Product overview: WebSphere Commerce Search

WebSphere Commerce comes with a powerful and fully integrated search function. The search functions in WebSphere Commerce provide an enriched customer experience, with features such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction. Since it is built on open standards, WebSphere Commerce Search is highly flexible and extensible. Starter stores can use the search engine's most sophisticated features without requiring extra customization. A key feature of Search is that sales personnel can create and manage search term associations, and search-based merchandising rules, from within the Management Center and Store view.

Business benefits

WebSphere Commerce Search provides the following key business benefits:
  • Shoppers can look for products and browse the storefront by using an intuitive and highly responsive interface that can anticipate their needs. Basic functions include guided navigation, landing pages, and dynamic merchandising suggestions.
  • Business users can influence product selection and display order using the Management Center or the Commerce Insights Store view.
  • Relevant content is easier to find because the Search system uses a combination of relational database and unstructured text-searching modules.
  • Search can be deployed on a dedicated server or cluster, fully decoupled from the transaction processing component of the store. Large numbers of complex search queries can run in parallel with order processing with no degradation in response time. Scalability is not a problem.
  • Deployment and ownership costs are lower, since all of these capabilities come included with WebSphere Commerce.

User roles that interact with WebSphere Commerce Search

The following user roles interact with WebSphere Commerce Search:
  • Store developers who want to deliver powerful search-based catalog browsing flows.
  • Site Administrators who want to deploy, manage, and maintain WebSphere Commerce Search implementations.
  • Business users who want to influence search results by using the Management center.

Finding WebSphere Commerce Search documentation in the IBM Knowledge Center

The following entry points in the IBM Knowledge Center exist for the main focus areas in WebSphere Commerce Search:
WebSphere Commerce Search documentation
Concept Details and audience For more information
Introduction Learn about WebSphere Commerce Search and how it is integrated within WebSphere Commerce.

This information is intended for any WebSphere Commerce role responsible for researching WebSphere Commerce Search.

Tutorials Learn about WebSphere Commerce Search by completing tutorials.

This information is intended for any WebSphere Commerce role responsible for researching WebSphere Commerce Search.

Storefront features Learn about the cross-channel starter stores that take advantage of WebSphere Commerce search, including the ability to search by voice in mobile starter stores.

This information is intended for storefront developers responsible for deploying WebSphere Commerce search-enabled starter stores.

Configuration Learn about the configuration scenarios in WebSphere Commerce Search and how they can be deployed in your environment.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for deploying WebSphere Commerce Search.

Administration Learn about the day to day tasks of WebSphere Commerce Search and how they are managed over time.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for administering WebSphere Commerce Search.

Index lifecycle Learn about the index lifecycle in WebSphere Commerce Search and how Site administrators and business users can play potential roles in updating the search index to meet their business needs.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for administering WebSphere Commerce Search.

Search relevancy Learn about tuning search relevancy, so that customers can find products more efficiently.

This information is intended for Business Users and Site Administrators who are responsible for influencing search results in starter stores.

Overview:Search term management: Search relevancy configuration:Auto-suggestion:
Search merchandising Learn about merchandising the store catalog, so that you can personalize the storefront with content that is more relevant to the target audience.

This information is intended for Business Users who are responsible for influencing search results and product listings to maximize conversion.

Overview:Landing pages:Catalog, Ruled Based Sales Categories, and facet management - Catalog Administrators:Merchandising rules:
Customization Learn about the customization points in WebSphere Commerce Search and how they can be used in your implementation.

This information is intended for WebSphere Commerce developers responsible for customizing WebSphere Commerce Search.

Migration Learn about the capabilities of WebSphere Commerce Search, and how its functions can be migrated between Feature Packs.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for migrating their WebSphere Commerce Search implementation to a newer feature pack.

Performance tuning Learn about how to tune and optimize your WebSphere Commerce Search implementation to meet your business needs.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for tuning WebSphere Commerce Search.

Troubleshooting If you encounter problems while you use WebSphere Commerce Search, refer to the troubleshooting information to help determine the problem and find possible solutions.

Successfully troubleshooting issues helps reduce complexity when encountering errors in WebSphere Commerce Search.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for troubleshooting issues with WebSphere Commerce Search.

Pricing Learn about how to index different pricing models in WebSphere Commerce search.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for configuring WebSphere Commerce Search.

Third-party integration Learn about how WebSphere Commerce Search can be integrated with third-party search engines.

This information is intended for Site Administrators responsible for configuring WebSphere Commerce Search.