September 4, 2000

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Sellers, Know Thy Customers

BroadVision package helps retailers identify shopping trends, tie back-office apps to Web sites

By Beth Bacheldor

More on personalization:

Computer Reseller News The New Rules Of Personalization (7/10/00) Computer Reseller News Yada Yada Yada--Let's Get Personal (7/3/00) VARBusiness The Tailored Approach (6/12/00)

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roadVision Inc., which has made its mark in the burgeoning personalization market, last week launched a software package designed to help retailers know their customers better.

BroadVision's Retail Commerce Suite includes data-analysis software that helps companies deliver personalized content such as promotional campaigns, reporting software that helps identify shopping patterns and other trends, and integration tools that help companies tie their back-office apps to their Web sites. The suite includes six integrated pieces. Some of those have been repurposed for the retail-centric package; others, such as tools that let retailers deliver content to wireless devices, are additions to BroadVision's portfolio.

Personalization software helps retailers "get their arms around their customers," which ultimately can lead to better customer service, says Jeff Roster, lead analyst for retail and consumer goods at Dataquest. "I don't know if software can make up for lack of a good, fundamental service mentality. But if I'm tracking my purchases and behaviors, when a customer calls up with a problem, the more information I have, the more easily I can solve any issues."

Among the components in the BroadVision Retail Commerce Suite is Retail Merchandiser, a set of tools that churns out reports on everything from what customers are buying to how well the site performed during peak shopping times.

Retail Merchandiser is helping the marketing team at MaidenForm Inc. evaluate customer behavior and make changes to its Web site based on the findings, says Cindy Davis, senior VP of retail at the Bayonne, N.J., company. "You can get reports that tell you where people are dropping off the site, where they are staying longest, how people are navigating the site, even the top 10 states visitors are coming from," she says. "Once you get information about a customer, you can tailor your site."

Collectibles.com, a division of Shop At Home Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., uses some of BroadVision's personalization tools that are now part of the retail package. The personalization software has helped the site send out more-focused E-mail marketing campaigns, says Bob Miller, VP of IT. "We sell everything from sports memorabilia to figurines," he says. "The software helps us better serve our customers by delivering content relevant to each of them."

Available now, the package is priced at about $400,000.

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