Endeca, a next-generation information access company, today announced that Brady Corporation (NYSE: BRC), a world leader in identification solutions and precision die-cut components, has deployed the Endeca Information Access Platform (IAP) to power its B2B eCommerce store, www.bradyid.com. The Endeca IAP combines the advanced search, Guided Navigation, and context-sensitive presentation capabilities needed to deliver a customized customer experience that simplifies access to product information and encourages discovery. As a result, customers can more easily explore, find, compare and learn about desirable products -- benefits proven to increase both customer satisfaction and online sales.
The new site is Brady Corporation's second application built on the Endeca platform. In 2004, Brady launched www.seton.com, an online B2B eCommerce store featuring over 50,000 workplace safety and identification products. Following this initial deployment of the Endeca IAP, Brady's Seton site demonstrated an increase in online sales, and an increase in conversion rates of 84 percent.
"Based on the success of (Seton), we developed a unique and diverse set of business requirements for creating a new kind of customer experience and Endeca provided the platform to meet each of our goals," said Matt Vandenbush, Enterprise Architect at Brady. "Endeca gives us the integrated capabilities and tools to create an experience that serves the diverse requirements and demands of each and every customer."
Meeting the full requirements to provide a complete and satisfactory customer experience within the B2B eCommerce marketplace, particularly with high SKU counts, potential for thousands of diverse attributes, and custom views of data, is no easy task. With the Endeca Information Access Platform, product information is pulled from I-Accel and SAP and other content pulled from Domino and Ektron is united on Brady's Web site, allowing users to intuitively explore and find all of the contextual information needed to make informed purchasing decisions. Endeca's Guided Navigation experience creates a virtual dialog with the user, dynamically categorizing product information, showing customers all valid next steps to achieve only the most desirable results. Customers can then compare listings and information by all of the desirable and required criteria that are available. The Brady application also takes advantage of Endeca's powerful Custom Catalog capabilities to present targeted views of its offerings to the right customers. The site uses this functionality to display different industry views of the same product information for different types of customers.
In addition, the Endeca IAP enabled Brady to fulfill its goal of creating a platform that could be used in multiple countries and languages. As a result, Brady has been able to expand the reach of this improved customer experience on a global scale, already achieving success in Canada, with plans to expand into Latin America later this year. Brady has also utilized the Endeca IAP to power unique capabilities which highlight specific products and information to their customer base. For example, Brady's "Help Me Choose" printer search application allows users to iteratively refine their printer list as they choose the requirements which are most important to meet their printing needs. Also, Endeca's ability to present unique product relationships to end users enabled Brady to meet user needs while advancing company objectives. An active participant in RoHS compliance initiatives, Brady now allows users to search its catalog to identify products that meet the European Union's WEEE/RoHS standards.
"Brady has stepped up to the challenge of providing a unique and powerful B2B eCommerce customer experience. Endeca IAP enables users to discover the goods and services that they are looking for, but also increases their awareness of products and services they may not have immediately realized were available," said Jason Lewis, senior vice president of marketing at Endeca. "When this happens, companies like Brady experience tremendous improvement in meeting eCommerce goals and initiatives, such as decreased cost to service customers, increased conversion rates, and increased customer satisfaction."
