UK-based urban streetwear brand SikSilk saw a 25% increase in ecommerce purchases from on-site search and a 36% drop in site exits from its search pages after implementing AI-powered site search technology. The retailer partnered with solution provider Nosto to help it keep the products that appear in search results in line with inventory levels, while also increasing relevancy and preventing “dead-end” searches for which no products or an incomplete list of products are shown.
SikSilk previously relied on native search technology that didn’t have the capability to sort the products listed in search results based on their availability. As a result, products were being pushed that might only have had one available size in stock, among other potential problems. The new search tools enable SikSilk to create a global merchandising rule to ensure that all search results boost products with greater inventory and more SKU availability across size, color and style.
“Being able to adjust our search results in relation to these ranking rules on a global level was key for us in optimizing our search,” said Chris Longshaw, Ecommerce Manager at SikSilk in a statement.
SikSilk also struggled with the fact that certain search queries weren’t retrieving all relevant products, restricting the choice of items shown to shoppers and impacting possible conversions. Queries containing words such as colors were among the most problematic, according to Longshaw. The retailer has since utilized Nosto’s self-learning algorithms, powered by shopper behavior, to solve the issue without requiring manual effort.
Additionally, SikSilk was able to configure synonyms for terms shoppers enter in order to prevent search queries that led to no-results pages. For instance, it has grouped “jackets” along with “coats” and made “boots” include the “footwear,” “trainers” and “shoes” categories in the results.
“Our research suggests that around 65% of ecommerce brands don’t currently use merchandising to improve search performance,” said Antanas Bakšys, Head of Search at Nosto in a statement. “Merchandising can help you ensure search results are relevant while also highlighting the products you want shoppers to see and act on, such as products with high inventory, trending and seasonal items or related products with higher profit margins.”
