Why does Web Search work better than eCommerce Search?

To the consumer, search within eCommerce has been traditionally a negative experience, particularly when compared with Web Search and other consumer tools that inevitably set the benchmark of what Search should deliver. In our view, eCommerce Search has failed to deliver for two simple reasons:

• The consumer context is ignored.
• Search is merely designed to display results and not to deliver a gratifying experience.

In eCommerce there is no single right result to every query and yet there is a potential good result for every consumer. For example, the query “dress”, may offer good valid results for one customer and yet, the very same list of results can be perceived as incorrect for another. This is why when Search is made aware of each consumer’s varying context, the probability of satisfaction is enhanced. Taking this into account, EmpathyBroker Engine Search has developed the ability of listening to the customer, to know what they are looking for, so what do they need and what do they like. Everything has been achieved considering their way of navigation and clicks results.  Thus, when a customer searches ‘dress’ will see what they like, need or want, particularly for each customer.

Web Search will always be more likely to succeed because there are more potential relevant results for the majority of intentions (-those that seek one specific answer and those who want to see all available answers-), while in eCommerce, the likelihood of relevancy, being an infinitesimal sub-set of data in comparative terms, is extraordinarily smaller.

FINDABILITY is key for an eCommerce site success. UX may be joyful and effective for the customer, as well as dynamic. And this is not only useful for the customer, also for the brand itself , who can analyse results in real-time, boost trending products and know what their customers like and buy. The parity of intentions-results in the World Wide Web is much more likely to contain relevancy than that of intentions-results in an online store, creating a complex challenge that has historically absorbed intense IT resources together with continuous tuning and refinement.