the most successful merchants on the web so far because they know direct selling and fulfillment and their merchandise is already organized in a numbered system that both the customer and the company know. To continue to be successful on the web they should leverage that organization into their web-site search functions, analysts say. “If you have a catalog and you don’t offer search by catalog number on your web site, you’re missing the boat,” says Arvin Jawa, manager at retail consultants LakeWest Group of Cleveland.
But e-retailers should not stop there, he says. Offering advanced search that allows customers to search on a number of criteria is crucial. Jawa notes that outdoor sporting goods retailer Cabelas.com has a particularly effective advanced search that allows searching by keyword or product, then by other criteria that the customer wishes to input, such as size or color. “It allows a very broad search that many other sites don’t have,” he says. “I see mostly keyword searches, but it’s easier to narrow your selection when you have multiple search criteria.”
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