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