CUSTOMER STORYHow Distrelec redefined speed, trust, and multilingual search to unlock growth across 23 countries.

When a customer searches for a part number on an electronics distribution site, they are not browsing, they are buying. They know what they need and they need to know if it’s in stock. And they need to trust that what shows up on the product page is exactly what will land in the delivery box.

Distrelec had built a strong digital foundation to support this journey. But as its catalog grew and customer expectations became more specific, the company saw an opportunity to go further. Improving performance, increasing configurability, adding extensibility, and ensuring accuracy across regions and use cases became key priorities.

Lucidworks provided the foundation for that shift. The result was faster, more reliable search, greater control over product discovery, and the flexibility to support complex B2B structures across countries, contracts, and languages.

Recognizing the opportunity

Distrelec had invested steadily in digital commerce, modern UX, and localized content. But as customer expectations continued to evolve, cracks in their search infrastructure began to surface.

Accuracy was one of the first pressure points. Part number searches often returned close but inexact matches, leading to ordering errors, and a growing queue of support requests. At the same time, key product data such as stock levels and pricing could lag behind real-world changes. Filters and availability were powered by once-daily batch updates, which meant the information customers relied on was not always current.

Distrelec’s online product discoverability was hampered by the intricate structure of its product catalog. The team struggled to adjust how industry-specific units of measure displayed and functioned in search, negatively affecting relevance and usability for buyers.

Multi-language support was another point of friction. Distrelec serves regions where the rules of grammar, compound word formation, and sentence structure vary widely. The legacy platform treated these differences as exceptions rather than core requirements, which made consistent discovery difficult to maintain across markets.

All of this pointed to a clear opportunity. The team needed a platform that could deliver more accuracy, more flexibility, and greater control in order to keep pace with customer needs and business complexity.

Building the right foundation

With Lucidworks, Distrelec was able to rebuild its approach to search from the ground up, replacing outdated workflows with near real-time, configurable infrastructure designed for the needs of a modern B2B business.

Near real-time indexing pipelines replaced once-a-day batch updates. Product data such as stock status, pricing, and filter availability remained in sync with internal systems, allowing the search experience to reflect the most accurate information available across every storefront.

The team also gained new levels of control. Units of measure could now be defined and adjusted by product type, aligning with how items are sold and searched in industrial contexts. Catalogs and punchout rules are centrally managed and can be updated frequently, enabling greater flexibility and responsiveness, and making it easier for buyers to search, browse and buy products from specific suppliers.

Language support advanced significantly. With linguistic capabilities powered by Rosette, Lucidworks delivered lemmatization, decompounding, and grammar-aware tokenization across multiple languages. This allowed for consistent, high-quality results across diverse markets without the need for heavy manual work or compromise.

“We finally had a system that understood not just the words, but the way our customers use them. That’s what made the difference.” — Nilesh Parekh, Distrelec’s Search Product Owner

What had once been a rigid, vendor-dependent process became a flexible platform the team could tune, test, and evolve. Search was no longer a constraint, it became a core capability that supported both strategic direction and day-to-day execution.

The results

The first launch went live in Sweden, a high-traffic, multilingual site chosen for its strategic importance and dual-language complexity. The results quickly validated the shift.

Search speed increased sixfold. API response times dropped from 1.2 seconds to just 200 milliseconds. Conversion rates lifted by five percent almost immediately, and later phases pushed that figure even higher.

Customers stopped second-guessing what they were seeing on screen. Part number queries returned exact matches, and inventory reflected near real-time availability. Search-result pages that previously yielded no matching products now suggest alternatives, creating new conversion opportunities.

These improvements extended beyond a single site. Other markets across the EMEA region saw similar gains as Lucidworks rolled out more broadly. Search became a consistent and dependable asset, giving the business the confidence to scale success across countries and catalogs.

The internal team also gained something less visible but equally valuable: control. With Lucidworks, updates and enhancements could be made in-house. Product managers and developers were no longer dependent on vendor backlogs. They could test changes, adjust configurations, and move faster.

“The biggest shift for us has been the ability to configure search for B2B specific use cases. We can now more easily enhance our CX, update data more frequently, and deliver search results directly into the frontend without delays. It’s faster, more flexible, and gives us a lot more control.” — Paul Harvey, Head of Development at Distrelec

10.7% increase in conversion rate

Customers found what they needed faster and with greater confidence, resulting in sustained growth across key sites.

6x faster search experience

With near real-time indexing and a modern architecture, Lucidworks transformed the slowest page on the site into one of the fastest, while offering more accurate product data through frequent delta updates.

From hundreds of complaints to zero

By eliminating mismatched part numbers and inaccurate filters, Distrelec rebuilt customer trust at every touchpoint, and reduced the number of support tickets.

What comes next

With a modern foundation in place, Distrelec is positioned to continually enhance how it delivers digital value to customers. The focus ahead is on scaling what works, exploring new ways to personalize experiences, and unlocking deeper insights from user behavior. Whether through smarter recommendations, integrated journeys, or better decision support, the team is committed to continuous improvement.

Search is no longer just a backend utility. It has become a strategic capability that supports growth, drives innovation, and helps Distrelec serve its customers with greater speed, accuracy, and intelligence.