• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 5, 2020

Searchspring on Wednesday announced the acquisition of 4-Tell, which created the AI platform Smart Commerce. 

4-Tell brings brands such as Bob’s Red Mill, Dakine and 2Modern. Searchspring supports brands such as Kate Somerville, Moen, Natori and Volcom.

Peter Messana, Searchspring CEO, praised the technology and team that built the platform, as well as its customers, who he says will “benefit from our advanced search.”

While Searchspring’s technology breaks down each search to understand what words mean and how they relate to each other, 4-Tell provides the ability to personalize the recommendation based on searches.

Similar to other products, Searchspring uses natural-language processing to understand the shopper’s query, irrelevant product types and accessories. Anything that doesn’t match gets eliminated. The products with the highest conversion rate for the query are booted to the top of the page.

Searchspring will integrate 4-Tell’s technology into its product line, dissolving the 4-Tell brand name.

Customers will continue to receive full support and access to the 4-Tell product. The company said integrating the platform into Searchspring will enable it to speed the delivery of product recommendations and personalization across its entire suite of features.

Neil Lofgren, CTO-co-founder at 4-Tell, will remain with the company as principal architect. His team will join Searchspring to build out recommendation products.

Searchspring has offices in San Antonio, Denver and Toronto. The 4-Tell acquisition adds a Portland office. The APAC expansion will come with an office in Australia.

The acquisition aims to “fast track” the company’s growth. Last month, Searchspring hired a vice president of product with plans to expand into Asia Pacific.

New personalization features are expected to roll out in October 2020.