Hancocks, the UK’s largest confectionery wholesaler, part of the World of Sweets group, is deploying California-based Algonomy’s omnichannel personalisation platform to develop a deeper understanding of its customers.

By using AI, customer segmentation and predictive models from Algonomy’s platform, Hancocks is set to deliver personalised online content, product recommendations, search results, and browsing experience based on individual customer profiles.

Wholesaler Hancocks serves a range of customers, from convenience stores and independent retailers to smaller online confectionery businesses. Alongside its 14 depots across the UK, Hancocks offers its customers an ecommerce alternative.

The site serves more than 55,000 shoppers per week offering a click-and-collect and delivery service. The company generates a quarter of its business online. With over 4000 products, there is a load of choices that shoppers need to make to find what is right for them. This diversity of customer types, purchase behaviours and needs means an evolving and dynamic site experience is required for every customer.

This is where Algonomy comes in to automate profiles based on customer type, pricing models, product attributes, affinities, preferences and knowledge of when and how each shopper purchases. These real-time profiles provide insights that help deliver contextual engagement every time someone visits the site.

“Algonomy was the perfect fit for our requirement as their personalisation platform encompasses not just product recommendations but also other path-to-purchase touchpoints of search, navigation and content,” said Gareth Walbyoff, ecommerce director at Hancocks.

Algonomy’s personalisation platform uses a library of more than 150 pre-built strategies to ensure every customer engagement is contextually relevant. Besides offering pre-built strategies, the platform provides configurable strategies that allow non-technical users to create their own personalisation strategies for specific use cases. This self-serve personalisation capability eliminates the dependency on technical and IT teams, enabling businesses to evaluate their hypotheses on the fly.

The platform also provides merchandising and brand controls that will help the company align personalisation with specific business goals of engagement, conversion, active promotions, basket size or margin management.

“We are excited to be a part of Hancocks’ growth story,” said Lisa Flanagan, head of revenue in Europe for Algonomy. “We look forward to helping them convert every digital interaction into a personal experience for their customers, and thereby drive greater engagement and revenue.

Hancocks has 14 UK cash and carry stores and an online channel. Shoppers can shop online round the clock with delivery to the door or click-and-collect options. Hancocks is a one-stop shop for confectionery wholesale for over 25,000 independent retailers and is part of the World of Sweets group.