Metcash is folding artificial intelligence into the architecture of its SAP-based B2B ecommerce marketplace called Sorted to improve search and product discoverability.
Sorted is based on SAP Commerce Cloud and connects around 3500 product suppliers to buyers at independent supermarkets such as IGA, Foodland, Friendly Grocer and Eziway.
One of the promoted benefits of the marketplace is that it helps retailers “identify great-selling lines stocked elsewhere in the network, that they could be stocking in their store”, Metcash’s general manager of B2B ecommerce lead Simon Williams said last year.
The marketplace analyses regional sales data and suggests products to retail buyers.
Now, Metcash has integrated Coveo’s AI‑Relevance platform with its SAP environment, “to deliver hyper-personalised search results and a more streamlined, intelligent ecommerce experience,” the wholesaler said in a statement.
“Sorted, Metcash’s B2B e-commerce marketplace, is leveraging Coveo’s commerce-tuned AI models and their SAP partnership to support thousands of proudly independent businesses across Australia, accessing and procuring the products and services they need to run their businesses in a simpler, better and more efficient way than ever before,” Williams said today.
In a recent video published by SAP, Williams said that “over 75 percent of our customers use the search bar [in Sorted] to find new products”.
“AI for us is a critical next step,” he said.
“Our customers do not have an abundance of time. They are running really busy businesses, so the role of search, personalisation and AI to drive and prompt recommendations here is absolutely critical.”
Williams said Sorted does “about 48,000 transactions per week”.
Metcash is a wholesale supplier to independent grocery, liquor and hardware stores Australia-wide.
