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Gibert Joseph
Case study

Search built for a demanding second-hand catalog

How ElasticSuite Solutions made Gibert Joseph’s catalog easy to search, from book series to second-hand condition, and turned top queries into strong, measurable conversion.
Client
Gibert Joseph
Platform
Magento
Stack
ElasticSuite Solutions, Smile
Scope
Search & merchandising
Summary Context Solutions Results Next steps
Executive summary

Gibert Joseph sells a large cultural catalog that mixes new and second-hand books and media, in a market under heavy pressure from resale platforms. ElasticSuite Solutions reworked the engine, merchandising and product data, and built a number thesaurus so that series, editions and used products are easy to find. The site became far easier to operate, and top queries now convert strongly.

47%+
Of top-100 query sessions converting above 10% (early Sept 2025)
1 to 20
Series volumes made searchable through a number thesaurus
EAN fixed
Barcode and EAN search resolved and validated by testing

A catalog under pressure

Gibert Joseph is a historic French cultural retailer selling books, media and cultural products across new and second-hand ranges. With a large, diverse catalog, most customers rely on search to reach a specific title, volume or edition. Three forces make that harder.

⚔️

Rising competition

The second-hand market faces strong competition from platforms such as Vinted, Momox and Recyclivre, which reshape buying habits and reduce Gibert’s sourcing channels.
✅

High quality standards

Gibert keeps demanding standards on product condition and communicates honestly, favoring “good condition” over “like new”.
📦

Operational constraints

In December 2025, part of the catalog was deliberately reduced to ease logistics and give priority to the store offer, adding pressure on product discovery.
The challenge

Make a large, mixed new-and-second-hand catalog easy to search, handling series, editions and product condition, so customers reliably find the right item and top queries convert, without relying on manual “crutch” boosts.

Objectives & scope

Business objectives

• Improve search relevance and merchandising so products surface correctly across a large, diverse catalog

• Make series, sagas, editions and second-hand condition reliably searchable

• Turn search into a dependable, high-converting entry point for customers and internal teams
Scope & team

• Scope: Search engine, autocomplete, faceted navigation, merchandising and product-data reliability

• ElasticSuite Solutions team: Product, search and technical expertise

• Gibert Joseph team: E-commerce, merchandising and IT
Solution & technologies

A search engine reworked for a complex, mixed catalog

ElasticSuite Solutions Magento Number thesaurus Faceted navigation Advanced merchandising

The search cases we had to get right

Alongside tuning relevance, behavioral ranking and merchandising so the right products surface, four specific cases needed dedicated work on the data.

📚

Book series and sagas

The problem

A search for a given volume (“tome 1”, “tome I”, “1er”) returned inconsistent results across a saga of 20 volumes.

The fix

A number thesaurus (1, un, I, 1er, one, and more) aligns these forms so volumes 1 to 20 surface reliably.
🎼

Centuries and classical music

The problem

Numeric and written forms of the same reference fragmented results for classical music and period searches.

The fix

The same thesaurus logic unifies numbering so the right editions and recordings appear together.
♻️

Second-hand condition

The problem

Finding used items such as “Pléiade en occasion” depended on manual crutch boosts that were hard to maintain.

The fix

A reliable “condition” facet lets customers filter and search second-hand products directly, with no workarounds.
🔢

EAN and barcode search

The problem

Searching by EAN or barcode failed, a real gap for a catalog identified by references and editions.

The fix

The issue was resolved and validated through testing, so reference lookups now work.

Results in detail

Search became far easier to run for day-to-day operations such as the literary rentrée, and is now relied on by store professionals and internal teams.

Metric Before After Impact
Top-query conversion Not measured >47% of top-100 sessions above 10% High-converting search
EAN and barcode search Broken Resolved and tested Reliable lookups
Series and second-hand search Needed manual boosts Thesaurus plus reliable condition facet Findable without workarounds
Operational use of search Hard to use for operations Used by store and internal teams Adopted internally
Impact

Search that Gibert Joseph’s teams and customers can rely on.

By reworking the engine, fixing product data and building a number thesaurus, ElasticSuite Solutions turned a complex new-and-second-hand catalog into a search experience that surfaces the right items: series, editions and used products alike. The site is easier to operate, top queries convert strongly, and search now works as a dependable part of the customer experience.

Where the collaboration goes next

Search is treated as a living part of the site. The next steps keep improving discovery for customers.

🚫

A better no-result page

Turn dead-end searches into useful suggestions when a query returns nothing.
📚

Richer saga and series data

Continue enriching saga and series data so related volumes connect more tightly.
🎯

Low-performing queries

Work on queries that still convert poorly (for example “agenda 2026”, “intégrale”, “blu-ray”), often tied to missing offers or visuals.
ElasticSuite Solutions

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