B&H Photo Snaps Mobile Channel with Endeca Mobile Commerce

SOURCE:  Endeca Technologies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Endeca Technologies, Inc., a search and business intelligence (BI) company, announced today that B&H Photo Video, the nation’s largest non-chain photo and video equipment store, has deployed Endeca Mobile Commerce to expand its brand, products, and services to the mobile channel. B&H selected Endeca to extend its full website capabilities and merchandising tools to mobile environments, using the same platform powering its dot-com website. The newly launched B&H iPhone® application leverages B&H’s existing backend commerce systems and hallmark product breadth to deliver a robust, consistent Endeca user experience to the mobile customer base.

Like many retailers, B&H recognized the emergence of the mobile channel as an opportunity to reach its loyal customer base with the ability to research and purchase products anytime, anywhere. B&H sought a way to expand into mobile before the holiday season while maximizing its existing website infrastructure and merchandising capabilities. Already using Endeca’s search, Guided Navigation® experience, and Page Builder merchandising tool, B&H was able to extend its mobile channel quickly.

“With Endeca, we have already recognized the ability to lower our total cost of ownership while still innovating with new content,” said Shlome Seidenfeld, CIO of B&H Photo Video. “It has helped us attract a loyal customer following. Endeca Mobile Commerce was a natural next step for us to create a consistent multichannel user experience. Our non-technical business users have the ability to make ongoing changes and improvements across all commerce channels that can go live in a matter of minutes – not weeks. This is invaluable to our business and to our customers.”

Endeca Mobile Commerce provides one platform and toolset for B&H’s business managers to have total control over the user experience, changing content dynamically on its dot-com website and mobile environment simultaneously. Additionally, B&H can create mobile-optimized user experiences with out-of-the-box Endeca Mobile Commerce components like prebuilt templates, merchandising cartridges, and a store locator. With Endeca Mobile Commerce, customers are able to integrate with their existing backend commerce systems and website features – which allows B&H to extend its eCommerce platform, shopping cart, rich product data, and PowerReviews user reviews into the mobile channel.

“Consumer adoption of smartphones has accelerated. In Q3, smartphone usage surged to 31 percent versus 19 percent in Q3 2009, according to the Nielsen Company,” said Cathy Halligan, senior vice president of sales and marketing at PowerReviews. “Content and community is a key part of an integrated mobile offering. Endeca’s Mobile Commerce is enabling retailers like B&H to enter the mobile channel quickly and easily.”

By leveraging out-of-the-box components and prebuilt mobile features in Endeca Mobile Commerce, B&H was able to enter the mobile channel with the introduction of an iPhone application, well in advance of the holiday shopping rush. Plans are already underway for a B&H Android application, which will be controlled from the existing Endeca Mobile Commerce platform.

The B&H mobile application for iPhone is available for download today on the App Store^SM.

About B&H Photo Video

B&H Photo Video is the largest non-chain photo and video equipment stores in the U.S. It serves professionals and consumers through three channels: an online storefront, a print catalog, and its New York brick-and-mortar flagship store.

About Endeca

Endeca is a search and business intelligence software company that improves daily decisions for employees and purchase decisions for customers. Endeca’s unique innovation, the hybrid search-analytical database, enables IT organizations to deliver solutions with consumer ease-of-use on diverse and changing information. Endeca solutions drive hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced costs and increased revenues in the world’s most demanding decision-making environments in organizations like Boeing, Cox Newspapers, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Ford Motor Company, Hyatt, IBM, the Library of Congress, Texas Instruments, and Walmart.com.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Endeca has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia.

For more information: endeca.com, facets.endeca.com or info@endeca.com.

Endeca, Guided Navigation and MDEX Engine are trademarks or registered trademarks of Endeca Technologies, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

B&HPhoto-Video.com, B&H and B&H Photo-Video are trademarks or registered trademarks.

iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. and App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

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