How flaschenpost lifted sitewide conversion and reduced zero-result searches with Constructor
Founded in 2016 and now part of the Oetker Group, the company has expanded from beverages into a full online supermarket, powered by a sophisticated logistics network and tech-driven operations.
Founded in 2016 and now part of the Oetker Group, the company has expanded from beverages into a full online supermarket, powered by a sophisticated logistics network and tech-driven operations.
flaschenpost’s assortment is broad, constantly changing, and filled with grocery-specific descriptors that a keyword engine struggled to interpret. High-intent searches like “gestückelte tomaten dose” (canned diced tomatoes) returned zero results, even though the correct products were in the catalog. Queries like “Dubai” — which shoppers used to find a specific type of chocolate — also produced empty pages. And simple misspellings (13% of all searches) such as “Sagt” instead of Saft (juice) sent shoppers to irrelevant iced tea products.
flaschenpost’s assortment is broad, constantly changing, and filled with grocery-specific descriptors that a keyword engine struggled to interpret. High-intent searches like “gestückelte tomaten dose” (canned diced tomatoes) returned zero results, even though the correct products were in the catalog. Queries like “Dubai” — which shoppers used to find a specific type of chocolate — also produced empty pages. And simple misspellings (13% of all searches) such as “Sagt” instead of Saft (juice) sent shoppers to irrelevant iced tea products.
Recognizing the Need for Change
flaschenpost had begun its digital transformation with a full rebuild of its PIM and underlying e-commerce platform. Once those were in place, they turned their attention to search. They reviewed several modern semantic search approaches, including an upgrade path from their existing provider, but nothing meaningfully addressed the core issues around long-tail interpretation, misspellings, and KPI alignment.
Constructor became a serious contender once the team entered a Proof Schedule — a lightweight POC where Constructor collected behavioral data from flaschenpost’s site for a short period and used it to project how its algorithms would optimize their results. These projected results are presented in an interactive sandbox environment, which provided flaschenpost with a clear view of how their assortment and queries would perform on Constructor without requiring a full integration.
Testing their hardest grocery queries in the sandbox exposed how differently an AI-first system could interpret semantics, handle descriptive and misspelled searches, and surface attractive products automatically.
The Proof Schedule reinforced those early impressions with measurable results and hands-on collaboration, giving the team confidence that Constructor could scale with their business.
“Seeing our assortment perform inside the Playground made it obvious the technology understood the structure and semantics of groceries in a way our old search never could.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
Recognizing the Need for Change
flaschenpost had begun its digital transformation with a full rebuild of its PIM and underlying e-commerce platform. Once those were in place, they turned their attention to search. They reviewed several modern semantic search approaches, including an upgrade path from their existing provider, but nothing meaningfully addressed the core issues around long-tail interpretation, misspellings, and KPI alignment.
Constructor became a serious contender once the team entered a Proof Schedule — a lightweight POC where Constructor collected behavioral data from flaschenpost’s site for a short period and used it to project how its algorithms would optimize their results. These projected results are presented in an interactive sandbox environment, which provided flaschenpost with a clear view of how their assortment and queries would perform on Constructor without requiring a full integration.
Testing their hardest grocery queries in the sandbox exposed how differently an AI-first system could interpret semantics, handle descriptive and misspelled searches, and surface attractive products automatically.
The Proof Schedule reinforced those early impressions with measurable results and hands-on collaboration, giving the team confidence that Constructor could scale with their business.
“Seeing our assortment perform inside the Playground made it obvious the technology understood the structure and semantics of groceries in a way our old search never could.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
flaschenpost chose Constructor because it offered an AI-first approach purpose-built for ecommerce rather than a keyword system with semantic layers bolted on. Real-time personalization and KPI-based ranking enabled the platform to automatically align results with conversion, revenue, and margin targets — a capability that their previous solution could not achieve.
“Most tools promise AI, but Constructor showed us what AI looks like when it’s tied to business outcomes. Ranking decisions finally made sense in the context of our KPIs.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
Instead of relying on manual overrides, the system continuously learned from shopper behavior, assortment changes, and intent patterns across the full journey.
flaschenpost chose Constructor because it offered an AI-first approach purpose-built for ecommerce rather than a keyword system with semantic layers bolted on. Real-time personalization and KPI-based ranking enabled the platform to automatically align results with conversion, revenue, and margin targets — a capability that their previous solution could not achieve.
“Most tools promise AI, but Constructor showed us what AI looks like when it’s tied to business outcomes. Ranking decisions finally made sense in the context of our KPIs.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
Instead of relying on manual overrides, the system continuously learned from shopper behavior, assortment changes, and intent patterns across the full journey.
flaschenpost emphasized that Constructor’s collaboration stood out from the first conversations through ongoing optimization. The team highlighted the consistency of support across sales engineering, data science, and customer success, particularly during the Proof Schedule and early rollout phases.
Constructor’s responsiveness, analytical rigor, and willingness to engage deeply with flaschenpost’s KPI goals helped establish trust quickly.
“It never felt like a handoff from one team to another. The consistency of support made it clear we were working with a partner who understood our goals and shared accountability for the outcomes.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
This partnership mindset continues as flaschenpost scales into new categories and evolves its broader digital experience.
flaschenpost emphasized that Constructor’s collaboration stood out from the first conversations through ongoing optimization. The team highlighted the consistency of support across sales engineering, data science, and customer success, particularly during the Proof Schedule and early rollout phases.
Constructor’s responsiveness, analytical rigor, and willingness to engage deeply with flaschenpost’s KPI goals helped establish trust quickly.
“It never felt like a handoff from one team to another. The consistency of support made it clear we were working with a partner who understood our goals and shared accountability for the outcomes.”
— Julian Neumann, Head of Product - E-Commerce, flaschenpost
This partnership mindset continues as flaschenpost scales into new categories and evolves its broader digital experience.