According to Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Retail Report that measures online consumer retail activity and purchasing behavior, the Lane Bryant web site had the highest visitor conversion rate of any e-Commerce site tracked by Nielsen in the June, 2007 report on May, 2007 activity. Visitor conversion rate is the ratio of buyers to visitors at a web site. It is the key metric by which all commerce sites measure themselves, because it is directly related to revenue.
Progress EasyAsk powers product search, navigation and merchandising for the global Redcats Group, a subsidiary of PPR, a nearly €18 billion corporation headquartered in France. Along with Lane Bryant, the Redcats Group includes La Redoute, which has a Dutch site at www.laredoute.be. EasyAsk is also used at the Dutch bookseller BGN both on their website www.bgn.nl and in kiosks in the stores.
Helping customers find the products they are looking for has a significant impact on conversion rate because customers can’t buy what they can’t find. As more shoppers become more experienced shopping on the internet, they have higher and higher expectations of the search process on a commerce web site. In many cases, a single bad experience with a search will cause customers to simply shop at a different web site. On the other hand, customers that can easily find what they are looking for are much more likely to return for additional purchases.