E-Commerce

Managing 120 Million Monthly Requests on 9 Domains

Answear is one of the most popular online fashion stores in CEE region. During the integration, we developed several features for the client.

Based Europe
Platform Custom
Segment Fashion
Products
- Analytics
- Search

Managing 120 Million Monthly Requests on 9 Domains

Europe

based

CEE countries

90k

products

350

fashion brands

Answear is one of the most popular online fashion stores in the CEE region. An e-shop of this size and expertise is well aware of how important search is for their business and they decided to contact specialists. Competing with four renowned search vendors, Luigi’s Box was able to meet Answear’s requirements the best.

Custom integration for the client

During backend integration, we developed several features upon the client’s request to simplify the integration process and minimize the workload. Answear’s websites are visited by 4 million users monthly, generating 120 million requests to Luigi’s Box. That’s almost 1.5 billion a year.

For Answear’s e-shop, we custom-developed these features:

1. Ukrainian-Russian search without switching the website language

The Ukrainian website version contains a quick switch to the Russian version. The client wanted to simplify this step for the users and, therefore, we needed to import a huge number of Russian terms as synonyms to the products in Ukrainian (and vice-versa). The search was then able to show accurate results in the language the user entered the phrase.

2. Mass update of all products in a category

To simplify the products administration, the client needed a feature that allowed editing one of the product attributes for all products from a category at once. For example, to change all products of the Adidas brand to “unavailable”.

3. Automatic product reindexation after a category change

When changing a product category on the website, it’s necessary to change the information in the product catalogue as well. We automatized this process for the client, so they don’t have to think about this step when making changes in product administration.

4. Facets over structured data

Facets in the client’s product catalogue consist of various components (e.g. color facet consists of name, ID, or html code). Backend integration required connecting to an existing frontend, while keeping this data structure. That’s why we adjusted our solution so it’s able to process the data in the structure the client required.

5. Own servers

The client required their own servers. They wanted to make sure the other websites have no negative impact on their website’s performance. Even though we’ve never experienced such an impact on any websites, we met this requirement and provided the client with their own servers.

6. PHP client library

To make their life easier, Answear created an open-sourced client library in PHP language that allowed for quicker and more convenient work with Luigi’s Box API.

7. Gender-sensitive search

The search bar in Answear’s e-shop is shown only after you choose your gender. Therefore, we adjusted the search engine so it shows the product only for the selected gender, even when the user searches general queries like t-shirt, trousers, jacket, etc.

8. Autocomplete design libraries

Luigi’s Box tools respect the website’s design and look like its native part. The client, however, wanted to adjust the autocomplete’s design even more. Therefore, in the early stages of our cooperation, we made available the source codes of our autocomplete libraries so they could edit the design according to their needs.

Results

Luigi’s Box was launched in Answear’s e-shop on Dec 12, 2020. To evaluate its impact, we compared data several weeks before and several weeks after the launch. When looking at the data, it’s important to consider that this period included Black Friday and Christmas, typically the strongest periods of the year in e-commerce. However, there are some very positive trends to look at:

2x

higher search usage

The overall number of searches and uses of autocomplete was two times higher with Luigi's Box. Visitors immediately noticed that the search engine works quicker and more effectively for them.

+40%

conversion rate

The number of sessions with search conversion in January 2021 was still more than 40% higher than in October 2020. New search kept the search conversion rate high even after the festive period.

Taking extra effort to improve business results

Luigi’s Box massively streamlines shopping for our customers. Moreover, they developed several features for us that help manage products in our e-shop.

Piotr Maciążka

Implementation Team Manager, Answear

Summary

During the integration process of Luigi’s Box tools into Answear’s e-shop, we developed several features to help the client with product catalogue management as well as streamlining the shopping experience for their customers.

The more effective search was noticed immediately by customers, as their search usage doubled. The tools helped to increase the search conversion rate as well, since it kept its high levels even after Black Friday and Christmas, typically the busiest periods of the year in e-commerce.