In 2024, a fifth of all retail purchases will be made online. With fewer and fewer people shopping in physical stores, having an ecommerce website becomes vital for business survival and growth.
How can you grow and thrive as an ecommerce business?
Let’s discuss one often-overlooked yet critical strategy for skyrocketing ecommerce sales - an internal, on-site search engine for ecommerce websites.
Ok, but why does the search engine matter?
In short, a search engine for an ecommerce website can either be a goldmine or a dealbreaker.
A search engine is like the gateway for your customers to explore your product offerings.
When users can easily find what they’re looking for, they’re one step closer to a successful purchase. When they struggle to find what they need, they:
- don’t spend their money on your ecommerce website,
- they spend their money on your competitors’ websites,
- experience poor user experience,
- they tell their friends about that poor user experience, whenever asked.
That’s why a search engine - that gateway - should always be your key focus when thinking of ways to grow sales. Without a seamless and converting search experience, all the other tactics will not return drastic results.
How can the search engine influence sales?
90% of U.S. shoppers agree a smooth in-store search experience is essential. Your search box at the top of your website is the place where most first-time interactions with your business happen.
If your on-site search engine helps users discover relevant products and suggests related items and personal recommendations, the chances of purchase as well as cross-selling and upselling grow.
That means, your e-commerce store has to return relevant product suggestions for all types of possible queries:
Samsung refrigerator with ice maker
Curve red floral print wrap dress
What should I gift my dad for his bday?
An effective, user-relevant search engine can do half the selling for you.
Best practices you should try to skyrocket sales
First - pick a search engine for an ecommerce website that converts
A reliable search engine can bring a significant part of your business success.
Look for a search engine that offers advanced features like natural language processing (NLP) to understand customer queries better, autocomplete suggestions to speed up the search process, vector search to support search without typing words, and robust dynamic filtering options to narrow search results.
Hint: one of such is LupaSearch.
Second - learn fast from the collected data
You can’t grow your ecommerce business without knowing what aids your success, and what harms it.
Reports, stats, and analytics are key sections in your search engine you should check frequently.
Pick a tool that provides real-time search results and powerful analytics tools to track search performance and user behavior.
How can you learn from the collected data?
Inventory management
Your internal search engine can provide valuable insights into product demand and stock levels:
- Identify which products are in high demand. Stock up on popular items and avoid selling out best-sellers.
- Set up alerts for low-stock items. Reorder in time, preventing stockouts and lost sales.
- Understand seasonal demands. For example, if winter boots cause a spike in searches starting in October, you can prepare your inventory accordingly.
Predict upcoming trends and satisfy the demand
Maintain a competitive edge by predicting market trends through data analysis:
- Track new and unusual search queries. If a new type of product suddenly increases in searches, it might be a trend worth investing in.
- Understand changing customer preferences. Businesses that continuously adapt to meet their customer needs win the game.
- Become competitive. If certain items are frequently searched but not available on your site, consider adding them to your inventory.
Third - skyrocket sales with a search engine that converts
Ready to bring your sales to new heights?
Pick a LupaSearch as a search engine for your ecommerce website and convert search queries into sales.
After integrating LupaSearch into an electronic parts provider website, the business immediately noticed a 21% growth in search conversion rates.
Want to achieve similar results?
Book a free product demo at LupaSearch, and let’s discuss your business growth opportunities.