2008 Press Releases
For all press inquiries, please contact: Andy Kill, 650.691.7311, email: kill@airfoilpr.com
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richrelevance Announces Strategic Partnership Program
Selected Partners will Co-Market and Integrate richrelevance Products
San Francisco – September 15, 2008 – richrelevance™, the exclusive provider of next-generation personalized recommendations for eCommerce businesses, launched its partnership program today (richrelevance.com/partners), through which selected best-of-breed eCommerce technology providers will integrate with richrelevance’s on-site and in-email personalization products for an enhanced cross-vendor solution.
With the introduction of this program, richrelevance customers will benefit from easier integration of the richrelevance product, higher ROI on existing partner implementations, and market innovations as richrelevance works closely with its partners. The program currently features partners in the categories of eCommerce platform, ratings & reviews, and email.
“By enabling other vendors to integrate their services with our platform, we are delivering significant value to all of our combined retail clients,” said richrelevance CEO David Selinger. “Through these integrated solutions, retailers will see a greater return on investment with higher conversion rates, an improved customer experience, and faster time to market.”
For participating eCommerce vendors, integration with the richrelevance platform offers a way to enhance product offerings, which in turn strengthens relationships with existing customers while offering a further differentiated solution to prospective customers. Internet Retailer found that nearly half of online merchants polled are prioritizing recommendations on their sites in the upcoming year, making integration with richrelevance a priority for vendors working to exceed customer expectations.
“The launch of this partnership program allows us to further enhance and diversify our product offerings, differentiating us in the market and giving merchants a powerful way to materially boost sales with limited integration,” said Alan Littman, CMO of VCommerce, one of richrelevance’s launch partners. “We’ve completed implementation of the richrelevance product, and are eager to begin offering our customers double-digit sales lift through personalized recommendations.”
The program’s launch partners are Bazaarvoice, DMinSite, Experian CheetahMail, LaGarde, Novator, PowerReviews, Responsys, and VCommerce.
richrelevance is the exclusive provider of next-generation personalized recommendations for leading eCommerce sites, including Sears.com. The Company's products increase sales by 10-30% by personalizing the shopping experience through targeted merchandising. The richrelevance recommendations platform outperforms popular collaborative filtering-based solutions through the use of more than 15 recommendation types, cross-placement optimization, and a closed-feedback loop. The SaaS-based offering is easily integrated, and empowers merchandisers through a robust, patent-pending suite of dashboard controls. The company is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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richrelevance Raises Series C to Support Rapid Growth
Series C round will be invested in infrastructure and staff as company gains market leadership
San Francisco – August 25, 2008 – richrelevance™, the leading provider of next generation personalized recommendations for ecommerce sites, announced today it has raised Series C venture capital financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, with contributions from previous investors including Greylock Partners, Tugboat Ventures and others, bringing investor financing to over $9 million. The Series C funding will enable richrelevance to fully support a growing customer base by aggressively investing in the company’s infrastructure and team.
“We are expanding our commitment to richrelevance because the market is proving that this company and its founder have built a recommendations product and delivery platform that are transforming the way online retailers personalize their sites to drive conversion and customer loyalty,” said Emily Melton, a Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
To keep pace with the demand for its product from leading online retailers, the Company has doubled its staff in the last six months, including expansion of its IT, engineering, customer service, and sales and marketing teams. In June, the company added Elya Kurktchi as Senior Director, IT and Operations—a renowned expert in building global networks and distributed data architectures for such giants as Akamai and Hotmail; Elya’s expertise will enable richrelevance to continue to deliver on its commitment to total IT reliability of its SaaS offering. Additionally, the company hired Tyler Hoffman, who formerly ran PayPal’s Enterprise Sales Team, as Vice President of Sales to build and manage a customer-focused team committed to client success.
“We have seen a tremendous response in the marketplace, particularly in advance of the holiday season”, said richrelevance founder and CEO, David Selinger. “This funding provides us the flexibility to get customers up and running as quickly as possible by funding an expansion of our infrastructure and core talent – while maintaining our commitment to deliver 100% customer satisfaction.”
richrelevance is the leading provider of next-generation personalized recommendations for leading ecommerce sites, including Sears.com. Founded by the former head of Amazon’s Personalization R&D team, the Company’s products have demonstrated an ability to increase sales for online merchants by 10-30% by personalizing the shopping experience through targeted merchandising. The richrelevance recommendations platform outperforms popular collaborative filtering-based solutions through the use of more than 15 recommendation types, cross-placement optimization, and a closed-feedback loop. The SaaS-based richrelevance offering can be deployed and integrated rapidly by large, online retailers, and empowers their internal merchandising teams through a unique, (patent-pending) suite of dashboard controls.
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Sears gets personal, enhancing its online shopping experience with next generation personalized recommendations from richrelevance
Retailer expects to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
Chicago – June 11, 2008 – Sears is now bringing its customer-centric in-store experience online through
personalized product recommendations powered by richrelevance™. Sears.com and Kmart.com are
currently running richrelevance’s turnkey solution, which analyzes shopper behavior to customize each
shopper’s online experience from homepage through checkout.
“We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible shopping experience, no matter how they interact with us,” said Jim Barr, President, Online for Sears Holdings. “With richrelevance, we’re able to provide our online customers with recommendations that allow them to find what they’re looking for faster and easier.”
Richrelevance analyzes more than 15 distinct types of consumer shopping behavior to predict which
products are relevant to which shoppers. Attributes analyzed include a shopper’s previous purchases,
key search terms and specific brand-preferences. Each time a shopper visits Sears.com or Kmart.com,
richrelevance will choose the best recommendations at every point in the shopping flow from item selection to purchase completion. This multi-algorithmic approach to product recommendations has consistently outperformed collaborative filtering—the status quo for recommendation technology.
“Imagine walking into a store and having the items you wanted to purchase already laid out for you – that’s essentially what we do for Sears customers,” said richrelevance CEO and Founder David Selinger. “We create a unique shopping experience for each customer, helping shoppers find what they want, faster –which in turn boosts basket size, incremental sales and loyalty for the retailer.”
Offering personalized recommendations takes a fresh approach to presenting products, services, and
solutions for Sears’ customers throughout each stage of their lives, from in-store to online shopping.
richrelevance powers next-generation merchandising and personalized recommendations on eCommerce
sites, optimizing every stage of the shopping experience from homepage to follow-up emails. The company’s
product outperforms collaborative filtering solutions through use of more than fifteen recommendation types
combined with transparent messaging, continuous optimization, and merchandiser controls. The company is
privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Sears Holdings Corporation is the nation’s fourth largest broadline retailer, with approximately $50 billion in annual revenues, and with approximately 3,800 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada. Sears Holdings is the leading home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, home electronics and automotive repair and maintenance. Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering, including such well-known labels as Lands’ End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer, as well as the Apostrophe and Covington brands. It also has Martha Stewart Everyday products, which are offered exclusively in the U.S. by Kmart and in Canada by Sears Canada. The Company is the nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 13 million service calls made annually. For more information, visit Sears Holdings’ website at http://www.searsholdings.com.richrelevance
| richrelevance media contact:
Andy Kill Airfoil Public Relations 650.691.7311 email: kill@airfoilpr.com |
SHC Media Contact: Kirsten Whipple 847.286.3037 email: kwhippl@searshc.com |
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Todd Pearson Joins richrelevance as Chief Customer Officer
Former PayPal executive to lead growth strategy and manage expanding client base
San Francisco, Calif. – June 9, 2008 – richrelevance™, the exclusive provider of next generation personalized recommendations for eCommerce businesses, announced today the hiring of former PayPal executive Todd Pearson as Chief Customer Officer to oversee all customer-facing operations including Sales and Marketing. Pearson adds to an experienced retail executive team, led by CEO and founder David Selinger, formerly the head of Amazon’s Personalization R&D group and a technology executive at Overstock.com.
Pearson joins richrelevance after eight years at PayPal where he held key roles building several business units and recently as Vice President of Sales. In this role, Pearson managed a team of 120 employees and was responsible for $125M in revenue in 2007, selling to a full range of eCommerce merchants and channel partners.
“I’ve been in ecommerce a long time, and very rarely does a company come along with this kind of
potential,” said Pearson. “When I saw first-hand that richrelevance is consistently delivering 10-20% sales lift to its customers -- significantly outperforming collaborative filtering -- I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I’m excited to join a business that will delight its customers, and am looking forward to contributing to richrelevance’s success.”
With more than twenty years of experience in sales management and strategic consulting, Pearson will
play an integral role in marketing the flexibility and benefits of richrelevance’s products for all eCommerce sites, ranging from small businesses to large-scale enterprise companies. Pearson is charged with delivering on richrelevance’s commitment to total customer satisfaction while driving the growth and success of richrelevance’s expanding customer and partner base.
“Todd is a perfect match for richrelevance,” said David Selinger. “In this underperforming economy, there
is an increasing demand for our personalized recommendation product to enhance customer experience,
increase conversion, and boost sales. Todd’s depth of experience in eCommerce is a boon for us as we
continue to exceed the expectations of our rapidly growing customer base.”
Pearson received his MBA as a Sloan Fellow at the London Business School and his BA degree from
University of California, Berkeley.
richrelevance powers next-generation merchandising and personalized recommendations for
eCommerce sites. The company’s product outperforms collaborative filtering solutions through use of
more than fifteen recommendation types, combined with transparent messaging, continuous optimization, and merchandiser controls. The company is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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richrelevance lifts sales per visitor by 10-15% for DMinSite clients; announces partnership
DMinSite will offer richrelevance’s personalization and recommendation solution to its client base
San Francisco, Calif. – May 1, 2008 – richrelevance™, which powers next generation personalized recommendations for eCommerce businesses, announces its partnership with DMinSite, a managed eCommerce software provider that helps multi-channel clients improve online sales performance. Through richrelevance’s easily integrated flagship product – richrecs – DMinSite’s eCommerce clients will benefit from personalized recommendations proven to lift sales and customer conversion rates while enhancing the shopping experience.
“I've seen many sophisticated-sounding, slick-looking eCommerce products fail to produce results in the field. richrelevance stands out because they not only use advanced marketing and modeling techniques, but they produce real world results,” said DMinSite CEO Larry Kavanagh. “richrelevance chooses from 15 different recommendation strategies to determine the most effective recommendations - in effect, they create personalized navigation for every shopper.”
“We deliver a shopper-centric experience that allows customers to find items relevant to their interests – often times more quickly than search or browse. In just a few clicks, customers can find more of what they are looking for,” said richrelevance CEO and Founder David Selinger.
To test the power of richrelevance, DMinSite conducted a head-to-head split test comparing collaborative filtering-based recommendations to richrelevance’s next generation personalized recommendations.
“Sales per visitor jumped up by 10-15% with richrelevance,” added Kavanagh. “We’re excited to offer richrecs to our customers and make it a part of our integrated eCommerce solution going forward.
“DMinSite is a fantastic partner for richrelevance,” noted Selinger. “Their core value to their eCommerce customers is increasing sales above and beyond the industry average—that’s what next generation personalized recommendations are all about.”
richrelevance powers next-generation merchandising and personalized recommendations on eCommerce sites. The company’s product outperforms collaborative filtering solutions through use of more than fifteen recommendation types combined with transparent messaging, continuous optimization, and merchandiser controls. The company is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
DMinSite is a Software-as-a-Service-Plus (SaaS+) provider that builds and delivers a suite of e- commerce, search and email solutions. We’ve helped our clients grow web sales at a rate that’s more than double the industry average for seven years in a row. DMinSite’s Mercury 6.0 software offers e-retailers an enterprise class, feature-rich web selling platform that significantly out-performs platforms that cost two to four times as much. We built into Mercury, and into our other complimentary software products, marketing intelligence that allows our clients to quickly and easily employ sophisticated e-commerce strategies. The SaaS model allows us to continually and frequently make new selling features available to our clients. We supplement our software with e-commerce marketing recommendations and consulting, providing the “plus” in SaaS+. New clients commonly see a 50% -100% increase in web sales in their first year of working with DMinSite, resulting in a 90+% customer retention rate since the company was founded in 2000.
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richrelevance Raises $4.2 Million in Series B Funding
Investment to Support Additional Solution Innovation and Partnership Development
San Francisco, Calif. – April 8, 2008 – richrelevance™, which powers next generation personalized recommendations for eCommerce businesses, announced today that the company has raised $4.2 million of Series B venture capital financing from Greylock Partners and Tugboat Ventures. This funding follows on the heels of a Series A round from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards and select angel investors.
“For eCommerce businesses, we have entered a period where there is tremendous pressure to increase the value of every customer visit. Personalized product recommendations–done right–offer incredible sales lift,” said richrelevance Board Member Ellen Siminoff, Board Chairman of Efficient Frontier and former SVP at Yahoo. “It makes sense that the person who led Amazon's Personalization R&D team is now delivering on this promise.”
“richrelevance's recommendations go beyond existing collaborative filtering solutions and provide a powerful way to enhance customer satisfaction while driving sales lift,” said richrelevance CEO and founder David Selinger. “With our SAAS model, we deliver our next-generation solution quickly and easily, everything from multiple recommendation sets on every page of a site to our intuitive dashboard—yielding significant bottom-line value with minimal integration. The Series B funding is an exciting stage in our company's growth and it will give us additional resources to serve our customers and partners."
richrelevance is led by veterans from Amazon, Overstock, eBay, MySpace, and ATG, who collectively have more than 30 years of experience in personalization, online commerce, data analysis and web products.
As part of the investment, David Whorton of Tugboat Ventures and David Strohm of Greylock Partners joined the richrelevance Board of Directors.
richrelevance powers next-generation merchandising and personalized recommendations on eCommerce sites. The company’s product outperforms collaborative filtering solutions through use of more than fifteen recommendation types combined with transparent messaging, continuous optimization, and merchandiser controls. The company is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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