At Talbots, a search for increased web sales pays off
Citing an IDG study, Kate Scully, e-commerce merchandise manager of Talbots Inc., told a general session at last week’s eTail 2002 conference in Boston that 70% of web shoppers cannot find the merchandise they are looking for when they search through retail web sites. “They try one more time and then they leave for good,” she said. “Isn’t that your worst nightmare?”
In her view, the problem lies with faulty search engines and with buried search functions. “When I go to a brick-and-mortar store, I just need a sales associate to tell me where to find what I’m looking for,” she noted. “Most e-retailers want to mimic this model online, but most e-businesses lack a virtual sales associate.”
To illustrate her point, she revealed how she recently searched a number of general merchant web sites looking for a “clutch,” a woman’s handbag. The search results turned up nothing close to a purse, but they did locate a sewing machine, a drill and a lawn mower, all of which have the word “clutch” in their product descriptions.
Scully concedes that prior to upgrading its search function, Talbots`s search engine descriptions were rigid and failed to perform to the company’s satisfaction. Further, the search function was not available on the home page. But last March, Talbots installed Easy Ask’s Precision Search software, which the company was able to implement within 25 days without assigning a dedicated team for the project and with minimal coding. Yet, the function integrates easily with the company’s product database stored on its IBM mainframe. In addition to ease of implementation, Scully said Talbots chose the Easy Ask software because it was capable of intuitively understanding “what was being asked in the context” of the search and because it had a proven track record at retail web sites for immediately increasing revenue and average order volumes.
Since installing the Easy Ask product, the number of product searches has increased 267%, while average orders have grown 18% and conversion rates have improved by 34%, Scully reported. In addition to the new software, Talbots enhanced product searches by putting the search function on the home page as well as other pages throughout the site.
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