Site search firm SLI Systems targets Japanese e-commerce

New Zealand-listed search engine technology company SLI Systems is fulfilling it promise on listing to go after the Japanese e-commerce market.

SLI chief executive Shaun Ryan said the Japanese e-commerce market is the second largest in the world and dedicated site search providers are under represented there. 

SLI provides software as a service (SaaS) search capability including site search, navigation, merchandizing, product suggestion, mobile and user-generated SEO,

The company’s technology, originally developed by Global Brain and bought out by US network NBC Interactive (NBCi) in 2000, continuously learns from the behavior of visitors to deliver relevant results.

SLI Systems was formed following the buyback of the core technology from NBCi in 2001. It listed on the NZX last May raising NZ$27 million. shares were offered at NZ$1.50 but were today trading around NZ$2.59.

SLI has opened an office in Tokyo and appointed Ryo Hayashi as Japanese country manager aiming to replicate SLI's success in the US, Brazil, Europe and Australasia. 

SLI is already providing search for three Japanese language sites.

"We are continuing to enhance our product to meet the needs of this market. We believe we have developed industry leading technology for Japanese search and are in the process of applying for patents on this technology,” Ryan said.

The number of search queries handled by SLI exceeded 1 billion in December, a 50% year-over-year increase, the company says.