eBags Increases Sales & Conversions by 15 Percent by Implementing New Technologies in Partnership with Iterate.ai

DENVER, Oct. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Competing with the retail behemoth, Amazon, in the race to innovate is no small task for any retail or eCommerce company today. Amazon spent over $12.5 billion in R&D last year and continues to invest heavily in Voice Technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

eBags, a longtime partner and seller on Amazon.com, understands the risks of not investing in R&D and advancing their technologies to stay relevant in the industry. That's why, one year ago, the company made the decision to partner with Denver-based Iterate.ai, which has over 135,000 emerging technology startups in its database, many of which are fully vetted and available for retailers to test, iterate, and implement.

eBags today announces that in the first year alone, it has tested dozens of companies and implemented eight – and results have exceeded expectations. "We've increased conversions and sales by 15 to 20 percent," says Mike Edwards, eBags CEO. "Partnering with Iterate has allowed us to test vetted companies fast so we can find technologies nobody else is using to improve our customer journey and surprise and delight our travelers."

In an age where eCommerce is predicted to grow 15 percent in 2017 and mobile commerce double that at 31 percent, it's a prerequisite for survival to pay attention to Amazon and keep advancing with unique technologies, just like the ones eBags has implemented below.

PCSSO
The company has built a powerful AI retail sales enablement platform that recognizes products inside images at a very fine level of detail. eBags has integrated this technology into the eBags mobile app and now users can take a photo of any bag and find a relevant match or set of suggestions within the app interface. The app will prompt the user for more information if it can't come up with any suggestions. eBags is using the first product recognition AI instead of humans to help their customers find exactly what they are looking for, when they are looking for it.

"When we started building our system many years ago, eBags was one of the first data feeds we got access to - we were impressed right from the start.  Great selection, excellent pictures, we knew they were on a good path.  We're very happy to help eBags continue to delight shoppers all the way to checkout (and beyond)."

YOTTAA
eBags is using Yottaa, the leading SaaS platform for accelerating eCommerce, to improve mobile performance and conversion rates on mobile devices.

"Since deploying Yottaa, eBags has been able to significantly improve web page performance on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices resulting in much richer customer engagements and increased conversion rates," said Rich Stendardo, President of Yottaa.

Through Yottaa, eBags has measured 30 percent improvements in web page performance and a 10 percent increase in conversion rates for mobile devices.

BRANDLOCK
This software blocks malware/adware that hijacks users' browsers and redirects them to competing sites, takes credit for sales, causing affiliate fraud, or injects competing website product ads. Their solutions ensures that eBags can deliver the experience the company has carefully crafted for their users, while protecting revenue and margins.

"Brandlock is the Swiss army knife for online retailers when it comes to security and optimization. eBags is the ideal client with a robust website and an active affiliate program with a large footprint of customers. We protect against close to 64,000 malicious scripts found daily on the eBags platforms," sad Eisha Ramrakhiani, VP of client services for BrandLock. 

Recent optimizations have grown a 3 percent conversion uplift to over 10 percent in the last 60 days, as well as a decrease in affiliate payouts due to affiliate fraud.

TURNTO
This software empowers eBags with a lively source of social customer content at mobile checkout. Checkout Comments™ gives buyers the opportunity to answer "Why did you choose this product?" just after the moment of purchase. These short reviews can then be sprinkled throughout the online shopping experience to help shoppers understand what's motivating other customers to buy a particular item. Since the question is so easy and timely, customers are more likely to leave a Checkout Comment™ than a traditional review. 

"We're pleased that eBags is offering their shoppers the benefit of Checkout Comments™," says TurnTo's CEO, George Eberstad. "The high volume of comments, and the speed with which they're accumulating show that customers are embracing this new way of telling others what they love about their eBags purchases." 

30 percent of eBags shoppers engage with Checkout Comments™, providing valuable user generated reviews that will help inform and motivate future purchases.

eBags is committed to continuously testing new technologies and innovating to keep up in this age of hyper-transparency.

Jon Nordmark, CEO of Iterate.ai commented, "Consumers are in the driver's seat, and they are comparing you to companies that DO innovate and progress exponentially…companies like Amazon & Google. Without a culture that embraces experimentation, outcomes can be debilitating, then devastating. As Amazon grows by 32% (last quarter) while adding $6B in new sales, OfficeMax closes 300 more stores. As Amazon adds 100 pop ups to sell Amazon devices, Macy's closes 400 stores. As Amazon starts opening physical book stores, Aeropostale closes 150 stores. This is a trend. All retailers need to continuously upgrade their digital assets and experiment consistently, more than ever before."

About eBags:  With more than 17 years in the travel goods industry and 27 million bags sold, eBags is the leading online retailer of luggage, backpacks and travel-related accessories. The company is devoted to helping its customers find the perfect travel gear for any journey. Ranked a top luggage retailer in 2016 by Consumer Reports, eBags features more than 87,000 products from over 850 brands, including Tumi, Samsonite, Bose, Kenneth Cole, Patagonia, The North Face, PrAna and more. For more information, visit eBags.com

About Iterate: Co-Located in Silicon Valley, Denver-Boulder, and NYC, Iterate.ai has institutionalized the process of discovering, evaluating and testing early stage innovative technologies. The company has automated much of this work in their Iterate.ai platform (currently in beta). Iterate also offers a white glove service for subscribing retailers validates the efficacy of these technologies by running rapid Proof-of-Value tests on the retailers' sites and providing Perfect Insights® into the results. For more information contact Joanne Wichern at [email protected], follow Iterate on Twitter @IterateStudio or visit Iterate.ai.

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