hybrismart Meets Friends: Mar’18 E-commerce Digest

E-commerce Architecture

SAP Hybris Deep Dive Channel (requires SAP ID)

• https://wiki.hybris.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=362329278

A new enablement channel for customer and partners working on technical topics.  There is only one video yet, SAP Hybris Service Factory – What, Why, How?

Microservice Architecture for eCommerce – free eBook

A great introduction to microservices: best practices, case studies, technologies and patterns. The book is compact, but clear, concise and very focused on the topic.

• https://github.com/DivanteLtd/microservices-book
• http://go.divante.co/microservices-architecture-ecommerce/ 
• https://divante.co/books/PDFy/microservices-architecture-for-ecommerce.pdf 

Recommendation engines, AI and Machine Learning

Image similarity: Filling attribution gaps with image recognition without a training set. The solution is great for solving the issues of misattribution and creating similar-image product groups for search and navigation purposes.

• https://blog.griddynamics.com/create-image-similarity-function-with-tensorflow-for-retail/ 

Deep Learning Architectures explained in human language Great introduction into the topic.

• https://www.datakeen.co/en/3-deep-learning-architectures-explained-in-human-language/

Ten Product Recommendation Techniques to Improve UX and Conversions

• Popular products
• Rating-based recommendations
• Personalized recommendations
• Similar products
• Collaborative filtering
• Personalized CF recommendations
• Cart recommendations
• Recommending accessories
• Frequently bought together
• Best sellers
• Zero results and 404 pages

The link:

• https://conversionxl.com/blog/product-recommendations/ 

Seven examples of AI in retail and e-commerce Take a closer look at some of these interesting companies integrating AI into retail and e-commerce technology:

• Real-time Pricing & Incentives (granify) 
• Real-time Product Targeting (reflektion)
• Natural Language Search (andstructure)
• Visual Search (grokstyle)
• In-store visual monitoring (cosy)
• Predictive Merchandising (celect)
• Multi-Channel Marketing (AgilOne)

The link:

• https://www.nanalyze.com/2017/08/7-examples-ai-retail-ecommerce/ 

UX and UI and Marketing

Seven best practices for superior eCommerce site search

1. Have a prominent search bar with autosuggest
2. Show relevant suggestions in a drop-down search to give your customer an idea of the depth of your product range
3. Show most popular products below relevant search results
4. Display prices along with product suggestions
5. Unclutter your homepage and make the search box visible
6. Don’t go overboard experimenting with the UI
7. Try out the unusual

Link:

• https://www.salehoo.com/blog/7-best-practices-for-superior-ecommerce-site-search

Eight design patterns for Autocomplete suggestions

1. Style Auxiliary Data Differently
2. Avoid Scrollbars & Keep the List Manageable
3. Highlight the Differences
4. Support Keyboard Navigation
5. Match User’s Hover Expectations
6. Show Search History
7. Reduce Visual Noise
8. Consider Including Labels & Instructions

Read more: https://baymard.com/blog/autocomplete-design Implementing autocomplete search for large-scale e-commerce catalogs as an add-on service, integrated with the existing search engine and e-commerce backend. 

• https://blog.griddynamics.com/implement-autocomplete-search-for-large-e-commerce-catalogs/

Seven Product Page UX Implementations that make REI Best-in-Class:

1. All Products Need At Least One ‘In Scale’ Image (28% Get It Wrong)
2. Allow Users to Purchase Temporarily ‘Out of Stock’ Products (68% Don’t)
3. Avoid Sneaky Displays of ‘Free Shipping’ Promotions (8% Don’t)
4. 5 Requirements for the ‘Ratings Distribution Summary’ (65% Get It Wrong)
5. Provide Both Site-Authored FAQs and Community-Driven Q&As (70% Get It Wrong)
6. Provide a Cross-Sell Section that Only Contains ‘Alternative Products’ (28% Don’t)
7. Provide a Cross-Sell Section that Only Contains ‘Supplementary Products’ (47% Don’t)

Read more:

• https://baymard.com/blog/rei-product-page-ux 

Holy grail of e-commerce conversion optimization: 91 points checklist

• http://www.cmsmagazine.ru/library/items/ecommerce/91-council-for-online-shopping/