The e-commerce industry has evolved rapidly as new technology has increasingly pushed the retail industry to the web. The need for a strong digital platform now outweighs the necessity of brick and mortar locations. Early on, Yandy realized we would have to become a technology startup, just as much as we would need to become a retailer. And first and foremost, we knew we would need to fully grasp and evolve with the web.

Yandy began in 2005 as a small startup and has grown into one of the leading online retailers of sexy women’s specialty apparel. Our goal as a retailer of intimates, lingerie and swimwear is to help women of every form and figure rediscover their own brand of sexy, and give consumers an option over the less inclusive big box brands like Victoria’s Secret. In order to do this, we’ve had to provide more diverse options, affordable pricing, efficient shipping, and top customer service, all in a full-featured website.

We decided to manually build our website from the ground-up at a time when STEM talent in Arizona was sparse and Do-It-Yourself e-commerce platform builders were not available. To truly beat out the big brands, our online platform needed to be more accessible and provide a more secure experience than a typical brick-and-mortar store. Our full-stack custom website development was among the first of its kind in our industry. We were ahead of our time because we understood early on that retail was moving online.

Another integral part of Yandy’s success was the marriage between our website and warehouse operations. We built the platform to communicate effectively with our operations division, producing the most efficient online purchase-to-delivery system possible. Our edge in the marketplace became a combination of our technology, affordability, accessibility and efficiency.

For the past 12 years, we have refined the Yandy experience and have reaped the rewards of our efforts with increased market share. But as is the case with any online platform, we must grow and evolve with technology to remain a leader. As we continue expanding and adding more to our product selection, including a more robust line of Yandy designed, made and branded products, we are building more innovation into our platform.

Online retail is unique in the sense that initially you want consumers spending time reviewing your selection and learning about your brand. But as you grow and increase your loyal customers, your goal becomes decreasing their time on the site and streamlining their search and purchase process.

One of the hottest trends in e-commerce today is creating an experience that caters to each individual that visits your site. Personalization is a feature that we have begun to build into our site and marketing efforts. Our goal is to build upon our brand loyalty by creating an experience that caters to each consumer’s taste and style based on previous searches and purchases.

As our product selection grows we also need to enhance the ease of discovery for items in our inventory. As one of the largest retailers for sexy costumes, for example, we have refined the product search experience during our busy Halloween season. Our goal is to roll this feature out site-wide so that the Yandy experience becomes even more accessible and user-friendly. With combined enhanced discovery and more personalization, we can increase efficiency exponentially by assisting our customers in their selection and moving them to the point of purchase quickly.

Amazon has become the industry leader in online shopping because they have created the most efficient experience possible in terms of site personalization and a refined selection process to warehouse operations and shipping speeds. At Yandy, our goal is to provide a similar customer experience for the lingerie, intimates and swimwear industries.

If we have learned one thing on this journey, it is that you have to evolve to remain successful.

The e-commerce revolution has changed retail enormously over the past 10 years, and it is no longer possible to truly grow your brand without powerful technology. To continue to lead our industry, we must remain an innovator of custom web and operation solutions.

Silicon Desert Insider is a weekly blog published every Wednesday morning on azBIGmedia.com, about the local technology industry. If you have an idea for a piece for “Silicon Desert Insider,” please email AZ BIG Media Digital Editor Jesse A. Millard at jesse.millard@azbigmedia.com.