Site search is returning results that have Guess executives grinning.
Consumers who use the newly enhanced search function on Guess’ Web sites convert to buyers seven times more often than those who don’t. The use of the search option is up 300 percent since upgrades were made six months ago, and more changes are in the pipeline, said Michael Relich, chief information officer at Guess.
The results indicate shoppers are finding what they are looking for when they visit the guessfactory.com, guess.com and marciano.com Web sites. That was not always the case before senior e-commerce manager Nirbhay Gupta and his team rewrote the sites’ front- and back-end systems based on Microsoft’s .Net environment. Search and navigation software from Mercado Software were added, along with new payment options such as PayPal and Bill Me Later.
Prior to the Web sites’ overhaul, up to half of all visitors’ search efforts generated a “not found,” meaning key words they entered did not match up with anything on the site. That dead end led only to lost sales.
“We had no way to track what people were typing in and what the failures were,” Relich said. With the new search software, Guess can review weekly reports of search terms that led to “not founds” and correct the problem by adding select words to the database. The next time those terms are entered, the search function will lead the shopper to relevant product and other site content.
“You can’t even imagine what people are typing in,” he said, noting “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and other media outlets rapidly add new words and expressions to the popular lexicon. “But you look at it and say, ‘Wow.’ If somebody is putting in this term, well, let’s go and link that to the category we think is appropriate.”
Already, the library of apparel-specific terms is comprehensive, Relich said, thanks to contributions from other retailers using the same software, such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney.
Still, keeping a library of search terms current is no easy task, and it’s never done. “You need to keep up to date about what terms are used for your product lines,” said Patti Freeman Evans, senior analyst, Jupiter Research. Timberland came to appreciate that fact when “steak & cheese” was a popular — and perplexing — search term that would lead shoppers nowhere on its site. Only after much digging did Timberland learn that “steak & cheese” was street slang for a specific boot it sold, so the company adapted the search accordingly.
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Another enhancement to Guess’ sites is a “narrow your search” link, which prompts shoppers to specify a color and price range within a product category. A general search for “handbags” brings up 61 product choices; however, selecting “black” and “$50-$100” to refine the search delivers up a more manageable 16 handbags meeting that criteria.
Relich said excellent site search is critical for companies selling in multiple channels.
“If you are Abercrombie or Bebe, you’ve got [only] two channels — the store and Web site. You’ve got a captive audience. But Guess is sold to department stores,” he said. “Our competitors are Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s. They carry our product. So I think it’s more important for us to have [a] good search than it is for a brand that doesn’t have a wholesale channel.”
The $936 million apparel company, which has been one of the best-performing retail shares of late, operates about 320 stores in North America.
Expanding payment options to include PayPal and Bill Me Later is an especially good fit for Guess’ twentysomething customer demographic. The average order for Guess online shoppers using PayPal is about 20 percent higher than credit card orders, and there is a lot of money waiting to be spent, Relich said.
About $1 billion is currently on deposit in PayPal users’ accounts, a PayPal spokesman told WWD, and Relich said those untapped funds represent a real opportunity. “When people have balances there, they use it for a lot of impulse spending,” he said. Guess also is evaluating Google Checkout, a new payment service introduced in July, but has not decided whether to add the option.
In coming months, Guess will continue to enhance its Web sites with new functionality, such as dynamic discounts targeted to individuals based on their shopping behavior.
“If someone abandons a cart or left it open and we start tracking when they came back, and they look at the same item, we can say, ‘Hey, buy that right now and we’ll give you a discount right now, and it only applies to you,'” Relich said. “Certain things like that are going to be pretty exciting.”