In the rapidly developing Russian e-commerce market, Crossss.ru, a young company headed by Daniil Khanin, is offering stores a technology designed to significantly increase conversion rates in this field – “by 10 percent and more” – via personalized merchandising.
“We have a mathematical algorithm that studies the visitor, and then makes an assumption whether the user will buy at that very moment or not. This conclusion is made based on the analysis of a huge amount of data about the person, about the goods they are looking at, the store in which they browse, as well as by the route they take to arrive there, how they behave – there’s a lot of data collected,” says Mr. Khanin, the company’s General Director.
Thus, the store will be able to recommend products to the visitor based on their specific behaviour, not just on general statistics. According to the head of Crossss.ru, each purchase has a life cycle – from the birth of a problem to its solution.
The algorithm of this technology allows one to know at what stage of the cycle the user is, and bring them to the purchase by changing the appearance of the site, navigation system and information structure of the store
By request of the customer, changes are made to the order of displaying various categories in the directory, to placing products within the categories, to the search results on the site, and even to the content.
“If we understand that a person wants a TV-set, but he still does not know what kind – 3D, LED, flat or non-flat – we will be expanding the assortment for him,” says the entrepreneur.
“If we understand that the user is at the next stage, that is, they have already decided on the parameters and are looking for where to buy, we will no longer offer TV-sets, but will show accessory products – panels, wires, DVD-players… In theory, the site can change anything by itself.”
On average, according to Mr. Khanin, 95 percent of online store users enter a site, but do not buy anything. In addition, there is the problem of abandoned baskets – when a person “reserves” some goods, but for some reason, does not reach the final order stage.
To return the potential customers, there is a system for the personalisation of communication channels between the online stores and users. If the system finds that the visitor is not ready to buy, she is offered to leave her contact details, and then emails will be forwarded to them, motivating them to return and make the purchase, for example, by offering a discount on the checked goods, or similar goods at a lower price.
It is possible to insert recommendations of associated products into the e-mail confirming a purchase. In order to become a client of Crossss.ru, one must register on the website and insert into the code of its page a JavaScript line.
Registration is free; the company’s revenue consists of getting a percentage from the increase in sales. In addition, customers are offered two weeks to test the service. The project was first launched in early March 2013, and as of July 1, has started working in commercial mode.
The start-up team consists of only 10 people for now, mostly developers. Not so long ago Crossss.ru won first place in a start-up contest called the Chain Reaction. Currently, in Russia there are only two such services
The company is planning to expand to the markets of the CIS, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. De facto, Crossss.ru is already working in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. As Daniil Khanin noted – “effective are only those markets where e-commerce is only getting started.”
And finally, about the title – why the four S letters? “When we came up with this project, the first thing we had to decide, like all similar companies, was the product’s name, the name Crossss in from CROSS Sale Saas – that is Cross-Sales and Soft as a Service,” said the General director of Crossss.ru.
This story was first published in Russia Beyond The Headlines, an international source of political, business and cultural news and analysis, as part of a series on Russian startups.
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT – The total volume of Russian online retail is expected to exceed $16 billion this year, up from $13 billion in 2012, not including cross border sales. In partnership leading universities and consultancies, EWDN has published an in-depth research on this industry. To receive free insights or to order the full version (2013 edition), please contact us at [email protected].
