5 June 2008

AnswerOil is a new selection engine that a retailer can add to its Web site to provide enhanced product data and an intuitive way for customers to find the product that matches what they have in mind.

AnswerOil doesn’t deliver search results in an unwieldy list in a new page but displays controls and results in side-by-side windows. The controls include search options and sliders – the kind you get in a video or sound application. The results change in a smoothly animated fashion to reflect the customer’s slider settings. AnswerOil is customer-friendly, with natural language guidance, and it’s also retailer-friendly with up-selling and cross-selling to help make the most profitable sale.

Paul Baldovin, from developer PrismaStar, says that AnswerOil isn’t a suitable search tool for every type of product but works best with products that have clear comparison points, such as electronic goods, gadgets or cars. Under the bonnet of AnswerOil is DataOil, PrismaStar’s product data, which the company’s Stephen Nicholls claims is the most accurate and detailed. He has a comparison chart with other shopping comparison and consumer magazine Web sites to prove it.

Retail sales staff can use the same data (InsideTrack) to make sure they are the informed and helpful individuals that customers are seeking. And back at HQ, Real-time Performance Metrics (RPM) analyses the mouse clicks that customers have used to find their desired product and reports on why they made the decisions they did along the way.

A retailer adds a single link to its Web site to provide customers with the AnswerOil selection engine. Integration with the retailer’s systems is via Web Services. AnswerOil uses the .NET framework and SQL Server 2005 database platform to provide a solid basis from which to run the secure and effective decision-making algorithms.

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