Ecommerce search and merchandising technology provider, Attraqt, (LON: ATQT) has today announced it has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire omnichannel personalisation platform, Early Birds.

The unified solutions will deliver omnichannel search, merchandising, and product & content personalisation for retailers & brands.  They combine Attraqt’s pedigree in data-led search and merchandising capabilities to optimise product discovery and visual curation, with Early Birds’ award-winning ability to empower learning algorithms to orchestrate and personalise the entire shopper journey.

As well as giving brands the ability to test and deploy AI algorithms from various sources, retailers will be able to curate specific experiences for high-traffic sites, landing pages or targeted campaigns utilising Attraqt’s powerful merchandising capabilities.  This is underpinned by Attraqt’s proposition of delivering automation which can be further augmented by human input and creativity.

Global fashion brand, The Kooples, is the first retailer to sign up to the unified Attraqt and Early Birds solution.

Arnaut Fritz, Chief Information Officer at The Kooples said:

“We are proud of The Kooples distinctive identity and it is important that we create emotional and individual connections with our shoppers consistently throughout the shopper journey, in stores and online. The ability to harness data and tailor-made algorithms alongside each other to empower our great merchandising team is just what we were looking for. We welcome the unified solution from Early Birds and Attraqt and we are excited to explore the impact this will have on our customer journeys and our financial performance.”

UK-headquartered Attraqt is a leader in activating smart data to deliver search and merchandising ecommerce solutions via the Fredhopper Discovery Platform. Attraqt provides over 240 global retail brands, including ASOS, JD Sports and The North Face with mission-critical solutions around the globe.

Early Birds, a market leader for AI personalisation in France brings together the data science & marketing teams in large e-commmerce customers on a best-in-class platform to orchestrate AI models in real-time and build personalisation strategies. Embedded in the French retail market, Early Birds works with a range of leading brands including Cdiscount, La Redoute and The Fork.

Luke McKeever, CEO of Attraqt said:

“Bringing together Early Birds and Attraqt is a natural but an equally transformational leap forward for both companies to define AI commerce. We are thrilled to have Early Birds join us at a time when brands and retailers need tremendous support to navigate an era of sweeping changes. The competition to create distinctive, differentiated shopper experiences and yet still be commercially successful is fierce. Having started the integration process as partners earlier this year, we have been able to offer and test our complementary vision and capabilities with our customers and the market. The hugely positive response we received shows us that retailers and brands are hungry to amplify their creative merchandising talents with an algorithmic approach to orchestrate the best shopper journeys.”

Laëtitia Comès, Co-Founder at Early Birds said:

“We have spent the last seven years investing in the expertise and technology to develop an unrivalled approach to ingesting, cultivating and deploying learning algorithms that make personalisation not just a marketing phrase, but a results-based outcome for retailers and brands, and at scale. The move to become part of the Attraqt family not only extends our capabilities outside France but brings to our customers a whole new level of sophisticated search and merchandising expertise and technology. I can’t wait to see where our joint roadmap takes us.”

The announcement follows a period of partnership between the two companies which was officially announced in March 2019.