Walmart has launched Polaris, a new search engine for its shoppers. Built by @WalmartLabs, the research and technology hub at the retail company, the engine anticipates a shopper’s search to deliver relevant results for him or her. “Polaris gives users the ability to connect with the items they want and also surface items based on their interests and likely intent,” explained Sri Subramaniam, Vice-President, @WalmartLabs and head of the Polaris initiative.
The search engine is based on a platform that connects people to places, events and products giving Walmart a richer level of understanding about customers and products. For instance, it uses advanced algorithms including query understanding and synonym mining to understand user intent in delivering results. When a user types the word ‘denim,’ the return results on jeans.
Jeremy King, Senior Vice-President and CTO of e-commerce, Walmart.com, said that the @WalmartLabs team is ‘working on new advances that would be rolled into Walmart.com.