Decide whether to keep, tune or replace your site search.

An answer to “do we need a new search?” from your own queries and your own costs, not a vendor’s demo.

Start with a conversion review How it works

Right product first200 judged queries

Current search, as configured62%Baseline
Current search, tuned81%Do first
Specialist search84%Costs more

Fernway’s own queries, illustrative

The same judged queries on each option. Tuning closed most of the gap.

Sound familiar?

A vendor says search is why you’re losing sales.
Tuning the built-in search feels endless, and nobody has measured it.
You pay for search and for the people who patch it.

A replacement costs months of integration and a contract. If tuning would have done the job, that was money and time you didn’t need to spend.

What changes.

TodayWith the engine

The question: Which vendor is best?Does our current search clear our own queries?
Evidence: A demo on the vendor’s catalogYour catalog and your queries, side by side
Cost: The license feeLicense, setup, feeds, merchant hours and exit terms
The default: SwitchThe smallest approach that clears the bar

How it works. 5 steps, 4 stages.

AI1
Rules and automation2
Your team2
Approval

1Judge
1. Your team
  Choose the queries that matter
  Your merchandiser and support lead pick real queries: exact codes, long-tail, misspellings, gifts.
2Compare
1. Rules and automation
  Run the same queries on each option
  Your search as configured, tuned, and the alternatives, on the same catalog on the same day.
  - Shopify
  - Algolia
  - Constructor
2. AI
  Score the results
  Each result judged against the right answer, with the misses grouped by cause.
3Cost
1. Rules and automation
  Price the whole option
  License or usage, integration, feeds, events, merchant hours and exit terms.
4Decide
1. Your teamApproval
  Pick keep, tune or replace
  Your team decides on the evidence and the total cost.

What you get. Real work, every week.

Search optionsEffort or cost, first year

Keep and tune the built-in searchRules for codes and stock added14 hDo first
Move to a specialist platformThree points better on judged queriesQuoteDefer
Build a custom engineYou’d own relevance, models and upgrades—Not recommended

The verdict for every option, with what it costs and what it leaves.

How you’ll know it’s working.

Judged queries answered right
The same queries, scored the same way, on every option.
Total cost of each option
Setup, running cost and merchant hours, as well as the license.
Merchant hours a month
What patching costs today, and what each option leaves.

Baselines agreed before we build.

Works with what you have.

Commerce

Shopify
Adobe Commerce

Search & AI

Algolia
Constructor

We configure first: Your platform’s own search is the first option to judge, and it isn’t a straw man. As of October 2026, Shopify’s Search & Discovery is free and Adobe Commerce includes Live Search.
We build when: The judged queries show a gap that tuning can’t close, and closing it is worth the cost.

What a first build includes.

Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start.

1Design
2Build

Start with a review Scope this build

We build

A judged set of your real queries
A side-by-side run on each option
A total-cost model for each
A recommendation with a verdict for every option

We start from

Search logs
Product catalog and stock
Your current search contract and settings

From your team

Owner: Head of ecommerce
Involves: Ecommerce
Merchandising
Engineering
Finance

Questions teams ask.

Will you recommend a vendor?

Only if your own queries say a specialist is worth it. Tuning what you already have is often enough, and we’ll tell you when it is. When a specialist wins, we help you run the same test on matched proposals.

What about open-source search engines?

They can fit when you have engineers to own them. Their infrastructure bill isn’t comparable to a contract that includes merchandising tools and support, so we price every option on the same terms.

Who owns it once it’s running?

You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your head of ecommerce. We can keep running it with you, or step back.

How do we start?

Usually with a conversion review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly.