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Better service, increased turnover – lower costs
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"Recommendation engine" increases turnover and profit margins for online department stores
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Helpdesk service optimizes customer loyalty and satisfaction
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Self-learning software ensures no additional running costs
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Hamburg, Germany, 3rd March, 2003 –
Customer services play a vital role in guaranteeing long-term customer loyalty, increased turnover and profitability. This is equally true of the online shopping sector. A "recommendation engine", available to provide assistance and product advice during a virtual shopping session, offers users a range of useful and interesting functions, while the provider benefits from the additional turnover generated. The "Simple Recommendation Engine", novomind SRE, offers online shoppers suitable products based on previous purchases. The system learns independently and generates no additional running costs for the operator.
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For eShop providers, cross selling, i.e. when additional, related products are sold to a customer, is the key to increased turnover and customer satisfaction. A "recommendation engine" enables the cross-selling rate to be boosted significantly. The engine acts as a customer adviser throughout the online shopping session. The consumer is provided with this service entirely free of charge. This increases the provider’s chances of selling a customer several products in the course of a single visit to the shop. If the customer clicks on a product and transfers it to the shopping cart, the engine immediately displays a list of suggestions for related products. These are generated according to further purchases made by customers who also bought the original product. In order to optimize the product suggestions, the system analyzes and evaluates all purchases made on the provider’s website. The recommendation software, novomind SRE (Simple Recommendation Engine) learns automatically from customer behavior based on items purchased. Depending on the purchase, the system locates and provides a list of related products which varies each time to suit the individual customer.
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The self-learning system functionality reduces operating costs for the shop provider. Once it has been installed, the recommendation engine operates independently. The functions are managed according to "business rules". For example, these rules can decide whether specific product groups should be excluded from the suggestion list for an individual customer. The implementation of a simple recommendation engine increases profit margins, enabling an increase in turnover per customer while also ensuring that fixed costs remain unchanged. The recommendation engine is fully compatible with the Intershop Enfinity software used in almost all online shops in Germany – avoiding extra customization or restructuring costs.
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Bertelsmann Der Club has already implemented novomind SRE in its online shop and the Otto mail order house draws on the technology to generate recommendations for its extensive product range. The aim is to guarantee long-term customer relationships. By implementing recommendation engines, these companies are reacting to customer needs. More and more users consider individual advice and recommendations to be a vital factor in the online purchase process. The reason: customers expect online shopping to provide a higher level of comfort and convenience. All studies focussing on internet users’ purchase behavior agree on this. Recommendation or helpdesk applications offer users the extra functionality they require by providing them with the same high level of service that they would receive from a "real" department store.
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novomind AG is based in Hamburg, Germany and is one of the leading providers of intelligent software for the Self Service sector. novomind software solutions enable companies to automate business processes and reduce costs. The company was founded in December, 1999 by Peter Samuelsen, Marco Busacker and Peter Wiedekamm, and today employs some 40 staff members. In the course of the last financial year, the software house, which has not yet gone public, gained significant new clients, including T-Systems, the Otto mail order house’s Shopping24 subsidiary and insurance providers Hannoversche Leben. The company’s clients also include key players such as Bertelsmann, the BKK Zollern-Alb health insurance providers and Gruner+Jahr.
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