Woolworths selects Avail to provide online Christmas concierge service

By Avail Intelligence, December 19, 2007

Woolworths’ online customers will be able to take advantage of recommendations from other shoppers, following the implementation of technology from Avail Intelligence.

Research undertaken by the High Street giant has shown that customers value recommendations and related purchases from other shoppers across the site’s extended range featuring thousands of products. Avail’s technology, which uses sophisticated algorithms from customer behaviour on the site such as popular searches and previous purchases, provides real-time recommendations from the community for each customer browsing the site.

The recommendations are expected to deliver significant, immediate and measurable improvements to conversion rates and average order values per customer – with increases of up to 20 per cent.

“We have already noted improvements to the customer journey, with positive customer feedback on the recommendations generated. This has been particularly strong on toys, which is an extremely important area for Woolworths during the Christmas period,” said Mark Batty, online marketing manager, Woolworths.

Currently multi-channel sales make up five per cent of Woolworths’ total revenues, and this can grow up to ten per cent at busy periods such as Christmas.

“Woolworths is a trusted name on the UK High Street and it’s critical that this reputation is translated through its online presence,” said Dr Rolf Elmér, CEO, Avail Intelligence. “The use of customer recommendations across the site instantly adds credibility to the product range, and will encourage larger order sizes, particularly at key periods of the retail year.”

“Our main aim for the Woolworths site is to make the shopping experience as enjoyable as possible for customers. Understanding our customers and their precise needs is critical to our online strategy and Avail’s technology enables us to present relevant recommendations at the right time in the buying process – something that our customers are already asking for,” said Mark Batty, online marketing manager, Woolworths. “In turn this should enable us to hit key performance targets in terms of increased basket size and repeat purchases.”

For further information, contact:
Dr. Rolf Elmér
Chief Executive Officer, Avail Intelligence
Email: rolf.elmer@avail.net
Phone: +46 (0)736 61 20 50

About Avail Intelligence (http://www.avail.net)

Avail Intelligence is the leader in maximising the value of visitor traffic to e-commerce web sites. The company’s technology harnesses the community intelligence from site visitors to deliver the most effective shopping experience for new and returning customers.

Using advanced mathematical techniques from its research arm Avail Labs, Avail Intelligence has created the Avail eMarketing suite. The suite comprises a set of tools, which improve relevance when merchandising to and communicating with individual visitors across the entire Customer Interaction Cycle/tm; of a single web site or across multiple web sites. The results are significant, immediate and measurable improvements to conversion rates and average order values.

Avail Intelligence’s technology is being used by over 80% of the leading Scandinavian e-commerce sites. Key UK customers include Berry Brothers and DVD.co.uk.

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