Garden centre chain boosts mobile sales by 125% thanks to new search function

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Garden centre chain boosts mobile sales by 125% thanks to new search function.

European gardening products outlet Ahrens + Sieberz has seen a 36% uplift in sales conversion rates from its online shop following the implementation of an improved search function by ecommerce experts FACT-Finder.

Each customer also spends an average of 22% longer on the new website, which went live early last year.

Mobile purchases, which now account for around 10% of all Ahrens + Sieberz's sales, also increased by an impressive 125% from January to September 2014, compared to the same period in 2013, with conversion rates up 119%.

"As everything to do with browsing is displayed by FACT-Finder, we are ultimately able to completely attribute this success to the use of this solution," said Patrick Kaiser, Head of Ecommerce at Ahrens + Sieberz. "The search function we previously used had absolutely no error tolerance, which frequently caused frustration."

The new search function offers intelligent filter options along with error tolerance so that customers can find the right product, no matter how they spell it, which is particularly important with long and complex plant names. Now amateur gardeners can filter their searches by criteria such as position, growth height, planting distance, flowering season, price and, of course, colour.

"These are vital aids for customers, without which it can be difficult and tedious to find the right plants," added Kaiser.

FACT-Finder also contributes towards search engine optimisation. As the garden centre is subjected to marked seasonal variations, several of the 1,000 items it sells are not available for certain months of the year. To ensure these are immediately visible to Google, but not to the customer, the tool lists them at the end of the search list.