The challenge: Shaking up a traditional industry

Getting to where they are today meant that Silvan had to shake things up in an industry traditionally perceived as a little un-glamorous, seldomly leading innovation. Silvan wished to break with that through a strong focus on strategically leveraging technology to not only improve the in-store experience, but also to ensure a stellar online experience. 

The main goal was to create convenient DIY — this meant streamlining the customer journey to make it effortless for customers to find and purchase the items they were looking for despite living in urban areas, while also guaranteeing delivery within a reasonable timeframe.
Previously, the search experience made it complicated for customers and employees to locate the products customers were referring to, regardless of it being online or in-store. For convenient DIY thus to work as intended and be successful, implementing personalization efforts and improving the search functionality became non-negotiable. 

This marked the beginning of the search for a better search and personalization engine that was more intuitive, composable, and customizable, paving the way for creating a more complete omnichannel experience. 

It was important for Silvan to get an integrated solution that would drive them to become a more data-driven organization, basing actions on behavioral data. Helping customers to ensure they always find what they need, sorting category pages correctly, and displaying relevant filters at the right time are vital steps in this process.

The solution: Omnichannel efficiency

The choice fell on Relewise’s search and personalization engine, which was then implemented on Silvan.dk. Being API-first, Relewise allowed Silvan complete control to mix and match features in any way that suited their business. 

One of the first optimizations for the product recommendation modules on Silvan.dk was the decision to import POS data into Relewise. Without this data, the majority of all customer behavior would be unknown to Relewise. Despite most customer journeys starting online, in-store data still constitutes the largest amount of behavioral data they have.

Irrespective of whether it’s online or offline, human behavior remains the same. By combining these data, Relewise was able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer behavior, resulting in a near-perfect representation of product combinations, what customers buy together, and so on, allowing for much more personalized recommendations.

Naturally, many other data sources are also synchronized with Relewise, such as PIM, giving Relewise additional valuable information, like a precise overview of products in and out of stock. 

Recently, Silvan completed a major transformation of their webshop, which now allows for better and more extensive use of Relewise. This has enhanced the personalized experience through real-time product ranking on category pages, ensuring that the most relevant products for each customer are shown first.

This optimization not only boosts the visibility of key products but also enhances the shopping experience by guiding customers directly to what they're most likely to purchase, increasing conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Using Relewise on the floor

Relewise Search & Recommendation has proven to be one of the most impactful solutions they've implemented in the quest to create a better omnichannel experience for their customers. Notably, providing the search function to Silvan's in-store salespeople has been a game-changer.

When customers ask for assistance in finding a product, the salespeople search through Silvan.dk and find the products they’re looking for on the spot. This means Relewise has become a central component of providing an excellent in-store experience, becoming an integral tool used actively and continuously throughout the workday.

Relewise’s search feature instinctively understands what salespeople write, whether it's a search for a specific brand, tool, size, or EAN number, and it does so with impressive speed. This has made it an irreplaceable tool for the salespeople. 

Searching and finding precise matches for EAN numbers has been a particular game-changer, allowing salespeople to provide significantly more precise assistance to customers. Since Relewise also tracks inventory, salespeople can more easily assist customers based on what's available in-store or direct them to its alternative store if not.

What does the future bring for Silvan?

There are many dreams that Silvan aims to fulfill—one of them is fully embracing the omnichannel experience, making tracking across online and physical locations even more accurate. The implementation of their new POS system will support this, allowing customers to order items from another Silvan store if the current one doesn’t have what they need in stock.

At Relewise, we’re excited for the ride with Silvan on their journey to create a trail-blazing, efficient omnichannel experience in the hardware store industry.