04-18-2007, 08:09 AM
Quote:For the online retailer, few things are more important than your site search functions. Customers use it to find products, naturally, browse as they shop and to find add-on and similar products as well. An effective site search is necessary, but it will also enhance an online shopper's experience, and in return, potentially boost your sales and tell you more about how customers use your Web site...
Much like Internet search engines, e-commerce-based search engines all offer a different combination of search options, results displays, organization formats and other options. Keeping in mind that your Web site search should be an ongoing process of tweaking and updating, merchants need to look for a product search solution that not only meets their own analytic needs, but also produces accurate and relevant search results for their customers, all wrapped up in an easy-to-use interface.
Specialized e-commerce search engines can offer merchants a variety of benefits, such as up-selling by showing customers related products or what others have purchased. They can produce customer analytics for the merchant, assist in merchandising and even be customized to provide unique search results for a customer based on his or her purchasing history. This is certainly a far cry from your standard database matching in which a user types in a keyword and sees a generic list of all pages within a Web site that contain the keyword...
full article: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions...hp/3672201