Backcountry.com has revamped its website. About a week ago, the e-tailer of outdoor gear switched to its “new fast and much sexier” search platform that includes features such as auto spell correct, autofill, a matching color pallete, and a sliding price filter.
The new search is powered by Microsoft’s FAST ESP.
“When it really comes down to it, the coolest thing we've done to improve customer experience is make our images bigger,” said Dustin Robertson, Chief Marketing Officer of Backcountry.com. “In terms of mandatory self-improvement, that’s a ‘duh’ thing, about as cutting edge as a sleeping bag – which is not only too soft to cut anything, but also important to have and not remarkable when you do.”
“I mean, don’t get me wrong,” he added. “I like big pictures.”
Besides the addition of really big pictures, the new search (did we mention it was powered by Microsoft’s FAST ESP?), includes other features that fall squarely in the ‘duh’ category – at least when you really think about how customers want to find gear:
* Auto spell correct (“Couldviel” automatically becomes “Cloudveil”)
* Autofill in the search field that shows a list after first three characters (“sof” automatically becomes “softshell”)
* A color palette filter so you only get results that “go with” your gear
* A sliding price filter to show you only the trail shoes within your $120 budget
* A size filter so you know which brands make hiking boots in size 13.5
* Rollover content so when you’re just looking around, you don't need to click away from the results page onto an individual product page
* Retractable search filters on the left navigation sidebar for more focus on the gear
* All search results on one page, loading below the fold (keep scrolling
)
* Record page load times for all the ADD types that expect results right now, dammit.
The new search platform rolled out on Backcountry.com and Dogfunk.com last week. HuckNroll.com and RealCyclist.com will get the big picture treatment in late October.
