Edgecase Debuts Visual Shopping For Mobile
Retailers can now let shoppers tap and swipe their way to a more relevant selection of products to drive new levels of engagement -- all within the mobile browser
AUSTIN, Texas, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Edgecase, the platform behind today's most inspiring shopping experiences, today launched Visual Shopping, a new solution that allows retailers to provide their mobile shoppers with a highly visual and intuitive product discovery experience that feels more like an app than a website. With Visual Shopping, retailers can offer a Pinterest-like shopping experience that is personal and memorable – and all within the mobile browser. Shoppers, liberated from menus and search boxes, are visually immersed in relevant products with the ability to save, share or continue to browse at every point.
The new Visual Shopping solution is already driving measurable improvements for Urban Decay. Early results show that shoppers who interact with Visual Shopping are more likely to engage, participate and buy from the brand:
- Engage: 5x more products viewed per session
- Participate: Nearly 10% of shoppers share products with others (social or email)
- Buy: 150% higher conversion rate
"Our customers are highly visual beauty fans who turn to Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration," said Katherine LaFranchise, AVP, Urban Decay. "Edgecase's Visual Shopping offering allows us to provide a mobile browsing experience that is similar to these apps, with a layer of intelligence to show shoppers what they are looking for, even if they can't name it themselves. This is an amazing value proposition, and our early results are exceeding expectations."
"Outdated website navigation structures are a hurdle on desktop – and a disaster on mobile," said Garrett Eastham, Edgecase's co-founder and CEO. "Visual Shopping allows retailers to get in step with consumers who expect to swipe and tap their way through beautiful images, not plod through search boxes and grids. The result is an inspiring and relevant mobile discovery experience that keeps shoppers engaged and encourages brand re-engagement if they're not ready to buy right then."
Market Opportunity: #MobileFail
Mobile commerce continues boom, with 87% year-over-year growth recently reported by NRF's Shop.org. However conversion rates remain well below all other channels as the mobile shopping experience leaves much to be desired – especially in the browser. First-generation responsive design has yielded rigid navigation structures, grid layouts and product "dead-ends" with few options other than to purchase or bounce.
As retailers race to improve mobile experiences, they must meet the demands of increasingly visual younger shoppers who hop between Pinterest, Instagram, Tinder and YouTube. As these apps rise in popularity, shoppers accustomed to swiping, tapping and scrolling through images become increasingly impatient with linear navigation hierarchies.
"The cookie-cutter nature of today's on-site product navigation and discovery has stripped the soul from shopping for many of us," said Lauren Freedman, president of e-tailing group. "We don't doubt the efficiency of mobile or a good on-site search tool's ability to locate a very specific product, but consumers are looking to the online store to do more."
Visual Shopping From Edgecase: Select, Explore, Share & Save
With Visual Shopping, retailers can instantly assemble and display a visual collage of relevant products whenever a shopper lands on a category or product page. Products are related through Edgcase's platform using shopper-friendly attributes ("vegan", "neutral", "soft") – not a manufacturers product copy. Visual Shopping adapts and learns as the shopper continues to interact, clicking and tapping their way to a more relevant selection of products.
- Select: Shoppers simply select "More Like This" on an item to begin a visual journey through the product catalog.
- Explore: Shoppers quickly swipe and tap through compelling product visuals, while behind the scenes Edgecase surfaces the most relevant products based on the shopper's interests and a merchandising vocabulary that matches the way shoppers naturally think.
- Share & Save: Compelling product discoveries can be pinned, shared, emailed or tweeted with a simple tap.
The entire experience is delivered within the mobile browser, where the majority of email, paid media and social sharing lands. The new offering ensures that a shopper can always click, scroll or tap to another item or action, eliminating "dead ends" and allowing brands to maximize existing brand and direct marketing investments.
About Edgecase
Edgecase is the platform behind today's most inspiring shopping experiences. By allowing shoppers to communicate their unique preferences, context and shopping style, we empower them to discover products on their own terms. Using a proprietary combination of machine learning and human content curation, the Edgecase platform enables shopping experiences as unique as the brands we work with. Our solutions integrate new and evolving layers of merchandising data to fuel product discovery, omni-channel engagement and online experiences that today's shoppers crave.
Edgecase was founded in 2012 and is based in Austin, Texas. Our team is made up of experts in retail technology, machine learning and natural language processing. Together, we're committed to creating memorable shopping experiences and propelling what's next in retail. Forward-thinking retailers using Edgecase include Crate & Barrel, Golfsmith, Kate Somerville, LD Products, Urban Decay, and The Wasserstrom Company.
CONTACT:
Lisa Roberts
[email protected]
512-797-4600
Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150310/180853
SOURCE Edgecase
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