During the back-to-school shopping season, parents and children are eager to cross off their shopping lists and prep for the year ahead. However, crowded stores, long lines and other factors quickly turn a shopping trip into a hassle.
Chalkfly, an office and school supply eTailer, has partnered with SLI Systems to make shopping for pens, paper and other materials easier and more enjoyable. By improving site search functionality, Chalkfly has seen average order value increase by 33% and conversions among search users rise by by 30%.
“We know, as online shoppers ourselves, that it’s all about search,” explained Lissa Cupp, CMO of Chalkfly. “We wanted to meet the needs of all of our customers and create a better experience.”
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SLI was officially rolled out in July 2014 when Chalkfly relaunched its e-Commerce site. The retailer will be referring to data from the back-to-school season to assess the success of the tool. However, Cupp noted the team is “very pleased” thus far.
“Now, the site is fun, engaging and delightful,” said Cupp in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Part of a successful site is about crafting a cool, seamless aesthetic but it’s also important to empower customers to find what they need quickly.”
With an assortment consisting of 60,000 products, Chalkfly needed to refine the search experience so shoppers could easily find their preferred products.
For example, the e-Commerce site touts more than 100 different types of red pens, Cupp explained. “If there’s a pen that people like, they’re going to be very particular and want to find that exact pen. It has to be down to the actual SKU level.”
Pre-existing data regarding key search words and phrases was integrated into SLI, so the retailer could keep a constant pulse on search behaviors and conversions.
“We were able to see how our data would work in helping customers make a purchase decision,” Cupp said. “Every product is different and has its distinctions and that was key for us. SLI has helped us become more nuanced.”
Curating Back-To-School Kits
To successfully address the needs of children and their parents across all age groups, Chalkfly used historical data and collaborated with Parent Teacher Organizations to craft a list of “must-have products” for each grade.
The “searchandising” team then curated categories and back-to-school kits by grade to further refine the shopping experience.
“Every student gets a school supply kit at back-to-school time,” Cupp said. “And they need to have everything down to a specific kind of notebook, note cards, pens, etc. Parents typically wait for the list and then have to take it to the store and pick out the items, which isn’t always a process they love.”
Now teachers and schools have the ability to visit the Chalkfly web site and upload their school supply lists and give the links to their students. In 2013, approximately six schools participated in the bundle program, according to Cupp. This year, that number has increased more than three fold.
“We see this as a very meaningful feature because it adds value for the school and teacher,” Cupp said, “but also allows us to grow as a business.”