Over the past few months Walmart has been upgrading its site’s search engine to a new, internally-built tool, and the retailer says that the new and improved engine is leading to more online purchases. Dubbed Polaris, the search engine was developed by the Walmart Labs team over the course of ten months, and the company says that its website has seen a 10-15 percent jump in users actually making a purchase following a search query. According to Walmart, Polaris “uses advanced algorithms including query understanding and synonym mining to glean user intent in delivering results” — so, for example, if you were to search for “denim” the engine would pull up results for jeans. Polaris now powers Walmart’s entire site, including mobile search.
Walmart’s new, internally-built search engine leads to increased sales
Walmart’s search engine has been upgraded, which should make it easier to find just the right new patio set,
Walmart’s search engine has been upgraded, which should make it easier to find just the right new patio set,
is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
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