E-commerce specialist Art Technology Group (ATG) has enhanced its ATG Commerce platform to improve search functionality and conversion rates and make retailers’ web sites more responsive.

The firm has integrated catalogue search with web store merchandising - two areas that have traditionally been separate - to improve the experience for shoppers and give retailers a single point to drive through merchandising across their site, said ATG's product marketing director, Kelly O'Neill.

As a result, shoppers will be able to find what they want more easily, even if they are not using the search bar, added O'Neill.

The ATG Customer Intelligence feature meanwhile allows firms to collect data from disparate sources, including their web stores, put it into a single view, and then generate reports and query the data.

"The trend in the market has been to get the [implementation of] day-to-day business decisions out of the hands of IT," said O'Neill. "The Customer Intelligence platform allows business users to report across the whole e-commerce lifecycle and is incredibly flexible and easy to integrate with other systems."

Another new feature is ATG Live Chat, which allows sales staff to talk to potential customers if, for example, they notice a visitor to the site is wavering over a purchase or having difficulties completing a transaction. This should boost sales conversion rates and improve customer loyalty, said ATG.

"As online shopping has mainstreamed, with less technology-savvy folks shopping online, converting them often takes a different method of engagement," said O'Neill. "The customers can also reach out to the retailer if they don’t feel comfortable – having multiple channels is important."