'Net Features : merchandising

Voice-Over Merchandising in Site Search

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:08:00 GMT

Differentiating the on-site search experience is important for retailers and those that take its development seriously are poised for much greater success than those that do not.

And while this essential feature of e-commerce sites has been improved over the years in myriad ways (e.g. layout, autocomplete, product ratings, richer product images, inclusion of social content, etc.), there remains further opportunities for differentiation. For example, Internet site search provider Nextopia just announced Audio Voice-Over Merchandising.

Based on the keywords used by site visitors, merchants can present a unique audio message for the purpose of optimizing merchandising campaigns or highlighting certain products and promotions. In the case of Nextopia client Primitive Home Decors, a search for “Halloween” generated an audio message about discounts and free shipping Nextopia customers interested in the Audio Voice-Over Merchandising product need only upload a sound recording or record voice-overs directly within the products control panel.

“Many of our customers already leverage keyword based merchandising to display promotional banners based on specific keywords searched,” said Sanjay Arora, CEO of Nextopia. “And now with Audio Voice-Over Merchandising, they can take it one step further by presenting both a graphical representation as well as audio messaging.”

Recent Stories on Nextopia from Website Magazine:
- Magento Integrates Advanced Site Search from Nextopia

Google Commerce Search 3.0 Boasts New Features

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:49:00 GMT

Google announced an update to its Commerce Search (GCS) product today and the new features aim to provide merchants and shoppers a more interactive and engaging experience.

Google has integrated its instant search feature (search as you type – see below for image from babyage.com) into GCS 3.0, returning product results as users type into the search box. Merchants will also be able to better align offline and online sales by displaying to shoppers when a product is available in a nearby store – right in-line with the search results.

Merchants will also be excited about the enhanced merchandising capabilities within the updated GCS. Retailers can now create product promotions that will display in banners alongside related search queries and even set up query-based landing pages.

Still in development but apparently upcoming for GCS are product recommendations. The feature will enable shoppers to make purchase decisions by showing them what others viewed and ultimately bought.

While none of these features is terribly unique as other commercial platform have offered similar technologies in terms of recommendations and merchandising capabilities, it does show Google’s renewed focus on created a competitive offering for merchants.

Adobe Search&Promote Arrives in Style

Software Everywhere : feature — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:30:00 GMT

This week the site search market got a new player as Adobe has introduced Adobe Search&Promote. The site search and merchandising application aims to help marketers anticipate visitor search intent and promote the most relevant products and content...(read more)

Bevy - Social Shopping (Merchandising)

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

It seems that every third or fourth post on the weblog recently has something to do with social. Today is no different as Website Magazine staffers are at the Internet Retailer trade show. As you can imagine at an ecommerce convention, it's all about shopping and doing it well. Senior Editor Mike Phillips will be covering and reporting back on the sessions this afternoon and tomorrow, while I will be leading the insider interview charge. First up is Kevin Foreman of recently launched Bevy, a social shopping (dubbed a social fashion discovery service) solution where women "discuss and discover" fashion with friends and other members who share similar characteristics.

As you walk the hall of the IR tradeshow, one thing is clear - social is where it's at. Social merchandising, the integration of social networking and product discovery, is the focus of Bevy and while by all accounts a newborn babe in the world of shopping services (just 10 days old), Bevy is already one of the fastest growing applications on Facebook. The application enables users to discover styles from fellow members based on age, gender and body type. The benefit to retailers is that this social focus offers a direct connection to a quite valuable target market. With brands like Manolo Blahnik, Armani, Tretron and Zac Posen from 29 different retail partners such as Nordstrom, AEO, Areopostale, Guess! and others.

In a world where we all trust our peers more so than advertising and marketing, reccomendations (that seems to be a key theme in today's ecommerce environment) influence purchases more now than ever.