54% of Orders Come from AI-Powered Discovery at Fechtner-Modellbau

“At the moment, around 54% of all our orders are affected by Clerk.io.”

Fechtner-Modellbau is a German e-commerce retailer specializing in RC trucks, construction vehicles, and highly technical components.

Founded in 1994, the family-run business has grown to more than 11,000 products. Today, it’s led by second-generation owner Julian Fechtner, responsible for IT and operations.

“My focus is developing Fechtner Modellbau to the next step with automation and AI-driven initiatives.”

As the catalogue expanded, one thing became clear: helping customers find the right parts is the business.

A catalogue where customers don’t know the exact product

Fechtner-Modellbau’s assortment is highly technical.

Many products look almost identical but differ in specifications, compatibility, or intended use. Customers often arrive knowing what they want to build, but not exactly which components they need.

“When a customer enters our online shop, often he knows what he wants to achieve, but he does not know exactly how he can achieve it.”

“With an assortment of around 11,000 products, many of them highly technical, one of our main challenges was guiding customers efficiently to the right, compatible products and spare parts.”

This is where most e-commerce setups break down.

The real problem: discovery didn’t scale

Before Clerk.io, the challenge wasn’t missing data or poor availability.

“Overall, the core challenge was making complex, constantly changing technical information easy to navigate and actionable for customers at scale.”

Product relationships like accessories, spare parts, and alternatives had to be maintained manually.

Built-in recommendation features existed, but they weren’t good enough for this level of complexity.

“The recommendations were mostly generic, lacked technical relevance, and did not reliably reflect real compatibility or meaningful alternatives within our highly specialized assortment.”

As the catalogue grew and changed, keeping this accurate became harder and harder to scale.

Rebuilding on Shopware 6 and choosing Clerk.io

In 2024, Fechtner-Modellbau migrated to Shopware 6 to create a more scalable and flexible foundation.

At the same time, they looked for a better way to handle product discovery.

“We decided to implement Clerk.io as part of our Shopware 6 setup because we were looking for a solution that could handle product discovery, search, and recommendations dynamically, without relying on static rules or extensive manual maintenance.”

“Clerk stood out because of its data-driven approach, its strong focus on e-commerce relevance, and its native integration with Shopware 6.”

The implementation was straightforward. The team started with a standard setup, validated data and tracking, and then refined it based on their catalogue and customer behavior.

Shortening the path to the right product

Search was one of the biggest improvements.

Before, customers would search, land on a static results page, and then continue navigating.

“Before, customers would get a short overview and then land on a static results page. With Omnisearch, the customer journey was shortened by one step.”

Now, search helps customers:

• Find exact products faster
• Discover compatible parts and alternatives
• Navigate without knowing exact product names or IDs

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At the same time, recommendations across the site dynamically surface relevant accessories, spare parts, and complementary products.

Instead of relying on static category navigation, customers use search and contextual suggestions to explore the catalogue.

54% of orders involve Clerk.io

Today, Clerk.io is deeply embedded in how customers shop.

“At the moment, around 54% of all our orders are affected by Clerk.io.”

“What this number clearly and impressively shows is how intensively the Clerk solution is used across our webshop today.”

Search and recommendations are not secondary features. They are a core part of how customers navigate and understand the assortment.

Better-informed customers, fewer basic questions

The impact goes beyond conversion.

“What we can clearly say is that the overall shopping experience has improved significantly.”

“We have noticed a reduction in basic product-related questions, indicating that customers arrive better informed and more certain in their purchasing decisions.”

Clerk.io also provides insight into how customers search and interact with the catalogue.

“The data we get from Clerk.io shows us which search queries perform well and how customers interact with our assortment.”

For a retailer where accuracy and compatibility matter, this shift is critical.

Why they recommend Clerk.io

Looking back, Fechtner-Modellbau sees Clerk.io as a strong fit for complex ecommerce setups.

“Clerk is a strong choice for Shopware-based merchants who want to improve product discovery in complex assortments without building and maintaining a highly customized solution themselves.”

For them, the value is clear:

• Less manual work
• More relevant product discovery
• A smoother buying experience

And most importantly, helping customers find the right product in a catalogue where that’s not straightforward.