PacSun.com Taps Atomz Search to Enhance Its Online Customer Experience

HostReview.com
Thursday, September 25, 2003; 12:00 AM

San Francisco, CA - Sept. 24, 2003 - Atomz, the leading provider of enterprise Web site management software delivered as an online service, announced that Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. (Nasdaq:PSUN) has selected Atomz Search to enhance the customer shopping experience of its Web site, www.pacsun.com, with completely renovated internal site search functionality.

"We are pleased with the much improved user interface and range of additional functional features that Atomz has helped us customize and employ," said Glenn Wilk, director of e-commerce and online marketing for PacSun.com. "Initial results indicate that the enhanced search is making a positive difference with our online visitors. We have seen a significant increase in the percentage of sales attributed to internal searches."

"Atomz was very receptive to our request to further customize our search results page to match the look and feel of the rest of our site," Wilk added. "All of the options available in our previous advanced search feature were integrated into a single navigation bar. Site visitors conducting a search can now quickly drill down utilizing pull-down menus that identify the department they want to search, the type of clothing and even a specific brand, color, price and size if desired. Also, there is a breadcrumb component that enables customers to see what they've previously searched for and a shortcut link to get back to that page automatically. We've also improved the ‘no results found' page by adding links to other results and our ‘Live Help' functionality," he said.

To provide as much flexibility as possible, the PacSun.com search, which is powered by Atomz Search, allows visitors to sort and refine their search as they shop, reducing the number of results with each selection. Also, site visitors with limited bandwidth can eliminate product images from appearing and opt for a text-only search.

PacSun has been an Atomz customer for more than two years. After examining solutions from many e-commerce site search vendors, the company determined that Atomz would not only meet its functional requirements, but did so at an attractive price compared to the competitors' software license costs. " As a Web-native solution, there are no incremental hardware, software, maintenance or programming costs associated with deploying Atomz Search," said Steve Kusmer, chief executive officer at Atomz.

"With a demographic focused on teenagers, it's imperative that we grab our visitors' attention in the first few seconds, providing different ways to navigate our site, offering lifestyle imagery and interactivity," noted Wilk. "Our analysis of click-thrus and sales told us that site search plays a key role in converting browsers to buyers. In some cases, our advanced search was generating much higher average sales than our regular search box. Now we've brought our search functionality together on a single screen for a better customer experience."

"Converting visitors from shoppers to buyers is crucial for our retail customers," Kusmer added. "The search market has grown increasingly crowded and confusing, with several companies now marketing expensive and time-consuming e-commerce solutions. As PacSun.com has shown, Atomz Search not only delivers the features and functionality an e-commerce site needs, but also provides a much better return on investment."

About Pacific Sunwear
Pacific Sunwear is a leading specialty retailer of everyday casual apparel, accessories and footwear designed to meet the needs of active teens and young adults. As of Aug. 30th, 2003, the company operated 655 PacSun stores, 76 PacSun outlet stores and 118 d.e.m.o. stores, for a total of 849 stores in 49 states and Puerto Rico. PacSun's Web site address is www.pacsun.com.

About Atomz
Atomz provides enterprise Web site management software delivered as an online service. Its suite of Web-native applications provides customers significant advantages over server-based software in reliability, support, ease-of-use, scalability, rapid product innovation and predictable cost structures. The company's unparalleled technical excellence and dedication to customer satisfaction have led products from Atomz to be adopted by thousands of leading Web sites. Select customers include: AOL Time-Warner, CBS, Palm, Gannett Corporation, NASA, Maxtor, Princess Cruises, and Sharp Electronics. Atomz and its products have won numerous industry awards, including ASPnews.com's List of Top 20 Providers, Enterprise Outlook's Investors' Choice, AlwaysOn100, eContent 100, KMWorld 100, Internet World's Best of Show, AIIM E-DOC Magazine's 2003 Best of Show Award for Web Content Management and Transform Magazine's Value Leader Award. For more information about Atomz's products visit the company's Web site at http://www.atomz.com/.

###

Atomz is a trademark of Avivo Corporation. Any other marks used in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of the manufacturers or marketers of the products with which the marks are associated.

Press Contacts for Atomz: Seth Brenzel Atomz Corporation 650-244-5622 (direct) 650-244-1400 (main) sbrenzel@atomz.com