AI-powered recommendations increase Black Friday new user order rates by 150% compared to the previous period
Algolia, the leading API Platform for Search & Discovery, today announced the seamless implementation of Algolia Recommend, an AI-powered recommendations API, by Gymshark, a $1.45 billion fitness apparel & accessories brand. Algolia Recommend, which is now being used across 14 countries by Gymshark, is a secure and highly customizable recommendation engine that companies can use to create customized recommendation scenarios for online visitors. Algolia Recommend can be implemented in as little as six lines of code, creating a quick time-to-value. For Gymshark, a “You Might Like” carousel (aka Frequently Bought Together), powered by Algolia Recommend, was set up early in the implementation process and is already driving triple the online requests per month, with room to be optimized even further.
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“Recommendations can be a significant revenue driver and create superior customer experiences when done right. This attention to customer experience is one of the many reasons consumers have fallen in love with the Gymshark brand.”
“We’re a rapidly growing brand that can’t afford to be constrained by the constant upkeep and manual configuration that other recommendation providers make you go through,” said Ben Pusey, Software Product Owner at Gymshark. “Algolia’s API fits perfectly into our headless architecture and makes it easy to quickly get up-and-running. Additionally, we performed A/B testing between our incumbent platform and Algolia Recommend, and found Algolia’s performance significantly better with a 13% increase in order rate as well as a 10% increase in add-to-cart rate for returning customers.”
Gymshark has been a user of Algolia since July 2019 for a full range of e-commerce capabilities, including search, analytics, rules, personalization, dynamic reranking, and more. The retailer chose Algolia Recommend more recently to boost conversion rates, increase average order value, and improve customer satisfaction and retention. After A/B testing Algolia against its previous recommendation solution for two weeks, Gymshark experienced the following when Algolia Recommend was utilized:
- A higher conversion rate among Gymshark’s top 10 products;
- 5.5% increase in order rate for customers who clicked on a recommended product;
- 13% higher order rate from returning customers;
- 10% higher add-to-cart rate for returning customers;
- An increase from 1.1 to 1.4 clicks per online shopper.
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After testing was rolled out across all markets, Gymshark saw similar results, plus a sharp increase in mobile activity, with order rates on mobile increasing by an astounding 150% with the addition of Algolia Recommend. Once fully implemented, Algolia Recommend was also a key contributor to Gymshark’s 2021 Black Friday success by driving a 150% increase in order rates and a 32% increase in add-to-cart actions among new users, compared to the previous period.
“Algolia Recommend provides AI-based product discovery that can be deployed quickly and easily scaled as Gymshark continues to expand its product lines and rapidly growing customer base,” said Bernadette Nixon, Chief Executive Officer for Algolia. “Recommendations can be a significant revenue driver and create superior customer experiences when done right. This attention to customer experience is one of the many reasons consumers have fallen in love with the Gymshark brand.”
