01865 880 800
info@redtechnology.comKeyword matching across product data
Match customer searches against product codes, names, descriptions and attributes.
ECOMMERCE PLATFORM
Smart Search
Advanced Search & Merchandising Engine with AI-powered discovery.
Advanced Search & Merchandising
The Search & Merchandising Engine controls how products are found, ranked and presented across your ecommerce site. It supports the key product discovery journeys customers use every day, including keyword search, category navigation, faceted filtering and product listing pages. It also gives merchants the tools to influence result ordering, promote priority products and align search outcomes with commercial goals. This makes Smart Search more than a site search upgrade. It is a trading tool for improving product discovery, protecting accuracy and giving your team more control over the customer journey.
Advanced search capabilities
Smart Search provides advanced keyword search for ecommerce catalogues where accuracy, speed and control matter. It matches customer searches against indexed product data, including product codes, names, descriptions and selected attributes. This allows the search experience to support both broad product discovery and precise B2B requirements, such as product code and alias search.
Search behaviour can be configured to suit the structure of your catalogue. Exact product code matches can be prioritised, product names can be weighted more heavily than descriptions, and different matching rules can be applied across different product fields.
Smart Search also includes search behaviours that reduce failed searches and improve result quality without requiring constant manual maintenance.
Product code and alias search
Support B2B customers who search by exact product references, alternatives or known codes.
Configurable search logic
Control how different product fields are matched and weighted.
Prioritised exact matches
Keep exact product code or high-value matches at the top of results where required.
Configurable search passes
Apply different matching strategies across product codes, names, descriptions and other fields.
Synonym support
Manage synonym rules, including terms that help customers find the same products using different wording.
Fuzzy matching
Help customers recover from common spelling mistakes and typing errors.
Inflection handling
Match different word forms, such as singular and plural terms.
Stop-word handling
Remove non-essential words from searches so customers still receive relevant results.
What this means for customers
Customers can search in the way that feels natural to them, whether they use product names, codes, partial terms or common misspellings. Smart Search helps return more relevant results while keeping precise matches under control.
What this means for merchants
Your team can manage search behaviour without relying on bespoke development for every change. Ranking, matching and field weighting can be configured to reflect how your customers search and how your catalogue is structured.
Merchandising capabilities
Smart Search also includes merchandising controls that influence how products are ordered and promoted across search results and product listings.
This means merchants can do more than return matching products. They can shape the order of results based on availability, product groups, business metrics and commercial priorities.
For example, you can prioritise in-stock products, promote new ranges, boost products based on performance metrics or apply ranking rules that reflect trading strategy.
Configurable sorting and ranking
Control the order in which products appear across search results and listing pages.
Multiple sort options
Support different ordering choices, such as relevance, price, popularity or custom commercial logic.
Multiple ranking signals
Combine several signals, such as availability, product metrics and product groups.
In-stock prioritisation
Surface available products first, helping customers avoid dead ends.
New product promotion
Promote recently added products using managed product groups and ranking rules.
Product group boosting
Promote or demote selected ranges, brands, campaigns or curated groups.
Metric-based ranking
Rank products using business and engagement metrics such as orders, baskets, page views, reviews, ratings and sales value.
Faceted filtering
Help customers narrow results using structured filters and product attributes.
Category navigation support
Apply search and merchandising control across browse journeys as well as direct search.
What this means for customers
Customers see results that are not only relevant, but also commercially useful. Products can be ordered to prioritise availability, popularity, recency or other criteria that improve the buying journey.
What this means for merchants
Your team can use search as a merchandising channel. You can guide customers towards the right products, support campaign priorities and present your catalogue in a way that reflects your trading strategy.
AI Discovery
AI Discovery is an optional enhancement to Smart Search.
It extends search by introducing meaning-based matching, helping customers find relevant products when their wording does not exactly match the product data in the catalogue.
For example, a customer searching for “trainers” may still find products described as “running shoes”, where the catalogue content supports that relationship.
AI Discovery works alongside keyword search, the keyword search continues to protect exact matches, product code searches, synonym rules and commercial ranking logic.
AI Discovery capabilities
Meaning-based product discovery
Help customers find products even when their search terms differ from the words used in the catalogue.
Hybrid result ranking
Combine keyword precision with AI-assisted discovery in a single result set.
Reduced zero-result searches
Improve the chance of returning useful results where keyword matching alone may be too narrow.
Configurable behaviour
Tune the balance between keyword matching and AI Discovery so the search experience remains controlled.
Catalogue-aware setup
Configure AI Discovery based on catalogue language, product content quality and search behaviour.
Optional adoption
Enable AI Discovery where it adds value, or keep Smart Search focused on advanced keyword search and merchandising.
What this means for customers
Customers get a better chance of finding relevant products, especially when they use different terminology from the catalogue.
What this means for merchants
AI Discovery adds reach, but keeps control with the merchant. It is best positioned as a discovery enhancement, not a replacement for structured search, product data, filters or merchandising rules.
tradeit™ Recommendations
Recommendations complement Smart Search by helping customers discover relevant products beyond their original search.
Where search responds to what a customer asks for, recommendations help surface additional products based on behaviour, context, product relationships and trading priorities.
Recommendations can support cross-sell, upsell and product discovery across different areas of the site, including product pages, category pages and search result pages.
Recommendation capabilities
Product recommendations
Present relevant products based on customer context and configured recommendation logic.
Behavioural and engagement signals
Use signals such as browsing activity, basket activity, previous purchases or engagement metrics where available and configured.
Product relationships
Surface related products, alternatives, complements, bundles or similar products.
Configurable placement
Display recommendation zones across product pages, category pages, search results or other relevant journeys.
Commercial control
Configure which recommendation types are used, where they appear and how they support trading objectives.
Weighted logic
Combine and prioritise different recommendation signals where required.
What this means for customers
Customers can discover relevant products without needing to run another search. This supports browsing, comparison, cross-sell and alternative product discovery.
What this means for merchants
Recommendations give your team another way to surface products, support campaigns and increase product exposure across the customer journey.
Search and Recommendations Working Together
Smart Search and Recommendations support different parts of the ecommerce journey.
Smart Search helps customers find products when they have a specific need. It controls how search terms are matched, how results are ranked, how products are filtered and how merchants influence product ordering.
Recommendations extend discovery beyond the original query. They help present additional products based on behaviour, context and product relationships.
Together, they support both targeted product finding and broader product discovery, giving customers more ways to reach relevant products while giving merchants more control over how the catalogue is presented.
Improve Your Ecommerce Search
Smart Search is designed to improve how customers find and discover products while keeping full control over how results are ranked and presented.
“We've seen a 25% increase in revenue from search within the first month.”
Ecommerce Manager, F.Hinds
LEARN MORE ›
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