Introduction

Geardoor partnered with Nimstrata to integrate their Retail Cloud Connect Shopify App, a solution designed to bring Google Cloud's sophisticated AI and enterprise-level features within reach of smaller teams. The implementation focused on optimizing the core product discovery journey: search, collection pages, and a consistent filtering experience.

For an online store like Geardoor, where customers often search for highly specific items (e.g., "waterproof hiking boots size 10 wide" or "lightweight two-person tent"), the accuracy and relevance of search results are paramount. Google's AI-powered search capabilities allowed Geardoor to:

• Understand Complex Queries: Vertex AI's advanced algorithms could interpret natural language queries, delivering highly relevant results even for nuanced or multi-faceted searches.

• Prioritize Relevance: Google dynamically ranks search results based on a multitude of factors, including product popularity, customer behavior, and product attributes, ensuring that the most suitable gear appeared first.

• Handle Thousands of Variants: Critically, the system efficiently processed Geardoor's extensive product variants, ensuring that when a customer searched for a specific attribute, the correct variant was surfaced directly. This eliminated the frustration of sifting through irrelevant options.

A Consistent and Powerful Filtering Experience

Perhaps one of the most impactful improvements for Geardoor was the implementation of a consistent and robust filtering experience across both search results and collection pages, all powered by Vertex AI Search for Commerce and seamlessly presented via Nimstrata. This addressed the core challenge of helping customers narrow down choices from thousands of variants:

• Unified Filtering UI/UX: Nimstrata's app ensured that whether a customer was on a search results page or a specific product collection, the filtering options—such as brand, size, color, material, activity type, or price range—were presented in a familiar and intuitive manner, with the underlying intelligence provided by Vertex AI.

• Attribute-Rich Filtering: Vertex AI Search for Commerce ingested and understood Geardoor's detailed product data, allowing for highly specific and intelligent filtering based on a vast array of attributes relevant to outdoor gear. For instance, customers could filter by tent capacity, backpack volume, jacket waterproof rating, or bike frame material. Nimstrata provided the front-end interface to expose these capabilities.

• Real-time Faceting and Dynamic Options: As customers applied filters, Vertex AI processed the request and Nimstrata updated the results instantly, providing immediate feedback and a fluid browsing experience. The system could also dynamically show/hide filter options based on available products in the current filtered set, preventing dead ends.

Results

Through the strategic adoption of Google Cloud's Vertex AI Search for Commerce, Geardoor successfully achieved its main goal of providing an unparalleled product discovery experience for its customers:

• Enterprise AI Accessibility: Nimstrata's Shopify App made Google Cloud's powerful Vertex AI Search for Commerce accessible and manageable for Geardoor's small team, delivering "enterprise-level tools and AI features that just work 'out-of-the-box'."

• Enhanced Customer Journey: From the moment a customer landed on the site until they completed a purchase, the entire experience was uplifted and improved by intelligent search and navigation.

• Precise Product Discovery: Customers could now effortlessly find the right gear for their needs, whether through highly specific searches powered by Vertex AI or by navigating curated collections with robust, consistent filtering experiences.

• Increased Customer Satisfaction: A more intuitive, efficient, and relevant shopping experience led to greater customer satisfaction and reduced friction in the purchasing process.

• Optimized Conversion Potential: By delivering highly relevant search results and facilitating easy navigation through collections and filters, Geardoor significantly improved its potential for converting browsers into buyers.