Meet Froomle - the leading provider of self-learning recommendation engines.
Froomle is a Belgian company with roots firmly set in the academic research world. In their scientific research, the co-founders CEO Koen Verstrepen and CTO Bart Goethals have developed a passion for highly personalized recommendations. Having worked in research collaborations with companies like Netflix and Apple, they set out to help enterprises access the type of technology tech-giants use. Their passion formed the company mission:
Helping companies create a better user experience, by recommending the right content to the right user in real-time.
With consumers becoming increasingly accustomed to having recommendations to help them make choices, Froomle saw an opportunity in eCommerce, providing self-learning recommendations to people making purchasing decisions online.
Partnering with Woolman to launch the Froomle app for Shopify
Froomle is established as a technology provider of a recommender engine, but they had never developed a Shopify app before. The decision to launch their app in the Shopify ecosystem was based on research and landed on Shopify for the rapid global growth as well as the good reputation the ecommerce platform has worldwide.
When they set out to find a partner to develop the app with, they compared several agencies. Froomle was aware of the knowledge and skills they have in their own tech-team to contribute to building the app. What was expected from the partner was a solid understanding of integrations, Shopify technology, the ecommerce business and app development. Woolman, the leading Shopify agency in Europe was chosen, and not just for developing the app but also for a long-term partnership.
We valued finding a European partner, with understanding of the EU market and legal framework. Being in the same time zone was a preference for us, and it made everyday communications easy. Both teams worked seamlessly together, having transparent and undelayed communications. Almost 50% of the Froomle team from tech to commerce have been involved in development. Woolman’s in-depth knowledge of Shopify technology saved us time and money, but also helped us make good decisions on matters we had not anticipated when starting the development.
-Amelia Labovitch, Lead of digital sales, Froomle
Developing the app hand in hand
When starting the development, it was clear that the way to go would be a native Shopify app. Froomle wanted to make sure that installation, use and billing of the app would come naturally to merchants to earn the trust merchants have in the Shopify app ecosystem.
Froomle, being very experienced in tech, had many functionalities to include in the app. Together with Woolman it was decided to narrow down the scope to first launch the app with main functionalities and then develop further on feedback from the merchants. During the development of the project, it became obvious that the partnership would continue after the launch.
The timing to start developing the app in the summer of 2021 proved to be golden, since Shopify was rolling out the Online Store 2.0. This made development easier than anticipated, and riding the wave meant being a step ahead in tech.
Woolman understood the possibilities Shopify Online Store 2.0 offered and brought new ideas to the table, making it easy to make informed decisions about the app.
-Amelia Labovitch, Lead of digital sales, Froomle
Delivering App on time and on value
Development of the app from signing the agreement to sending it for Shopify approval was done on schedule. The first month was dedicated to designing and defining the app. The second for development and making new decisions as well as adjustments and on the third month the app was sent for Shopify approval. A schedule set together, and achieved together. In November, The Froomle app was approved by Shopify.
The cooperation of Froomle and Woolman continues. Froomle is now dedicated to onboarding new merchants and learning from them to prioritise new features. Woolman provides continuous development and the support Froomle needs.
"Working with Froomle was inspiring for our whole team. Their passion to create scalability for and with ecommerce merchants was catching and is what we, the Woolman team share with them."
- Pasi Vuorio, Head of product development, Woolman
How does the Froomle app help customers buy?
In a nutshell, the Froomle app creates optimized customer experiences by offering high-impact recommendations. With each visitor’s browsing and purchase history, the personalization AI will predict what the customer might buy next. By presenting a limited number of choices to the customer, it makes decision-making easier and removes the ”analysis paralysis” that stops customers from completing the purchase. Even though Amazon and Zalando may be the leaders in product recommendations, the majority of merchants are underdeveloped in that area. The Froomle app takes basic recommendations a step further by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is able to predict and propose personalized recommendations to the individual in real time. These recommendations can be placed in different touchpoints of the customer’s journey.
The app uses first party data only, so there is no need to worry about the changing practices around third-party data. If a customer chooses to opt-out from cookies, no problem. The Froomle app is still able to make recommendations based on a variety of algorithms, including popularity or diversity to make the shopping experience seem personalized. We wholeheartedly recommend you to get the app.
Mareena Löfgrén, Brand manager, Woolman
Do you want to develop your own app?
You might find inspiration from this:
Bambuser Live Video Shopping integration by Woolman