Our client needed to boost profits by optimizing their e-commerce business.

Serving customers for nearly 150 years, our client is a national wholesale sign supply manufacturer and distributor with 50+ locations across North America. The company approached Technology Partners looking for ways to optimize their e-commerce business.

The challenge

Introduce Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Capabilities:

• Maximize e-commerce investment
• Improve customer experience
• Accelerate revenue growth
• Automate machine learning operations
• Maximize correct product exposure
• Enable white-label product utilization
• Personalize orders for particular customers
• Boost brand affinity with customers

Our client lacked a proper machine learning and data management platform to optimize their e-commerce approach and personalize their website’s customer-facing content. Prior to partnering with TPI, they relied on an off-the-shelf software to drive conversions.

The software was limited in its ability to personalize content and accurately track customer behavior, which resulted in missed opportunities for conversion and customer engagement.

As many companies have realized, operationalizing machine learning and artificial intelligence is a difficult proposition. At Technology Partners, our experience and expertise helps position companies to gain extreme value in 90 to 120 days that we can build off together.

"When it comes to technology for e-commerce, the use of artificial intelligence and an omnichannel platform approach can supercharge profitability and help companies stay ahead of the competition. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are simply purchasing expensive ecommerce solutions without researching and customizing them to meet their specific needs," says Jake Gower, Practice Director at Technology Partners and the client's Project Lead.

The plan

Gower’s team built and implemented a system that identified behaviors impacting customer purchasing. The next step included building a machine-learning model that quantified these behaviors, and then deploying it to their website in an automated fashion for higher quality recommendations.

We measured factors like the percent of time shoppers spent on site and their ratio of departure, and turned the insights into actionable strategy. Our plan was based on prior experience serving clients with a variety of machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, including:

• ERP for e-commerce
• Omnichannel platform
• Chatbots
• Pricing Tools
• Indicator analysis tools
• Payment Integration Systems
• Blockchains
• Big data
• Cloud computing

The results

“Our algorithm versus off-the-shelf software shows dramatic gains in revenue and shopper affinity,” Gower said. “We’ve seen major boosts in add-to-carts, click-through rates, and overall purchases.”

The initiative’s results prove the model’s effectiveness in encouraging more predictable, profitable shopper behavior across all stages of the sales funnel. Continued collaboration will include further confirming efficacy through additional experimentation and iteration on the model.

“The e-commerce business model is a challenging one,” Gower said. “Leaders are looking for ways to differentiate and optimize online shopping while still co-existing with physical commerce. Our AI, cloud, and data services provide the platform to make this happen.”