Headline FeedsCRM Buyer Talkback
|
|
See Full Story
"You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" -- "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" It seems painfully obvious now, but to the characters in Reese's famous candy commercials of the 1970s and 1980s, chocolate and peanut butter do actually go together quite well. In fact, what the initially skeptical characters learned through a somewhat painful cross-sell process -- usually by bumping into each other -- was that these complementary ingredients together made each one better.
Recommendations offer many benefits for e-tailers and consumers
Posted by: Rhoppe 2009-06-24 10:25:16 In reply to: Michael Dadoun
Thank you for this insightful piece about how online retailers can use recommendations to cross-sell and increase sales. You are absolutely correct. Understanding customers’ needs and presenting the right solution at the right time can have an incredible impact on retailers’ bottom lines.
I just wanted to add a few thoughts to your comments. First, in order to really personalize these product recommendations, retailers have to get involved in the process. They know their business – and their customers – the best, so they should actively guide and focus recommendations based on their unique merchandising needs. On a similar but separate note, the computer algorithms that decide what products to show are not all created equal. Today’s leading recommendations engines need to consider much more than simply what other shoppers have purchased in the past or what other shoppers “like them” have looked at or purchased. They should also factor in where each visitor comes from on the Web, his or her “clickstream” across the site, changing cart contents, buying history, and the relationships among products in the catalog.
Of course, if the thought of nearly doubling their sales (according to the above story) and increasing customer satisfaction isn’t enough for online retailers, they should also consider the intelligence and efficiency that automated recommendations can provide. Recommendations, and other Web site optimization services, can provide online retailers with greater insight into customer behavior and help them discover a wider range of products.
I just wanted to add a few thoughts to your comments. First, in order to really personalize these product recommendations, retailers have to get involved in the process. They know their business – and their customers – the best, so they should actively guide and focus recommendations based on their unique merchandising needs. On a similar but separate note, the computer algorithms that decide what products to show are not all created equal. Today’s leading recommendations engines need to consider much more than simply what other shoppers have purchased in the past or what other shoppers “like them” have looked at or purchased. They should also factor in where each visitor comes from on the Web, his or her “clickstream” across the site, changing cart contents, buying history, and the relationships among products in the catalog.
Of course, if the thought of nearly doubling their sales (according to the above story) and increasing customer satisfaction isn’t enough for online retailers, they should also consider the intelligence and efficiency that automated recommendations can provide. Recommendations, and other Web site optimization services, can provide online retailers with greater insight into customer behavior and help them discover a wider range of products.
