Locayta Freestyle Merchandising gives e-commerce companies the ability to deliver sophisticated, responsive recommendations and product placements across your site in order to increase conversion rates and average order values for a healthy return.

How do cross selling recommendations work?

Cross and up-selling recommendations enable retailers to present relevant suggestions to shoppers, complementing the items they are searching for or have selected. Locayta’s product recommendation and accessory recommendation software uses behavioural algorithms to track past and present user behaviour – from categories searched to items viewed and added to baskets.

The technology then presents additional suggestions that respond to this data even as consumers shop, maximising the likelihood of additional purchases. Leading retailers including the British Museum Company and Tesco Clothing are making full use of Locayta’s product recommendations to drive conversions and order values for enhanced customer service as well as revenue growth.

The importance of balance factor weighting in cross-selling

Retailers need the ability to incorporate multiple internal variables into cross-selling, as well as responding to external information about user behaviour. Locayta’s balance factor technology offers you the capability to internally weight display results via our simple to use dashboard. Weighting metrics might include newness of products, stock levels, special promotions or price ranges – but can be adapted to any criteria that is most relevant to your business.

Crucially, product recommendations combine user preferences with your own product weighting. This means that you can achieve the right balance between delivering what your customers need and promoting the products and lines most likely to generate a healthy margin for you.

Recommendations can be made at any point on your site from the home page to search results and shopping baskets. This gives you comprehensive coverage, knowing that at every stage of the user journey you are maximising your merchandising opportunities with every shopper.

Drive traffic and conversions with e-mail recommendations and mobile search

Cross-selling techniques can now also be applied to drive inactive or lapsed users back to your site as well as increasing the activity of current shoppers. The same cleverly configured algorithms that control site based recommendations can produce highly targeted e-mail recommendations to entice customers back and encourage them to purchase. When users respond to an e-mail suggestion and visit your site you can then also offer similar but higher value recommendations in order to increase profit margins on conversions.

Locayta Freestyle Merchandising is the first platform to combine highly effective product recommendations with a full search and merchandising tool kit, available on a Software as a Service basis. The technology is cost-effective, easy to configure, and can plug straight into your current platform with no changes to your site’s structure. This revolutionary approach to e-commerce has already engaged flagship brands including Boohoo, Superdry, Prezzybox and Paperchase. If you’re looking to to enhance your e-commerce revenue contact us today to find out more, or view an online demo to fully appreciate the potential Locayta FreeStyle Merchandising holds for you.

A cost effective solution that optimises resources

When you are developing an e-commerce site or implementing a new project the traditional approach is to deploy in-house capacity or license distributed software. Whilst this is sometimes the answer, it’s important to understand the cost and risk implications when it comes to developing innovative search, merchandising and product recommendation functionality.

Unless you have search and merchandising expertise within your team you cannot be sure that you will achieve the superior and error-free performance online shoppers demand. Your people are probably juggling multiple projects, thus attention could be diverted and momentum lost if other priorities take over. Typically an in-house team will move from project to project, potentially leaving your ongoing development high and dry. Plus, unless you are seriously immersed in the technological finesse that lies behind the scenes, it’s not uncommon to start a project and discover halfway through that you do not possess the right solutions to anticipate and address every eventuality.

Locayta’s Software as a Service model provides an alternative answer to traditional licensing and staff managed options. We facilitate an ongoing relationship, supporting you from day one and for as long as you are with us. Our people have more than a decade’s specialist experience. They focus entirely on making search and merchandising advances work for you. You’ll free up internal capacity safe in the knowledge that your e-commerce platform is in the right hands.

Pro-active software development to keep you at the cutting edge

Traditionally, software distributors will only continue to monitor your systems for as long as your license is valid. Locayta’s model is different. We constantly drive new innovations and upgrade your technology automatically. Your site will deliver the latest innovations in search, merchandising and recommendation tools as soon as we have perfected them.

We’re pro-active about responding to your experiences too. Clients report back to us with ideas, experiences and new requirements. We respond dynamically to develop the next big advance they need. It’s a cycle of cooperation, growth and development inspired by your input and applied for the benefits of Locayta users.

Software as a Service gives e-commerce merchants the opportunity to enjoy flexible, feature rich technology with sophisticated control over visual merchandising, search performance and product recommendations. That’s why the British Museum Company, Superdry and Prezzybox all turn to Locayta for cost-effective, resource-efficient solutions that deliver the performance shoppers expect. To fully appreciate the potential benefits contact us to discuss your requirements. Or you can view an online demo of our full platform and see exactly what Locayta can achieve for your business!

Personalised shopping delivered by behavioural algorithms

Increasing site traffic and average order values are cornerstones of online sales success. To stay ahead of the game it’s vital that product recommendations are part of your merchandising mix. Locayta’s behavioural algorithms provide customised suggestions according to the past and present behaviour of your shoppers.

Locayta tracks and analyses the preferences of users on your site, attaching an appropriate weight to different actions including the items searched for, viewed, added to baskets and purchased. The “weighted user journey” algorithm then tailors product recommendations to this data, updating results in real time. This is a key tool in maximising order values by tempting customers with the items that complement their main purchases perfectly.

As well as responding to changing preferences, Locayta also allows you to opt in manually and change the weighting of any criteria. This gives you the control to balance product recommendations with the lines you need to prioritise – the perfect blend of customer service and pro-active retailing to ensure revenue growth.

Enhancing search accuracy with ranking algorithms

Locayta has developed pioneering search technology derived from the BM25 ranking algorithm. Our own version examines search data input, analysing the relevance of each possible result to ensure the most relevant suggestions. When indexing products and pages you can also add your own weighting to any field to influence search results. Ranking algorithms are an integral feature of Locayta’s full merchandising platform as well as our Mobile iOS search library, ensuring that mobile consumers don’t miss a trick when they’re shopping on the go.

Algorithms play a crucial role in Locayta’s search and merchandising technology, delivering a fast, efficient user experience whilst giving you complete control over your site’s performance. If you want to understand more about exactly how Locayta works our technical overview will tell you all you need to know. If you’re simply concerned with achieving e-commerce functionality that is easy to configure, highly cost effective and proven to increase sales revenue, go straight to our online demo. The likes of Superdy, Boohoo, Prezzybox and LN-CC all choose Locayta as their merchandising tool of choice. Contact us today to discuss how we can help to grow your online business too.

Intelligent search: guiding customers to their ideal gift

We all know the scenario. Your loved one is eagerly anticipating that perfect Valentines Day gift, but you just don’t have a clue what to get them. In this circumstance websites that actively take customers to relevant choices are bound to win out.

Locayta’s intelligent search technology offers flexible, feature rich options that quickly adapt e-commerce sites to help hapless shoppers find their ideal gift. Categories can be quickly amended to include gifts for girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands and wives, plus size, colour and price range or whatever metrics you choose to apply.

At the same time our unique balance factor technology enables the retailer to weight the order in which search results appear, influence purchasing decisions and hence delivering a powerful promotional strategy for this special day.

Mix in cutting edge intelligent navigation that responds to data on previous user preferences, plus spell-correction and auto-complete analysis to eliminate incorrect searches, and you have a solution that delivers the helpful service customers require whilst pushing the products that will generate maximum profit for your business.

Product recommendations: enhancing positive purchasing decisions

Product recommendations are one of the most effective ways to increase average order values and encourage customer loyalty. They respond to user search behaviour by tracking the items selected and responding intelligently with relevant additional suggestions. Naturally shoppers want their Valentines gifts to be received with delight, so the opportunity to add that extra gesture is sure to be welcome.

Product accessory recommendations take the principle further by placing the ideal accessories for selected main items right in front of the consumer. What’s more, Locayta has the ability to generate intuitive and specific e-mail recommendations that are personalised to the shopper and tailored to your promotion. E-mails are sent to previous users to drive traffic back to your site and maximise the revenue opportunity Valentines Day represents.

Add to this an unprecedented ability to control product sequencing and brand adjacency online and you have a comprehensive e-tailing package that will drive conversion rates, increase average order values, and ultimately boost your profits with healthy sales and loyal customers who are impressed by your site’s functionality.

Available online and simple to configure to your platform, Locayta’s search and merchandising software is transforming e-commerce functionality for hundreds of leading retailers. Tesco, Boohoo and Superdry all choose Locayta for quick, slick online merchandising. If you’re tempted by the prospect of similar success view an online demo to appreciate in detail exactly what Locayta is capable of.

Recreate high street appeal with intelligent product sequencing

Visual merchandising online is about more than just featuring images. To achieve superior revenue growth you need flexible control over every aspect of your product displays, from pushing key lines for optimised profit to reacting speedily to seasonal promotional opportunities.

Locayta’s visual merchandising software enables comprehensive management of your online display strategy. Available to access online and easy to integrate and configure, the technology enables you to sequence your displays according to your own sales criteria. After initial set up the technology works dynamically on your behalf, whilst maintaining your freedom to opt in with manual control whenever you need to make quick and specific changes.

Enhance your visual merchandising strategy with balance factor technology

When you’re configuring online merchandising you need to ensure that your priority products are at the forefront, whilst also satisfying consumer search demands. The answer lies in Locayta’s balance factor technology. This powerful piece of kit enables you to configure the percentage by which product sequencing is weighted according to any criteria you choose – from sales velocity tracked via behavioural algorithms to stock levels, price or special promotional activities.

The ability to specify your own weighting metrics gives you complete control over which products appear at the top of searches, category results and page displays. It’s a streamlined solution that ensures your merchandising strategy is working hard to achieve the right results for your business.

Keep supplier relationships fruitful with brand adjacency control

For merchants carrying branded lines the ability to maintain brand adjacency is crucial to meeting contractual obligations. Locayta equips you to manage your branding strategy in conjunction with balance factor weighting, whether you need to group brands together or keep them apart. The result is dynamic product merchandising that fulfil your brand responsibilities whilst ensuring that you maximise placement of high return lines to grow sales revenue.

Add this to a complete portfolio of product recommendation and intelligent search tools and you have a comprehensive e-commerce solution that is fast, efficient and cost-effective. Locayta clients including Tesco, Superdry and Paperchase already know the value of our Software as a Service tools. If you want to explore them further you can view an online demo right now, or just get in touch to find out exactly what Locayta can do to drive your business forward.

How do product recommendations work?

The secret lies in Locayta’s algorithms that intelligently map shopping behaviour – from the items users are searching for to what they add to their baskets. This data enables Locayta’s product recommendations to deploy suggestions at every stage of the online sales loop, encouraging consumers to make an extra purchase that complements their core choice and delivers increased sales revenue for you.

The software does all the hard work for you, yet offers manual configuration options for flexibility of use. That’s why e-commerce pioneers Boohoo, LN-CC and Prezzybox all use Locayta’s technology to ensure that every product recommendation matches the profile and behaviour of their markets beautifully.

What are the benefits of product recommendations to my customers?

The modern e-consumer demands more. They want to get to the items they seek quickly and with minimum fuss. Whilst Locayta’s intelligent search solutions allow them to do just that, product recommendations create a more personalised experience. Your shoppers will immediately see the items most likely to match what they’re choosing to buy right now. Our new product accessory recommendations take it even further, recommending specific accessories that are particularly relevant when shoppers seek a particular branded item or fashion trend.

Can product recommendations increase conversion rates?

98% of shoppers leaving a site without buying if they can’t find what they want. Locayta’s intelligent navigation and product recommendations enhance the search experience, encouraging retention and purchase. You can also use e-mail recommendations to bring previous customers back. This technology collates data on previous behaviour and generates highly personalised e-mails to suggest products your shoppers will want to explore. Ultimately you’ll enjoy increased conversion rates as well as a higher rate of traffic to your site.

What shoppers don’t realise is that behind the scenes you can configure and weight product sequencing to match your current promotional strategy. If you have new lines you want to push, or you need to increase sales in a certain price bracket you can ensure these items appear first in the recommendation cycle. Your customers know they will find the items they need, whilst you experience revenue growth. These recommendation solutions are accessible to any e-commerce merchant and guarantee a return thanks to their performance based pricing structure.

Want to join the ranks of Tesco, the British Museum and Paperchase in a competitive e-commerce performance? View our free online demo today or contact us to discuss what Locayta can do for you.

Sophisticated searches that are easy to implement

The British Museum depends on merchandising income to augment it’s statutory funding. Enabling shoppers to find what they want quickly and conveniently is therefore a must. Locayta have provided the solution with a full search repertoire combining intelligent navigation, spell correction and auto-complete technology to ensure all the search bases are covered.

Products change rapidly due to a high level of special feature exhibitions and accompanying merchandise. Intelligent navigation enables the British Museum to configure search criteria dynamically according to the key strategy drivers at that time – from specifying current exhibition criteria to managing stock levels and promoting particular ranges.

Meanwhile, spell-correction and auto-complete functionality ensure absolute search accuracy even when shoppers seek specialised items. Spell-correction transcends the functionality of traditional dictionary software, applying trigram analysis and edit-distance algorithms that pick up and predict almost any mis-spelling or mis-typing – even when the first letter of the word is incorrect.

Enhanced solutions for visitors on the go

The British Museum attracts a global tourist footfall, so it makes sense to maximise every mobile search opportunity. Locayta has developed clever tools to enhance search success for users even when they are out and about. Locayta search mobile is a full text search function for the Apple IoS platform. An army of users can perform full searches on their iphones or ipads – ensuring that even if they didn’t buy during their visit they still have the option to find souvenirs or future tickets as they travel around. The software is free to use for development purposes or can be licensed for a modest one-off fee, maximising returns for any retailer at any level.

Combine this with Locayta’s advanced SEO page builder for optimised search results and you have a totally versatile toolkit that can cope with even the most demanding product base. The result is a streamlined online experience for your customers and a cost effective solution for your business. Want to know more? Contact Locayta directly or view an online demo of our advanced search software today!

How does Locayta’s technology work?

Software from Locayta is programmed to work hard on your behalf, allowing you to add your own manual input as suits your strategy.

Our rules-based merchandising is built around a powerful rules engine. This tool allows you to define the positioning of products within pages or search results. You determine your own criteria such as price, stock levels and newness to market. Balance factor technology then allows you to define the percentage by which these criteria are weighted. This informs the software as to how to display and sequence products to achieve your merchandising goals.

Your site’s performance is enhanced further by the use of behavioural algorithms. These track the activity on your site, analysing users’ search input, selections, shopping baskets and checkout purchases to build personalised consumer data. Search results and product recommendations are deployed in response to that data. The front end result is an accurate response to your market that significantly increases conversion rates and average order values.

Algorithms are the drivers behind efficient search functionality too. Spelling errors cause 50% of search failures but traditional dictionary software has limited capabilities. Locayta spell-correction uses a combination of trigram analysis and edit-distance algorithms to catch all mis-spellings. They can deal with brand or product names as well as handling mis-typings of the first search letter – both scenarios that dictionary databases cannot cope with.

How can I access Locayta’s technology?

Locayta operates a software as a service model. You can access our technology online and easily integrate the tools you require into your own platform. The benefits include automatic updates to your software as new tools are developed.

You don’t need to be a technical wizard to configure the platform to your business criteria. Our free online demo will show you just how simple the process is.

How will Locayta’s technology help my business?

The cost efficiency benefits of Locayta’s merchandising solutions are clear. Just look at the facts. The 2011 Global Consumer Shopping Habits Survey reports that 63% of shoppers now choose to buy online. 98% will leave a site without buying if they cannot find what they want quickly, whilst 80% are heavily influenced by product recommendations.

It follows that if your website is geared up to eradicate failed searches, control strong promotional strategies and make relevant recommendations then you will increase order values and enhance customer loyalty. It’s well within your reach to achieve the same merchandising standard as Superdry, Prezzybox and LN-CC, all of whom are Locayta clients. Interested? Contact Locayta to find out more!

LN-CC hit the market in February 2011 with a ground-breaking approach to visual merchandising. Their radical installation store, housed in a former boxing gym in Dalston, features 6,000 square feet of space divided into 7 concept rooms. Each room is themed to the luxury fashion, music and book collections on offer.

The brand aims to create an interactive experience that customers can engage with at any level they choose. This approach has attracted considerable attention, with online lifestyle magazine weheart.com acclaiming LN-CC as “one of the most daringly original retail concepts we’ve encountered”. The challenge for LN-CC was to recreate this pioneering merchandising philosophy online.

Locayta’s sophisticated search, merchandising and product recommendation technology has provided the answer. A powerful repertoire of tools enables LN-CC to control every aspect of their product displays, recommendations and search functionality whilst ensuring a highly personalised experience for shoppers.

Locayta’s technology is driven by intelligent algorithms that track user behaviour and adjust product sequencing and suggestions to customer behaviour. The ability to adapt their site in real time enhances the individual experience LN-CC aims to create. The ultimate aim is to grow customer loyalty and sales revenue whilst preserving the ethos of LN-CC’s brand identity.

Locayta’s flexible Software as a Service model is a fitting choice for LN-CC, as Locayta Head of Sales Mark Turner explains. “LN-CC are an entirely individual brand who are challenging the convention of retailing as a service” he says. “They want customers to enjoy a personalised and aesthetic experience. At the same time it’s essential that they have the practical tools available to ensure online shoppers can search with ease and are encouraged to increase their order values by choosing additional products.”

LN-CC joins a global list of more than 100 clients including Tesco, Superdry and Boohoo.com who use Locayta’s technology to drive their e-commerce revenue. Their software also makes sound business sense, as Turner points out: “Our performance based pricing model guarantees an exceptional ROI for newcomers like LN-CC who are shaking up the retail scene. We are delighted to have this intriguing brand on board and to be able to meet their needs so precisely”.

A free online demo of Locayta’s search and merchandising software can be viewed at www.locayta.com.

Guide customers with ease with intelligent navigation

As a retailer you want complete control over your website, but you need to know you’re responding flexibly to consumer trends too. The answer is Locayta’s advanced intelligent navigation technology. You can set up and control not just the criteria your shoppers use to search, but the order in which these appear. More than this, our complementary balance factor technology allows you to influence search results according to changing trends, stock levels and promotions.

Balance factor works by defining your own metrics such as popularity, stock levels and profit margins. For each metric you can choose the level by which search results are influenced. In this way you ensure searches favour your priority products, whilst delivering relevant results for every shopper.

The result is a fast, fuss-free experience that gives users exactly the information they need. Meanwhile you can control and adapt your retailing strategy to achieve maximised conversion rates and increased order values.

Eliminate search errors with spell correction and auto-complete

Almost 50% of failed searches are the result of mis-spelling or mis-typing. Traditionally such scenarios have been handled by dictionary software – but the functionality is limited. Now Locayta has taken spell-correction to an entirely new level by deploying technology that uses intelligent algorithms to virtually eradicate any risk of failed searches.

This is complemented by our powerful auto-complete technology. Not only does auto-complete enhance search convenience for users by predicting results, it also works for your business. You can configure every aspect of auto-complete to ensure that it delivers exactly the search results for your shoppers whilst promoting the lines and items that are important to you.

Cross-sell and up-sell to increase purchasing volume

One of the lowest risk, highest return methods of increasing average order values is the use of product recommendations. Locayta’s cleverly programmed algorithms are revolutionising the ability to make highly personalised recommendations based on consumer search and selection behaviour.

Not only do product recommendations enhance the shopping experience by offering a personalised service, they are also highly effective in cross-selling and up-selling the lines you want to promote. That’s because you can configure the technology automatically or manually to achieve exactly the level of control you need, whilst also observing and adapting to consumer preferences.

Product recommendations and intelligent navigation are just a few key elements of Locayta’s portfolio. For complete search, visual merchandising and recommendation solutions take a tip from industry leaders like Tesco and the British Museum. Contact us or view an online demo to find out just how easy it is to integrate Locayta’s advanced technology into your e-commerce site.