Algolia Unveils Next Generation AI-Enhanced, Data-Driven Merchandising Studio
Algolia, the world’s only end-to-end AI Search and Discovery platform, today unveiled significant new capabilities that eliminate the frustration from having to manually merchandise hundreds of category and product landing pages, and drive greater efficiencies by using Algolia’s next generation AI-enhanced, data-driven Merchandising Studio that catapults businesses into a new era of efficiency and profitability.
Bernadette Nixon, Chief Executive Officer, Algolia: “Algolia’s new Merchandising Studio enables an innovative blend of top-tier human expertise and cutting-edge AI capabilities that create delightful, interactive shopping experiences curated with precision. Moreover, the AI-enhanced Merchandising Studio provides the ability to deliver fine-tuned recommendations and unparalleled personalization tailored to individual preferences, ensuring consumers keep coming back for more.”
According to Gartner: “Retailers that do not implement critical AI-led merchandising processes now to support the business’s transition to customer centricity will not survive.” (Source: Industry Insights: AI-Enabled Customer-Centric Merchandising for Retailers, 27 June 2023)
For merchandisers, digital marketers, and e-commerce professionals alike, the new Merchandising Studio delivers improved data and visibility functionality, which forms the backbone of informed decision-making, while enhanced recommendations capabilities will open doors to untapped opportunities.
Boosting Data and Visibility with Revenue Analytics
Algolia’s enhanced Merchandising Studio introduces a powerful new Revenue Analytics feature, equipping merchandisers with the ability to make informed, data-driven decisions instantly. This advanced capability enables merchandisers to assess the impact of their decisions on key business metrics such as average order value (AOV) and revenue per search/category. By surfacing information based on specific pricing and currency details, merchandisers gain predictive capabilities to optimize revenue generation, especially during critical decision-making scenarios like A/B tests.
Leveraging Seasonality Insights with Unlimited Events Retention
The addition of an Unlimited Events Retention feature in Algolia’s Merchandising Studio provides merchandisers with the ability to look back at an unlimited amount of years’ worth of events data, providing invaluable insights into seasonal trends and offers the historical context needed for informed planning.
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Delivering Unparalleled Visibility with Comparison Mode
Merchandisers crave control and transparency, and Algolia feeds this hunger with the introduction of its Comparison Mode feature within the Merchandising Studio. Recognizing that Searchandising is both an art and a science, this feature provides merchandisers with side-by-side, instant comparisons of results for any query as they adjust ranking and relevance settings. The new Comparison Mode feature will help identify optimal configurations to meet their goals, providing the merchandiser with unparalleled visibility and control of the user experience.
Elevating Merchandising Strategies with Personalized Recommendations
Merchandisers are on the hook for driving greater exposure to product catalogs and increasing the average order value. Algolia has added ‘Data-Driven Personalized Recommendations’, a set of features that seamlessly presents individualized recommendations to consumers with ‘Recommended for You’ and ‘Personalization Recommendation Carousels’. This approach aligns with the long-standing expectations of merchandisers, offering an effortless way to surface 1:1 personalized recommendations. As a pivotal first step towards a comprehensive suite of personalized recommendations, Algolia’s unique data-driven approach uses a superior AI framework to guide merchandisers in implementing personalized recommendations tailored to individual shoppers.
Bernadette Nixon added: “We know that a merchandiser’s success hinges on achieving larger order values in every session. With Data-Driven Personalized Recommendations, we provide merchandisers with a powerful tool to enrich their shoppers’ journey by presenting product offerings highly likely to be attractive and added to the cart.”
Bringing the Store to the Customer
Additionally, Algolia introduces its Image-Based Recommendations capability, which enables merchandisers to replicate the in-store experience online. This new capability, which will include a broad family of features (e.g., ‘complete the outfit’ and ‘looking similar’), reveals a set of products based on visual aspects, seamlessly matching any product a shopper shows interest in.
Algolia’s Image-Based Recommendations feature represents a significant leap forward for retailers, providing an immersive experience that closely mirrors the in-store ambiance. This feature not only enhances the interactive experience but also enables merchandisers to dynamically showcase their catalog, meeting the evolving expectations of today’s sophisticated consumers.
What’s next…
Algolia’s AI Attribute Enrichment feature will further empower merchandisers by enhancing SKUs by adding attributes to all SKUs using Generative AI thus creating a better search and discovery experience. For example, this will help automate the creation of product descriptions and key product attributes. This cutting-edge capability will enhance product catalog quality, leading to improved SEO, data hygiene, and user experiences. No longer will teams need to grapple with poor textual relevance, incomplete facets, and filters, or subpar product discovery experiences.
Algolia also adds a Merchandising by Group feature, which enables retailers to curate their digital storefronts with precision. This new capability will allow the display of a chosen number of items matching specific criteria at strategic positions within the Search or Category page product grid. Key use cases include:
- Offering prime positions as retail media spaces
- Highlighting promotions, sales, and trending brands
- Executing group-based ranking strategies
- Crafting visually appealing merchandising experiences
As Algolia continues to pioneer advancements in AI-driven e-commerce solutions, these new capabilities underscore the company’s approach to empowering merchandisers with zero code, 100% business user-friendly capabilities that not only meet but exceed the expectations of today’s digital shoppers – all built on a powerful AI platform.
Algolia is at NRF 2024: Retail’s Big Show – Booth #4146. Additionally, join Bernadette Nixon (Algolia CEO), Josh Platt (Rue Gilt Groupe, SVP Product and User Experience), and Michael Klein (Klein4Retail) for a keynote (in the River Pavilion, goTRG stage), in which they discuss how artificial intelligence will actually humanize the digital experience and enable more immersive shopping journeys than ever before.
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