Constructor, the leading AI-powered search and product discovery platform for enterprise ecommerce companies, today announced it has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Knowledge Discovery Software for External-Facing Use Cases 2024 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US51813424, Nov. 2024).
In its definition of the market, IDC states that “search and knowledge discovery systems are software that can find, locate, and provide answers, knowledge, and product suggestions.”
The IDC MarketScape evaluated 13 vendors that address “use cases external to the organization, such as public-facing site search, customer support self-service search, and product/ecommerce search” — assessing them on two primary categories: capabilities and strategies.
Improving ecommerce product discovery
Ecommerce companies worldwide — including Under Armour, Petco, Sephora, Target Australia and more — rely on Constructor to create personalized, revenue-generating shopping experiences. With Constructor’s award-winning technology for product search, browse, recommendations and more, it’s easy for buyers to find the best items for them.
The report cited Constructor’s strengths in:
- “Transparency: Customers feel that transparency is one of Constructor’s key strengths, in terms of both support and AI technology. Constructor provides proactive customer support, partnering closely with customers on road map features… It also provides strong explainability for its AI, helping admins understand why AI algorithms produce certain results or impacts.”
- “Advanced tech with ease of use: Constructor provides advanced features such as AI-powered personalization, hybrid search reranking, and product catalog enrichment, in the form of easy-to-use tools intended for business users. Customers appreciated the simplicity and ease of use of Constructor’s offering.”
The next generation of product search
The IDC MarketScape further notes that “search and knowledge experiences are increasingly conversational. Natural language conversational interfaces are driving new expectations about user experiences, particularly when it comes to finding, discovering, summarizing, and deriving new insights from knowledge.”
The report cites Constructor’s AI Shopping Assistant (ASA) as an example of this new trend and rising imperative — a tool that “provides AI-powered conversational product search and discovery with personalization capabilities.” Recognized as a groundbreaking solution in the International Business Awards®, Convrt Awards for retail, and more, ASA enables shoppers on ecommerce sites to type their search queries in longform, natural language (e.g., “I’m going to a wedding in the Caribbean in August. What should I wear?”) and get results that make sense contextually, are in-stock, and are personalized to them.
“As generative AI is infused in more knowledge discovery products like Constructor’s, we see the knowledge discovery space changing and evolving,” said Hayley Sutherland, research manager, Knowledge Discovery and Conversational AI at IDC, and author of the IDC MarketScape. “Constructor provides advanced technology balanced with ease-of-use, helping more organizations to take advantage of features such as AI-powered personalization, search reranking, and product catalog enrichment to improve customer experience and commerce outcomes.”
Recent momentum
Constructor’s position as a Leader comes on the heels of other exciting news and momentum. Earlier this year, the company secured $25 million in Series B funding — increasing its valuation to $550 million (nearly triple that from its 2021 Series A round) — and expanded rapidly in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Constructor has won five gold Stevie® Awards in 2024, in recognition of the company as a whole, its product innovation and its leadership.
“At Constructor, we take immense pride in being able to play a part in the search and discovery experiences of hundreds of millions of people every week,” said Eli Finkelshteyn, CEO and co-founder of Constructor. “It’s a privilege to get to work with some of the world’s best and biggest companies and to do everything we can to meet the high bar they require for their customers. We believe this recognition as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape was only possible thanks to the feedback and support of those same companies we’re lucky enough to work with. It’s an honor to be called a Leader by the IDC MarketScape, and my sincere hope is that being recognized in this way only raises the bar for us. We plan to only get better from here, because that’s what our customers deserve.”
Additional report info
The IDC MarketScape concludes its assessment of Constructor, advising companies to “consider Constructor when you are looking for a vendor to partner closely with you on optimizing search, particularly for ecommerce use cases, with the ability to expand into related use cases such as site search and customer support search. Constructor offers strong personalization capabilities that further enhance ecommerce search, product discovery, and conversational search, and the vendor’s customers cited its responsiveness, transparency, and the explainability of its AI.”