Germany’s premier jeweller changes its online shop from an open source technology to FACT-Finder.

Conveying a positive shopping experience is an essential success factor for CHRIST Jewellery and Watches. This challenge has always been met in-store, but it‘s more difficult to create a user-friendly experience online. “Our expectations were high, but the results astonished us,” says Christine Wurm, former Head of Ecommerce
at CHRIST when summarising her experience with FACT-Finder. The changeover from an open source search solution to FACT-Finder rewarded the company with visible conversion growth. We sat down with Mrs. Wurm for a Q&A to get her thoughts on her experience with FACT-Finder.

Q: CHRIST has built up a network of more than 200 stores throughout Germany since 1863, whereas your online shop is relatively young. What has been your experience with e-commerce up till now?
“During the initial stages our prime target was to reduce cost and test customer approval levels. As a result, we decided to move forward with open source search technology to merchandise our product listings. It soon became clear that search queries were often either producing incorrect results or not being answered at all. It was evident we had to act. About one year ago we started to examine the topic of search in greater detail. This time we were out to find the best solution.”

Q: What demands did CHRIST have on the new search and merchandising solution?
“The new search and merchandising solution had to do one thing above all else: provide the customer with more relevant product listings. The main reason our stores are so popular, is due to the positive customer shopping experience they provide. As every visit to www.christ.de reflects upon the brand itself, we were looking to translate this bricks and mortar retail experience to our online shop as well. For this reason we considered usability to be of main importance.”

The suggest function in the search bar supports CHRIST customers in finding desired products and speeds up the purchase process.

Q: FACT-Finder is Europe’s leading search and merchandising solution in online shops. To what extent did this fact influence your decision?
“Recommendations are important, however, not central to wise business practice. We had a clear idea of what we wanted and few providers could fulfill all our wishes. We were particularly concerned with similarity recognition due to our previous countless problems in this area. We wanted to prevent such errors in the future. After all, every irrelevant search result means potential conversion loss, not to mention the damage to brand image. Additionally, FACT-Finder’s comprehensive merchandising functions are of particular interest to the jewelry industry.”

Q: Were there any other criteria helpful in the decision making process?
“FACT-Finder‘s flexible license packages made reaching a decision easier. It is important to us, as the client, to be able to decide, which portions of the software we are going to move forward with and at what scale. Consequently, we are able to maintain an attractive cost/performance balance, fitting to our budget requirements. At the end of the day, FACT-Finder provides us a surefire way to future-proof our online trading with virtually unlimited capacity for both national as well as international growth.”

Q: Which FACT-Finder modules are you currently using?
“In addition to Search and Navigation, we also use the Suggest and the Campaign Manager tools, with plans to begin making use of other functionalities.”

Q: How long did the technical integration of FACT-Finder take and how would you describe the ensuing results?
“Our project was really quite demanding. We had very specific demands on the FACT-Finder system itself. For this reason, it was necessary to perform maintenance to the product data beforehand to ensure a clean user experience. Nevertheless, the entire project integration, from the signing of the contract until going live, took only about 3 months. The results have far exceeded our expectations. The use of the search function has increased by 25% and the conversion rate of sales achieved through search has grown by more than 50%.”

FACT-Finder ensures your goals become a reality.

  • Patented error-tolerant search algorithm. FACT-Finder finds the right product in your catalogue and delivers it in every digital sales channel. By typing just a few letters, your online shop’s suggest function detects which items match the search query best.
  • Filter navigation. Extensive search result lists can be narrowed down to the most relevant product characteristics, easily and fast. The relevance and sequence of the filter criteria can be individually configured.
  • Multi-language websites. Through language-independent core technology and easy set-up, FACT-Finder helps its customers to build additional online presences internationally.
  • Campaign Manager. With the FACT-Finder merchandising tools, you create attractive brand pages and marketing campaigns. This encourages customers to browse and increase time-on-site and can be a vital leverage for your SEA campaigns.