Search by Algolia
Introducing new developer-friendly pricing
algolia

Introducing new developer-friendly pricing

Hey there, developers! At Algolia, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to bring a best-in-class search experience ...

Nick Vlku

VP of Product Growth

What is online visual merchandising?
e-commerce

What is online visual merchandising?

Eye-catching mannequins. Bright, colorful signage. Soothing interior design. Exquisite product displays. In short, amazing store merchandising. For shoppers in ...

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

Introducing the new Algolia no-code data connector platform
engineering

Introducing the new Algolia no-code data connector platform

Ingesting data should be easy, but all too often, it can be anything but. Data can come in many different ...

Keshia Rose

Staff Product Manager, Data Connectivity

Customer-centric site search trends
e-commerce

Customer-centric site search trends

Everyday there are new messages in the market about what technology to buy, how to position your company against the ...

Piyush Patel

Chief Strategic Business Development Officer

What is online retail merchandising? An introduction
e-commerce

What is online retail merchandising? An introduction

Done any shopping on an ecommerce website lately? If so, you know a smooth online shopper experience is not optional ...

Vincent Caruana

Sr. SEO Web Digital Marketing Manager

5 considerations for Black Friday 2023 readiness
e-commerce

5 considerations for Black Friday 2023 readiness

It’s hard to imagine having to think about Black Friday less than 4 months out from the previous one ...

Piyush Patel

Chief Strategic Business Development Officer

How to increase your sales and ROI with optimized ecommerce merchandising
e-commerce

How to increase your sales and ROI with optimized ecommerce merchandising

What happens if an online shopper arrives on your ecommerce site and: Your navigation provides no obvious or helpful direction ...

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

Mobile search UX best practices, part 3: Optimizing display of search results
ux

Mobile search UX best practices, part 3: Optimizing display of search results

In part 1 of this blog-post series, we looked at app interface design obstacles in the mobile search experience ...

Vincent Caruana

Sr. SEO Web Digital Marketing Manager

Mobile search UX best practices, part 2: Streamlining search functionality
ux

Mobile search UX best practices, part 2: Streamlining search functionality

In part 1 of this series on mobile UX design, we talked about how designing a successful search user experience ...

Vincent Caruana

Sr. SEO Web Digital Marketing Manager

Mobile search UX best practices, part 1: Understanding the challenges
ux

Mobile search UX best practices, part 1: Understanding the challenges

Welcome to our three-part series on creating winning search UX design for your mobile app! This post identifies developer ...

Vincent Caruana

Sr. SEO Web Digital Marketing Manager

Teaching English with Zapier and Algolia
engineering

Teaching English with Zapier and Algolia

National No Code Day falls on March 11th in the United States to encourage more people to build things online ...

Alita Leite da Silva

How AI search enables ecommerce companies to boost revenue and cut costs
ai

How AI search enables ecommerce companies to boost revenue and cut costs

Consulting powerhouse McKinsey is bullish on AI. Their forecasting estimates that AI could add around 16 percent to global GDP ...

Michelle Adams

Chief Revenue Officer at Algolia

What is digital product merchandising?
e-commerce

What is digital product merchandising?

How do you sell a product when your customers can’t assess it in person: pick it up, feel what ...

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

Scaling marketplace search with AI
ai

Scaling marketplace search with AI

It is clear that for online businesses and especially for Marketplaces, content discovery can be especially challenging due to the ...

Bharat Guruprakash

Chief Product Officer

The changing face of digital merchandising
e-commerce

The changing face of digital merchandising

This 2-part feature dives into the transformational journey made by digital merchandising to drive positive ecommerce experiences. Part 1 ...

Reshma Iyer

Director of Product Marketing, Ecommerce

What’s a convolutional neural network and how is it used for image recognition in search?
ai

What’s a convolutional neural network and how is it used for image recognition in search?

A social media user is shown snapshots of people he may know based on face-recognition technology and asked if ...

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

What’s organizational knowledge and how can you make it accessible to the right people?
product

What’s organizational knowledge and how can you make it accessible to the right people?

How’s your company’s organizational knowledge holding up? In other words, if an employee were to leave, would they ...

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

Adding trending recommendations to your existing e-commerce store
engineering

Adding trending recommendations to your existing e-commerce store

Recommendations can make or break an online shopping experience. In a world full of endless choices and infinite scrolling, recommendations ...

Ashley Huynh

Looking for something?

Ecommerce Site Search Trends for 2023
facebookfacebooklinkedinlinkedintwittertwittermailmail

I’m excited to share our Ecommerce Site Search Trends 2023 report! We surveyed 900 IT and business professionals to better understand how retailers around the world plan to innovate with Search & Discovery technologies to unlock new revenue opportunities. 

Product Search and Discovery is an integral part of the ecommerce customer experience. It is a powerful solution to unlock increased conversion opportunities and lead to repeat customers; it also drives loyalty and can ultimately increase revenue. 

The survey was conducted by independent market researchers at Coleman Parkes in conjunction with Algolia. 

Trends in search investment

ecommerce search trends report cover

Throughout the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, ecommerce and retail business leaders have had to race to meet demand. First, there was a massive rush to fulfill the surge in online business, then as restrictions relaxed, a shift to more robust hybrid (also referred to as omnichannel or multichannel) operations such as “buy online pick up in store” (BOPIS). With global inflation rates climbing and recession looming in 2023, it’s hard to know exactly where commerce is headed.

Ecommerce search trends strategy

However, what is clear from our findings is that search and discovery has delivered strong, repeatable revenue. In fact, more than 50% of retail professionals surveyed point to search as a revenue driver, and 71% reported they were either satisfied or very satisfied with search-generated revenue so far. Not only did companies accelerate their investment in search technology for the last two years, but 7.8% said they’re planning to expand even more. 

Search and Discovery technologies impact more than just revenue — it affects personalization, omnichannel selling, and more. Below, I’ve outlined just a few of the ways that were identified in this report.

Search can have a big impact on revenue, personalization and overall customer experience too 

Yes, search can massively impact revenue, but there’s more. Decision makers agree that other areas, such as personalization and customer experience, can be heavily influenced too. Personalization of search results, recommendations, and browse pages can drive repeat business and customer loyalty for new text & email, social commerce, and shopping cart personalization programs. 

Search technologies can help you impact your hybrid business

Search technology has some interesting overlap with hybrid (or multichannel) businesses — the combination of physical retail and online ecommerce. More companies are experimenting with providing a fully integrated search experience where the online-search quality matches the in-store shopping experience – all coupled with a real time inventory status. For example, customers could search online to find a product, exact quantity available, and its exact location — aisle and shelf — in the store. While it’s still early days for hybrid businesses that want to leverage search, there’s a ton of upside and innovation that’s possible. 

Black Friday readiness 

For Black Friday readiness, both IT and business decision-makers surveyed had noted that they wanted Search and Discovery technology to help them scale and automate labor-intensive workflows such as merchandising. Margins are thinner than ever. Companies need to maximize every product investment and the productivity of every staff member. Search technologies are built to scale, and new merchandising features promise smart capabilities for optimizations during special sales such as Black Friday. 

Omnichannel selling can massively impact data, personalization, and customer experiences

Around half of the companies surveyed said they had implemented some flavor of omnichannel selling. Omnichannel requires a big effort, but can pay dividends for companies that can make use of the data. Search technology can leverage the data to provide a better, personalized customer experience as shoppers browse and navigate different sites. 

More than half of those developing Search in-house recognize that they can’t evolve it fast enough

Buy vs build – Is it better to build search capabilities yourself, use a search service (such as Algolia), or bring in a systems integrator? According to the findings, both IT and business decision makers said they can’t innovate fast enough in-house. By selecting a SaaS offering, retailers will benefit from a fast implementation and continuous updates along with the latest functionality (such as AI) without any disruption. 

Sound overwhelming? You’re not alone… and it’s not too late to start

Around 50% of the companies surveyed say they are feeling behind — they haven’t invested enough in these technologies. Even if they had, they don’t feel they can keep up with technology changes. It’s never too late to invest in cutting-edge technologies to extend your advantage, particularly with a provider that can offer the latest features and capabilities. 

Get your copy

These are just some of the findings from this year’s report. The Ecommerce Search Trends 2023 report is now available to download.

About the author
Piyush Patel

Chief Strategic Business Development Officer

linkedin

Recommended Articles

Powered byAlgolia Algolia Recommend

Customer-centric site search trends
e-commerce

Piyush Patel

Chief Strategic Business Development Officer

Search personalization 101: how to capitalize on personalized search and discovery
ux

Catherine Dee

Search and Discovery writer

Comparing the best e-commerce search solutions
e-commerce

Matthieu Blandineau
Jon Silvers

Matthieu Blandineau &

Jon Silvers