Thanx Media, a leading provider of integrated solutions for online retailers and media companies, announced today that its client, King Arthur Flour, has reported a double digit percentage lift in conversion rates and average per search value since deploying Thanx Media’s Endeca On-Demand site search and merchandising solution. The deployment, which came in three phases – recipe information, products and overall site content – is part of a larger web strategy to bring King Arthur Flour’s world renowned recipes, products and baking information to new and existing customers across the country.

Founded 219 years ago, King Arthur Flour is America’s oldest flour company and premier baking resource. The company’s unparalleled reputation with avid bakers has been built upon the quality of its ingredients and related products, such as recipes and cookbooks. Over the past few years the company has sought to translate and extend this tradition through its online channel and store – innovative efforts that have earned recognition from the likes of Internet Retailer magazine, which named King Arthur Flour to its prestigious Hot 100 2009 list of the year’s best retail websites.

“When we set out to bring our wealth of recipes online, we knew that accurate search was critical and that our home grown solution simply wasn’t going to provide the advanced features or results we needed,” said Halley Silver, director of eCommerce at King Arthur Flour. “We needed a solution that could meet the recipe requirements, and quickly be expanded to cover other aspects of the online customer experience without creating new management headaches on our end. Endeca On-Demand gave us a cost-effective way to introduce the cutting-edge features and accurate results we need today on a platform that can quickly scale with our business.”

King Arthur Flour’s search engine retrieves relevant results and offers quick refinement options, tapping Endeca’s signature Guided Navigation capabilities, to help site visitors intuitively ‘narrow’ their search. Unique options make it simple for searchers to sort recipes not just by relevancy but by ‘prep time’ or ‘total time.’ And the search engine helps present visitors with related content from other areas of the site. For example, a search for ‘sourdough’ products returns relevant products and provides quick contextual links to relevant recipes and related site content.

King Arthur Flour measured search success rates using metrics that included per search value, average search value and conversion rates. Searches for the most popular terms and ingredients saw even more dramatic gains.

“King Arthur Flour has a remarkable history, a loyal community of customers, and an innovative web team dedicated to bringing the best of the King Arthur experience to new audiences,” said Paul Matker, CEO of Thanx Media. “They provide a great example of how a smart, small team can rapidly translate cost-effective technology investments into tangible business results.”

About King Arthur Flour
America’s oldest flour company, King Arthur Flour has grown from a regional staple to a brand known nationwide not only for its high-quality flours but for its passion in sharing the joy of baking; from a small mail-order business with five employees in 1990 to the premier baking resource with more than 160 employees today; from a family-owned operation for five generations to a 100 percent employee-owned business. A founding B Corporation, King Arthur Flour was named one of the Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces and one of WorldBlu’s Most Democratic Workplaces in 2008; and received the Best Place to Work in Vermont Award in 2006 and 2007, the Outstanding Vermont Business Award in 2006, and the Better Business Bureau Local Torch Award for Excellence in 2006. Kingarthurflour.com was named to Internet Retailer’s list of “Hot 100” Web sites for 2009 and is also a finalist in the Multichannel Merchant 2009 MCM Awards. King Arthur Flour offers more than 1,000 professional-grade baking tools and ingredients through its catalogue, online at kingarthurflour.com, and at The Baker’s Store in Norwich, Vt. Through its products, publications and educational programs, King Arthur Flour continues to strive toward its mission: To be a creative and profitable company that’s a product, information, and education resource for, and inspiration to, bakers worldwide.