September 19 2006

Blacks choose Mercado as their merchandising solution.

Blacks. Millets. Mercado. The press release says the rest, although IR's spies have been rifling through some dustbins to see what else we can learn...

Mercado have announced (press release reproduced below) that they've secured Blacks as a customer.

Your editor is a fan of dimensional browse, search and navigation systems and knows the main vendors in the UK rather well (having bought and used their systems in the past).

I was interested therefore to hear of the reasons that people buy one over another and the word on the street (ie unattributable, unverifiable, but with the ring of truth about it...) is that the Mercado "Merchandising Console" is winning hearts and minds due to its out-of-the-box capabilities.

With large systems you often get a 'toolkit' rather than a 'solution', and the costs of designing, implementing and amending core capabilities can multiply the cost of the initial development. Mercado's investment in a powerful, usable experience for the merchandisers and store managers appeals to me as practical and commercially-astute move.

Whether this alone is enough to unseat an incumbent software supplier is doubtful, but it'll raise the game as a whole and that can only be to the benefit of etailers.

Ian Jindal Do you disagree with this? Want to defend your favourite software or recent procurement choice? Don't fume alone - drop us a note in our fireproof inbox - editor@internetretailing.net. Press release from the folk at Mercado is reproduced below:

Blacks Leisure Selects Mercado Software to Drive Online Sales through Advanced Site Search and Merchandising The UK's Leading Outdoor Retailer Will Enhance Customer Experience and Utilize Proactive Selling Features LONDON, England, Sept 20, 2006 - Mercado Software, the leading provider of e-commerce search and merchandising solutions today announced that Blacks Leisure Group, the UK's leading outdoor retailer, with over 400 stores nationwide, has selected Mercado Software to deliver advanced search, navigation and merchandising for their two e-commerce sites: Blacks (http://www.blacks.co.uk) and Millets (http://www.millets.co.uk). Blacks chose Mercado to enable its online customers to quickly find, select, and purchase the appropriate clothing, equipment, and supplies for outdoor activities like camping, hiking, mountaineering, skiing, and snowboarding. "We felt that improving the search and navigation on our web site was a high priority", said David Kohn, Director of Business Development at Blacks. "We looked at all the major site search vendors and we were very impressed with Mercado's capabilities. In addition to making it much simpler and easier for our customers to find what they are looking for, their merchandising features will enable us to proactively sell on our site by presenting shoppers with relevant offers. We expect significant increases in conversion, order size, and customer satisfaction." By using Mercado and its easy-to-use merchandising console, Black's marketing staff can quickly develop, manage and implement a wide variety of seasonal specials, up-sell and down-sell opportunities, as well as ensure that products are ranked appropriately for Blacks' business and displayed in a fashion that makes sense to their shoppers. "We are very excited to be working closely with Blacks," said Rich Beattie, Mercado's VP of European Sales and Alliances. "They are without doubt one of the most innovative multi-channel retailers in the UK, and have shown significant leadership in recognizing - and acting on - the Web's commercial potential. We are looking forward to being a part of Blacks' continued online success." According to Mr. Kohn, "the Mercado team's enthusiasm and commitment to our success were definitely key factors in our selection of Mercado as a partner. We felt that Mercado was really going to support our implementation and they made it easy for us to understand how site search and merchandising would bring us to the next level of business success."