Ann Summers moves into personalisation

It uses the browsing and purchase history of a customer, as well as products other similar customers bought, to make individual recommendations to each shopper and improve merchandising.

Ann Summers ecommerce director Andrew Harber said the retailer had seen “an uplift in units per transaction and average transaction value” since it was implemented at the end of last month.

He said data gleaned from tracking customers’ browsing journey through the site is “invaluable”.

Each customer builds up his or her own browsing history and receives individual recommendations, rather than segmenting customers by age or income. But Harber said the retailer aims to use both approaches, so individual browsing histories can be combined with personal data such as a customer’s birthday.

The data collected from the software, which was supplied by personalisation company Rich Relevance, will be used across the business. Ann Summers will be able to gain information on how products should be merchandised by finding out what products customers look at before buying something.