Ochsner Sport encourages visitors to get active through product recommendations

Deichmann sporting good brand, Ochsner, witnesses a 41% increase in average revenue per user

46X

ROI from recommendations By deploying widgets across the site and optimizing the strategies used per page

41%

higher in average revenue per user After testing Dynamic Yield’s “Viewed Together” recommendation algorithm on product detail pages (PDPs) vs. the incumbent solution

5.1%

uplift in average purchase per user From implementing a product recommendation widget with the “Viewed with Recently Viewed” strategy on the homepage

Introduction

Ochsner Sport was created with the ultimate goal of providing sports enthusiasts with high-quality equipment and apparel for any activity. With 80+ shops across Switzerland, Ochsner Sport is the largest sporting goods retailer in the country, operating as a subsidiary of the German footwear giant, Deichmann Group. Carrying an extensive collection of merchandise, from football clothing to hiking equipment, tennis garments, running gear, and more, Ochsner Sport needed to connect its diverse customer base with the items suited to their distinct interests and hobbies. Recognizing its product recommendations played a crucial part in the discovery process, the team began experimenting with its current implementation and after testing multiple algorithms, and placements, was able to drive a 46X return on investment from its efforts as well as a 41% increase in average revenue per user and a 5.1% uplift in purchase per user.

The Challenge

Given the personal nature of sports, fitness, and other activities, Ochsner Sport understood that reducing friction in its customer experience meant showcasing items relevant to the individual shoppers unique interests and hobbies was of the utmost importance. For example, someone who considers themselves a cyclist would likely want to be exposed to items from this category over others. In search for a solution that would provide them with a greater control and flexibility when it came to experimenting with recommendations, the retailer set out find a vendor that would allow them to:

• Surface the best product recommendations for each visitor on PDPs
• Easily adjust, launch, and scale recommendations without dev resources
• Fuse different recommendation strategies together

Optimized performance of recommendations on PDPs after hosting a bake off between DY and incumbent solution provider

An essential piece of real estate in the purchase funnel, Ochsner decided to run a three-month bakeoff between two recommendation providers in hopes of maximizing the performance of its widgets on product detail pages (PDPs).

During the test, the existing solution served a “Viewed Together” strategy while Dynamic Yield displayed a number of variations of its “Viewed Together” strategies, including “Viewed Together,” “Viewed Together (with a limit to category),” and a hybrid strategy of “Viewed Together” and “User Affinity.” After just 39 days, Dynamic Yield’s recommendation engine drove the greatest results, increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) by 41% increase compared to the other vendor. As a result of the findings, Ochsner opted to replace its current PDP recommendation widget with one powered by Dynamic Yield.

Recommendation widget leveraging the Dynamic Yield “Viewed Together” strategy on PDPs

Deployed recommendations across other strategic areas of the site

Following the success of the bakeoff, Ochsner Sport began placing Dynamic Yield recommendations across the homepage, 404 pages, and no results pages. Repurposing the template used on PDPs, the team was able to quickly create additional widgets and tap new strategies on these pages without relying on their developers – a major limitation they were finally able to overcome with Dynamic Yield’s flexible implementation capabilities.

To find the optimal strategy for returning users on the homepage, the team allocated 5% of traffic to the control group, which was not served any recommendations. The remaining 95% was split between a hybrid strategy of “Recently Viewed” + “Viewed with Recently Viewed” and a “Viewed with Recently Viewed” strategy. The team chose to test variations of the “Recently Viewed” strategy as this algorithm had historically been successful for its identified users. Both variations outperformed the control group and the “Viewed with Recently Viewed” strategy drove a 5.1% uplift in purchases per user and an 8% increase in revenue per user compared to the control. Ultimately, the recommendations added to the homepage accounted for 22% of the site’s direct revenue, alone.

The Key Takeaway

With a vast assortment of products for every type of sports or fitness enthusiast, browsing through all of the available options to find the perfect item can take the excitement out of shopping. Looking to better resonate with each individual’s interests and inspire action, Ochsner Sport revisited its product recommendation strategy, and with the help of Dynamic Yield’s agile personalization technology, was able to generate significant uplifts, including a whopping 41% increase in average revenue per user from recommendations.

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