[September 27, 2016]

New RichRelevance Study Finds Site Search Can Make - or Break - the Omnichannel Experience

Shop.org Retail's Digital Summit - RichRelevance®, the global leader in omnichannel personalization, today released new research that drills into how U.S. consumers search for and find products online. While site search is critically important to shoppers, the study suggests that many retailers have not evolved site search to meet the demands of an omnichannel world. The result is that frustrated web and mobile shoppers are likely to go elsewhere when retailers don't get it right.

"This is an important wake-up call for the retail industry," said Diane Kegley, CMO of RichRelevance. "Site search is tremendously important to shoppers, but under-delivers when it comes to all the channels where consumers shop today. The reality is that there haven't been major advances in site search in a decade, and this is hurting retailers' bottom lines."

The study of more than 1,000 American shoppers finds that:

Search Is Critical to Shoppers

• 8 in 10 Americans (83%) say that the search box is extremely important or important when shopping on a retailer's web or mobile site.
• Less than 1 in 10 (5%) say site search is not at all important. Comparatively, 6 out of 10 (56%) say that the search box is extremely important.
• 3 out of 4 shoppers (76%) always or often use the search box when shopping on a retailer's site.
• In contrast, a mere 7% say they rrely or never use the search box.
• 3 in 4 Americans (73%) are likely to leave a retail site that doesn't provide good search results - and 37% say they are not at all likely to return.

• Nearly 4 out of 10 Americans (37%) state site search is 'more important' when shopping for gifts than it is otherwise.
• Half of all shoppers (48%) rank the ability to 'easily search and find products' as the single most important thing when shopping for gifts on a retailer's site.
• In contrast, product ratings and reviews (the second most popular features) receive 26% of the vote.
• Curated gift ideas, a traditional holiday staple, are far less important to shoppers with only 5% of respondents ranking these as most important when gift shopping.

Room for Omnichannel Improvement

• More than a third of U.S. shoppers (35%) are generally unsatisfied with the search results they receive on a mobile device.
• Nearly 4 in 10 (38%) say they get worse search results when shopping on their mobile device than laptop or desktop.
• Consumers cite 'irrelevant product results' (28%) as the #1 frustration with site search.
• More than 1 in 3 (36%) would like to see search results personalized to them based on their previous shopping behavior.

Methodology: The survey of 1,006 U.S. shoppers was conducted online in September 2016.

About RichRelevance

RichRelevance is the global leader in omnichannel personalization and is used by more than 230 multinational companies to deliver the most relevant and innovative customer experiences across web, mobile and in store. RichRelevance drives more than one billion decisions every day, and has generated over $20 billion in sales for its clients, which include Office Depot, Costco, Darty, and Marks & Spencer.

Headquartered in San Francisco, RichRelevance serves clients in 42 countries from 9 offices around the globe. For more information, please visit www.richrelevance.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160927005462/en/

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