Ultimate Electronics Incorporates Dynamic Online Search Engine

Ultimate Electronics incorporates a dynamic online search engine to improve their customer experience.

Ultimate Electronics, the leader in home and car entertainment, has significantly upgraded its website by incorporating a more powerful and efficient search engine. In addition, Ultimate Electronics added a content tool that allows the company to easily incorporate specific promotions and other HTML features onto targeted search result pages.

The combined result of these improvements creates a more satisfied and educated customer base, increases positive brand recognition and brings a greater stream of customers into Ultimate Electronics’ retail outlets.

Ultimate Electronics worked with the expert web production team at Quinn Interactive (QI) to design and implement their new search engine. The QI team used cutting-edge Commerce Search technology from WebSideStory, along with Promote, an industry-leading targeted promotion tool, to create the new, enhanced search experience. In addition to their more than ten years of web development expertise, Quinn Interactive is one of the web industry’s leading authorities in the application of WebSideStory technologies. 

Ultimate Electronics Website Presents Unique Challenge

Based in Colorado, Ultimate Electronics operates 32 superstores in nine states throughout the Midwest and Southwest. The company offers a comprehensive selection of limited distribution upscale brands, state-of-the-art home theater and audio demonstration rooms and service-driven sales consultants that are knowledgeable and passionate about consumer electronics. Ultimate Electronics believes that customers need to experience products first-hand.  The company has created the industry’s leading personalized, in-store experience and uses its website to provide a detailed inventory catalog.  At www.ultimateelectronics.com customers can research and compare products, however they must visit an Ultimate Electronics superstore to experience and purchase the product.

To be a true valuable resource to consumers, it was important for the site to allow quick, efficient and in-depth searches and product comparisons. Quinn Interactive was challenged to create a dynamic website search system to enhance the customer experience and provide an improved marketing tool for the retailer.

Quinn Interactive Develops Innovative Search/Information Architecture Strategy

In response to Ultimate Electronics’ requirements, Quinn Interactive utilized Commerce Search to create an innovative search experience that dramatically increased the functionality of the company’s website, both from a user and an administrator standpoint. This functionality immediately exposes users to a wide range of product information, allowing customers to easily refine their searches according to a variety of criteria, including price, brand name, model size and features. Searches can be redefined “on the fly” using filters that never provide empty results.  Once users drill-down into a search, they can easily backtrack, retracing their steps to see where they’ve been. Quinn Interactive also incorporated an extremely useful TV Size Wizard feature, which allows users to input the size of their TV cabinet, or any space, to determine which TV models will fit inside.

The most groundbreaking aspect of the new website, however, stems from Quinn Interactive’s ability to create search results in an entirely new way, delivering them as XML data, rather than as standard HTML. While the user experience is not altered through this innovation, the enhancement allows Ultimate Electronics’ website administrators to change the look of their site without impacting data or functionality. In addition, Promote allows site administrators to incorporate promotions and other special features directly onto their search result pages.

Quinn Interactive Consulting Expertise Leads to More Efficient Website Focus

Before technical work on the website began, the Quinn Interactive design team worked with Phil Schmidt, internet manager of Ultimate Electronics, to determine the company’s product catalog. Together, Schmidt and the QI team developed a more streamlined taxonomy with fewer levels of product categorization. This fundamental change made the site more user-friendly by allowing viewers to move laterally between categories and pursue individual searches much more freely. QI also worked with Schmidt to help ensure that all labels and categories were as self-explanatory and accurate as possible. All of this work was designed to create a more satisfying customer experience that would bring users back to the website often, encourage them to stay on the site longer, and, of course, to create the kind of positive branding relationship that will ultimately draw more customers into Ultimate Electronics superstores. 

About Ultimate Electronics

Ultimate Electronics, a private consumer electronics company, is the leader in home and car entertainment.  Based in Colorado for 37 years, the company has 32 superstores in nine states, including Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.  Ultimate Electronics provides the industry’s most comprehensive selection of name brand consumer electronics with an emphasis on limited distribution, mid-to-upscale brands.  With the industry’s leading 60-day price and service guarantee, consumers take peace of mind home with their new purchase – absolute satisfaction and assurance that customers never pay more is guaranteed.  Superstores are complete with multiple home theater and audio demonstration rooms as well as service-driven sales consultants that are knowledgeable and passionate about consumer electronics.  To learn more visit www.ultimateelectronics.com. 

About WebSideStory

Founded in 1996, WebSideStory® (Nasdaq:WSSI) is a leading provider of integrated, on-demand digital marketing applications that improve online marketing and sales. These hosted solutions provide customers significant advantages over installed software in reliability, support, ease-of-use, scalability, rapid product innovation and predictable cost structures. The company's powerful solutions, unparalleled technical excellence and dedication to customer satisfaction have led their solutions to be adopted by thousands of leading Web sites. The company has won numerous industry awards, and JupiterResearch recently ranked WebSideStory’s on-demand site search application as one of the best in the industry. WebSideStory is globally headquartered in San Diego, California, and conducts business from offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.websidestory.com.