Page 11 - How Top Merchants Create the Best Customer Experience

SPONSORED ARTICLE

An executive conversation
with Piyush Patel,
chief strategic business
development officer, Algolia
Robust search technology caters
to today’s consumer demands

Today’s consumers expect convenience above all when transacting the consumer wants. For example, if a customer is searching for a
online. They want to find what they’re looking for quickly and act toothbrush, don’t just show them general toothbrushes. Leverage data
easily — whether it’s buying a product, reserving a seat at a movie on previous purchases or profiles to personalize the results to get to the
or initiating a return. To explore these emerging trends in consumer right product easily.
behavior, Digital Commerce 360 recently spoke with Piyush Patel,
chief strategic business development officer at Algolia. Dig into the The loyalty data that companies collect should be put to work to help
Q&A below for his expert perspective on how technology that enables provide great customer experiences. And these technologies — such
search speed, scalability and relevance helps retailers meet these as loyalty, search and discovery — don’t require massive overhauls of
growing consumer demands. commerce or experience platforms. They’re valuable additions without
throwing everything out and starting from scratch.
How would you describe customers’
expectations today? How can retailers go about implementing
Whatever their intended goal, whether buying or returning something, this technology?
the modern customer wants immediate gratification or as close to that They should partner with a search technology provider like Algolia
as possible. Aside from physical goods, they also want digital bookings to improve their customers’ experiences by focusing on four critical
of tangible in-person experiences to be easy. For example, we no longer elements of the search function:
wait in line to buy our movie tickets. We buy them online ahead of time.
We choose our seats and send tickets to our friends instead of having 1. Speed. When building an experience, there’s so much extra logic
to wait for them at the door. This level of convenience and instant — the last thing a customer bought, where they live and how
gratification is what consumers today have come to expect. much inventory is in the warehouse near them. All this processing
happening in the background can make the page load slower.
What are some important ecommerce Algolia’s technology provides such amazing speeds that the
trends around customer experiences? extra steps to deliver more relevant results doesn’t impact their
experience speed.
Consumers are now deciding whether to shop with a retailer based on
its fulfillment and delivery capabilities. If customers don’t receive orders 2. Relevance. Make sure customers are seeing what they’re searching
in a day or two, they will likely shop elsewhere. And they want easy for. There’s a balance between what the consumer wants and what
returns processes as well. the brand wants to promote. Algolia helps retailers manage the
power of search with the insights to understand what that right
More importantly, they want to find the products they’re searching for balance is.
quickly. Marketplaces, popularized by Amazon, are becoming more
common among many retailers because they allow merchants to offer 3. Scalability. Focus on making sure the capabilities are ready for
a broader range of products and increase sales. But Amazon itself has scale, extra effort if required for a sudden burst of need isn’t
become chaotic. The ease and convenience are gone, at least in the easy to accommodate and take time away from creating new
discovery of products. It isn’t easy to quickly find what you’re searching capabilities if you have to ramp up infra for key events.
for because the system shows you what it wants before showing you
what you want, due to their growth in sponsored listings revenue.
4. Leveraging data. Retailers need to use their loyalty data to
personalize the experience and provide additional details to help
Retailers using marketplaces should be careful this doesn’t happen on customers make purchasing decisions. Algolia helps retailers drive
their platforms. It’s counterintuitive. Retailers should help consumers those experiences to closure by making it easier via our API to
find what they want, rather than sponsored results that might not be a fit incorporate that additional data. Customers have made a decision
for the intent. to share with you, give them value back for that choice.

What strategies or technologies should
they implement to improve customer
experiences?
Retailers need to ensure consumers see what they expect when they
search or browse. Tied to that, they also need to understand what