Fast Delivers First Complete Platform For Next-Generation, Personalized Storefronts
First eCommerce Vendor to Combine Personalized Recommendations with
Leading Site Search, Navigation & Merchandising Shop.org, Las Vegas, NV
– September 17, 2007 –Fast ( http://www.fastsearch.com/ )Search &
Transfer, the leading global provider of search technologies, today unveiled FAST Recommendations, a new personalized recommendations offering integrated with its existing search, navigation and merchandising platform, FAST ImPulse. With the
addition of personalized recommendations, FAST is the first and only eCommerce software vendor to provide online retailers with a complete platform for building next-generation, personalized, search-powered online storefronts, helping drive revenue, reduce complexity and costs, and improve reliability and performance.
“In the last few years, site search and navigation have become critical
components of eCommerce technology because they give shoppers a more
effective means to search and browse without getting overwhelmed by
extensive online product catalogs,” said Rachel Happe, research manager
for IDC’s Digital Marketplace group. “Today, innovations in recommendation technologies have taken eCommerce to the next level by filtering catalogs based on consumers’ behaviors and preferences, giving them a way to discover relevant products that they may not have otherwise sought out and driving higher conversions for online retailers.”
By learning the preferences and interests of each and every shopper,
FAST Recommendations helps online retailers deliver a truly personalized
“micro store” for each customer. Easily deployed on a live eCommerce
site, FAST Recommendations builds a personal profile for every customer
based on their searches, product views, purchases and any other
information that is explicitly provided, such as their age or gender.
The software then creates relationships between like products and
content based on the interaction of shoppers with the storefront, and
delivers real-time, dynamic recommendations anywhere on the site. FAST
Recommendations includes not just the familiar “related-item”
recommendations, but also personal and social recommendations to provide
multiple paths to discovery.
“It’s increasingly important for eCommerce sites to use
recommendations, in addition to advanced search and navigation, to help
improve stickiness and increase revenue,” said Justin Ziegler,
co-founder and head of IT at PriceMinister (www.priceminister.com)
“As one of the largest
European C2C marketplaces and a longstanding FAST customer, we have
greatly benefited from FAST’s leading solution for eCommerce
search and navigation. We look forward to evaluating FAST
Recommendations, which should help us better serve our shoppers and
give us a leg-up on the
competition.”
A Unique Approach to Content Discovery
Most recommendations tools and services are limited because they rely
on knowledge of products in a specific category, such as movies, or lack
the intelligence to filter out one-off events unrelated to a customer’s
personal profile. These limitations can result in poor recommendations
and lost revenue. FAST Recommendations provides unmatched value to
online retailers because it forms content relationships based purely on
shopper behavior and uses a patented approach to identify and remove
unrelated or one-off events. As a result, online retailers can
effectively up-sell and cross-sell between categories and can provide
truly personal, relevant recommendations – helping to drive conversions
and order values to new levels.
“Choosing a single vendor for all ‘filtering’ technologies, from search
to navigation to recommendations, will help major online retailers
cost-effectively build the dynamic, personalized storefronts that only a
handful of major eCommerce sites have achieved today,” said Joe
Lichtman, vice president of product management, FAST Search &
Transfer. “Our integrated solution allows online retailers to deliver
true personalization and manage all online merchandising from a single
application, helping them achieve their key goals of increasing
conversions and order values, and building extreme loyalty with
customers.”
FAST Integration, Scalability & Performance
Online retailers who partner with FAST now have a single vendor for
site search, product discovery and online merchandising, helping to
reduce the cost and complexity of building dynamic, online storefronts
and personalizing merchandising strategies. From a single merchandising
console, online merchandisers can now manage search terms, facets,
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© 2007 Fast Search & Transfer and FAST are trademarks of Fast Search &
Transfer ASA. The FAST logo, FAST ESP are registered trademarks of Fast
Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved.
About FAST
FAST is the leading global provider of enterprise search technologies
powering some of the world’s best known companies. FAST helps its
customers deliver applications and services that connect their users to
the right information, the right products, and the right people. By
making search a central part of business infrastructure, FAST’s
customers leverage search to drive business results. FAST’s solutions
are used by more than 2,600 global customers and partners, including
America Online (AOL), Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, CIGNA, CNET,
Dell, Factiva, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, IBM, Knight Ridder,
LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Stellent,
Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army,
Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, and Wanadoo.
FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker
symbol 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information about
FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com ( http://fastsearch.com/ ).
###
© 2007 Fast Search & Transfer and FAST are trademarks of Fast Search &
Transfer ASA. The FAST logo, FAST ESP are registered trademarks of Fast
Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved.
promotions and recommendations, as well as view live analytics to
identify and respond to trends as they occur. Furthermore, customers
will benefit from FAST’s unmatched performance and scalability,
SOA-based flexibility and the highest R&D commitment in the industry.
About FAST
FAST is the leading global provider of enterprise search technologies
powering some of the world’s best known companies. FAST helps its
customers deliver applications and services that connect their users to
the right information, the right products, and the right people. By
making search a central part of business infrastructure, FAST’s
customers leverage search to drive business results. FAST’s solutions
are used by more than 2,600 global customers and partners, including
America Online (AOL), Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, CIGNA, CNET,
Dell, Factiva, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, IBM, Knight Ridder,
LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Stellent,
Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army,
Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, and Wanadoo.
FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker
symbol 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information about
FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com ( http://fastsearch.com/ ).
###
© 2007 Fast Search & Transfer and FAST are trademarks of Fast Search &
Transfer ASA. The FAST logo, FAST ESP are registered trademarks of Fast
Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved.