Goes live within 7 weeks of project launch; immediate results include 10 -25% boost in major KPIs such as average order value and order volume
San Francisco, CA – June 11, 2015—RichRelevance®, the global leader in omnichannel personalization, today announced that Sound House, Inc. (“Sound House”), the largest online retailer of musical instruments and audio equipment in Japan, has implemented RichRelevance’s comprehensive omnichannel personalization solution as part of its strategic initiative to forgo Internet marketplaces and sell direct to customers through its own web and mobile sites. Sound House is using RichRelevance’s innovative cloud-based technology, including real-time product recommendations and personalized browse capabilities, to create relevant experiences for every customer. Results have been fast and significant: Sound House deployed the RichRelevance solution in 7 weeks and quickly achieved a 10 – 25% lift in major KPIs such as average order value and order volume.
Mr. Masanobu Kousaka, CEO of Sound House commented as follows: “When we disengaged from Internet marketplaces such as Rakuten, we identified improving our site and increasing customer loyalty as top business priorities. We are strongly convinced that personalization technology will be more important than ever in the coming years to achieve these goals. We chose RichRelevance as our strategic partner based on their leadership and success, and the timeline for implementation and results have exceeded our expectations. I am confident that RichRelevance will drive a substantial and strategic contribution to our ongoing growth.”
Sound House Success Story
A leading online retailer, Sound House offers a wide variety of musical instruments and audio equipment (more than 20,000 products) for beginners, professional musicians and music studios alike. Last autumn, Sound House made the decision to withdraw its presence from Japan’s two largest e-commerce marketplaces, Rakuten and Yahoo!Shopping, and to focus all its resources and efforts on the growth of its own e-commerce site, fully under its control. Although Sound House experienced no degradation to their online revenue following their departure from these marketplaces, the improvement of the user experience on their own web and mobile site rapidly became a major management priority.
After extensive evaluation, Sound House selected RichRelevance based on the company’s innovation, market leadership and tremendous success with major retailers in Europe and the United States. The company decided to adopt RichRelevance’s RelevanceCloud™, the most advanced personalization solution available in Japan, and implement both Recommend (personalized product recommendation) and Discover (personalized search and browse results) on their web and mobile sites.
Recommend went live on the Sound House site within 7 weeks of the project launch, and delivered immediate positive results. Specifically, major KPI’s such as average order value and order volume have increased by 10-25%. The mobile site went live as well, and Sound House is currently implementing personalization of the category page sort through Discover.
Mr. Kousaka continued as follows: “Instead of setting back our business, the disengagement from Rakuten and Yahoo!Shopping encouraged us to invest in the rapid improvement of our own online presence, beginning with personalization. The initial such investment in RichRelevance is already paying off as real-time data and technology transform our user experience.”
Through RichRelevance, Sound House is now able to use all its real-time data and a powerful machine-learning engine to dynamically select the most relevant, data-driven product recommendations for each customer interaction and instantly sort search and browse results for each customers. Algorithms are continually optimized based on real-time customer behavior to present the most relevant experiences to customers. Powerful merchandising functionality also allows Sound House merchandising personnel to fine-tune recommendation strategies and placements based on context. This is a crucial requirement since the price range of Sound House’s products varies from very low to very high.
Mr. Koichi Sumida of Sound House’s System Division also commented: “RichRelevance’s recommendation system is a much more complete offering than the simple recommendation system we were using previously that was provided by a domestic vendor. RichRelevance has an abundance of algorithms, superior real-time capability and merchandising tools to surface the most relevant balance of products based on customer interest and our merchandisers’ recommendations for cross- or up-selling.”
Eduardo Sanchez, CEO of RichRelevance added: “An acknowledged leader, Sound House became an early adopter of RchRelevance’s advanced technology in the Japanese market upon disengaging from the dominant platforms at Rakuten and Yahoo!Shopping. Sound House very quickly identified real-time personalization as a core strategic imperative and then rapidly mastered the use and application of RichRelevance, an important factor in their very quick and early success. We look forward to our continued role as a strategic technology partner to Sound House’s growth, and working together to innovate new personalization strategies and capabilities that meet the demands of the Japanese market.”
About Sound House Inc.
(Headquarters: Shin-Izumi, Narita City, Chiba; CEO: Masanobu Kousaka; URL: http://www.soundhouse.co.jp/)
Sound House offers a wide variety of musical instruments and audio equipment for beginners, professional musicians and music studios alike. Sound House offers over 20,000 products, the majority of which are imported, and is recognized as the market leader in the space. The line of products includes guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, various types of amplifiers, audio effectors and microphones, as well as professional PA systems that include mixers, monitor speakers, various types of equalizers and lighting equipment. Sound House also offers its own warranty for direct-import products for one year from the date of purchase.
About RichRelevance
RichRelevance is the global leader in omnichannel personalization and is used by more than 200 multinational companies to deliver the most relevant and innovative customer experiences across web, mobile and in store. RichRelevance drives more than one billion decisions every day, and has generated over $10 billion in sales for its clients, which include Office Depot, Costco, Marks & Spencer and Galeries Lafayette.
Headquartered in San Francisco, RichRelevance serves clients in 42 countries from 9 offices around the globe.
Leading German retailer partners with RichRelevance to deliver personalized product recommendations on Plus.de and GartenXXL.de
Munich, Germany—7 May 2015—With more than 260,000 items from the home, leisure, DIY, gardening, household and travel categories, Tengelmann E-Stores GmbH’s Plus.de site is one of the most frequented online shops in Germany. Recognizing that quality not quantity—is critical for ecommerce success, the retailer announced that it is partnering with RichRelevance, the global leader in omnichannel personalization to ensure ongoing relevance and user satisfaction with its customers.
Since February 2015, the retailer has used personalization solutions by RichRelevance on its online stores Plus.de and GartenXXL.de. Since deployment, GartenXXL.de have successfully increased user satisfaction as well as the conversion rate. “In order to implement a successful online store, we needed targeted product recommendations,” said Nils Hommen, Project Manager of the Tengelmann E-Stores GmbH. “The solution had to go beyond simple referral marketing.” Tengelmann E-Stores currently uses four solutions from the leading supplier of omnichannel personalization.
Developed by RichRelevance especially for retailers, Recommend™ not only collects real-time data using shopper clickstream, but also analyzes and evaluates this data to provide contextual product suggestions. If a user changes his online behavior, 125 algorithms compete to ensure that recommendations immediately adapt to the new behavior. User interests are matched to the product selection of other visitors across the entire product range of the online store. The Engage™ solution works in a similar fashion, but personalizes campaigns to deliver relevant content based on customer clickstream.
The Tengelmann E-Stores also uses Recommend to analyze user purchases for its personalized newsletter. For example, once a subscriber responds to a recommendation, the system recognizes him and takes his interactions into account for future mailings. The tool also gives retailers full control of all aspects of Recommend, including alerts and individually adaptable layouts. Recommendations can be prioritized by cross-sell, up-sell or accessory and are automatically fine-tuned for specific product categories, prices, or brands. Engage also enables automated email delivery based on consumer behavior, targeting the right campaign for each customer by evaluating all relevant emails for the buyer in question and selecting those that match his actual intent.
“RichRelevance won us over with their experience and professionalism. Their solutions are flexible and enable us to meet all the personalization needs for our online stores working with one provider, “said Hommen.
Theo Khoja, Regional Director DACH at RichRelevance, commented on the partnership: “The Tengelmann E-Stores GmbH are a well-known provider of a multi-shop ecommerce concept in Germany. Shoppers are accustomed to online personalization and have come to expect it. We are pleased to help Tengelmann E-Stores deliver this important functionality for online shoppers of residential, leisure, home improvement and gardening products.”
RichRelevance’s recent study, “Creepy or Cool”, revealed consumer attitudes towards digital enhancements to the store shopping experience. The study found that shoppers think it is cool to get digital help finding relevant products and information – and navigating the store, but they are creeped out by digital capabilities that identify, track and use location and demographics, such as targeted advertisements for consumers based on facial recognition, according to a release.
“Shoppers want digital personalization when they are ready to engage,” Diane Kegley, CMO of RichRelevance, said in a statement. “They may not be ready for personalized messages the moment they walk in the door or even when they hit the dressing room, but our survey suggests they welcome relevant information and promotions when they are making a purchase decision.”
When ever we cover personalization and new technology at Retail TouchPoints, we always have to discuss the “creep factor.”
You know the “creep factor.” It’s that moment when a brand or retailer goes completely over the line…they stop being helpful and just end up skeeving you out.
The challenges in serving mobile shoppers are almost too numerous to count. But then again, so are the opportunities.
As marketers and mobile innovators ponder how many ways they can create a highly personalized experience for an in-store mobile shopper, those consumers seem to have some unwritten rules of their own about what they will accept.