BloomReach wants to deliver meaningful data directly to online merchandizers

BloomReach has always been about helping online retailers maximize their revenue algorithmically by adjusting content in an automated fashion based on what it knows about the visitor and his or her preferences. In the latest release announced today, the company builds on this by offering data and analytics to help human merchandizers make better daily decisions about how to optimize their product pages.

The idea with the new version of BloomReach Compass, is to take data and integrate it into the lives of online merchandizers, giving them the data they need to do their jobs without going to a professional data team.

In essence, this is about personalization, something that has been the holy grail of eCommerce and content management platforms for some time. BloomReach CEO, Raj De Datta says what separates his company from the rest of the marketing cloud pack is an emphasis on data science, and with this release, analytics personalized by merchandizing role.

If you’re a merchandizer working for an online retailer, you have an infinite number of possibilities in terms of how to present your merchandize and get the buyer to keep going through the process to purchase. Most people rely on “gut” to make these decisions, or they are at the mercy of external data teams who are often removed from the business process and take time to present the information.

BloomReach wants to leave it less to instinct (or external data teams) by giving merchandizers the information to make a decision based on data  — and putting that data in front of the right person at the right time.

BloomReach Compass interface on how to optimize product presentation based on potential revenue.

Image: BloomReach

“We’re looking at all the data, figuring out the most important thing to prioritize based on big data, and giving [the merchandizer] suggestions. It will be very contextual to [their] jobs,” De Datta explained.

Most merchandizing teams are trying to find trends they believe are happening or relying on that data team to tell them eventually, but what this product does is bring real data about what customers are looking at right now, what matters to them and perhaps most importantly, what to do take advantage of that.

This should help merchandizers to prioritize products and make decisions based on real-time data when they get to their desks in the morning.

“This process used to involve maintaining giant spreadsheets and good luck determining what to do next,” De Datta said. BloomReach want to build this information directly into the merchandizer’s daily workflow.

It certainly sounds great on paper, and if it can truly give each merchandizer what they need to maximize the company’s sales, it will be one step to closer that personalization holy grail.

BloomReach launched in 2009 and has raised $97 million to-date. The latest funding was a $56 million round in January of this year.