Fun.com
How FUN.com's flagship brand HalloweenCostumes.com increased Revenue per Visitor by 31% with Malachyte
By adapting search and product discovery in real time — even for first-time visitors — Fun.com turned chaotic intent into measurable revenue.
Product
Search
Add to Cart
PDP
Metrics
RPV
CVR
AOV
Period
August-October 2025
Key Results
Revenue Per Visitor (YoY)
Recommendation-Driven Revenue
Search Revenue Growth
Orders Influenced by Recs
The Challenge
Fun.com's Halloween business lives and dies by relevance. In 2025, they faced:
1,500+ misspellings of "Wednesday Addams"
Legacy search couldn't handle typos, causing customer bounces during peak demand.
Hourly trend shifts driven by TikTok
Higher intent capture across journeys
25,000+ SKUs live during peak season
Massive catalog complexity made relevant discovery nearly impossible.
Legacy SOLR search failing on long-tail
High bounce rates from irrelevant recommendations and zero results.
"Search could not handle basic mistypes or mispellings without heavy handed redirects to broad listing pages."
— Director of Ecommerce, Fun.com
The Challenge
Fun.com's Halloween business lives and dies by relevance. In 2025, they faced:
1,500+ misspellings of "Wednesday Addams"
Legacy search couldn't handle typos, causing customer bounces during peak demand.
Hourly trend shifts driven by TikTok
Higher intent capture across journeys
25,000+ SKUs live during peak season
Massive catalog complexity made relevant discovery nearly impossible.
Legacy SOLR search failing on long-tail
High bounce rates from irrelevant recommendations and zero results.
"Search could not handle basic mistypes or mispellings without heavy handed redirects to broad listing pages."
— Director of Ecommerce, Fun.com
The Solution: The Golden Path
Fun.com didn't overhaul everything at once. They followed a phased rollout designed to prove impact quickly and expand with confidence.
1
Fix the highest-impact surface
2
Adapt experiences in session
3
Expand across the journey
4
Put teams in control
The Solution: The Golden Path
Fun.com didn't overhaul everything at once. They followed a phased rollout designed to prove impact quickly and expand with confidence.
1
Fix the highest-impact surface
2
Adapt experiences in session
3
Expand across the journey
4
Put teams in control
1
Search
Fun.com started where revenue was leaking fastest: search. MiQ replaced their legacy search engine with a real-time, intent-aware system that could adapt immediately — even on the first visit.
What changed
Misspellings understood automatically
No more zero-result pages from typos
Search adapted to real-time trends
TikTok-driven demand captured instantly
Failed searches rescued in-session
Long-tail queries now deliver results
Legacy Search
MiQ Search
zombie cheerleaders
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: Shows zombies OR cheerleaders, not combo
Understanding: "Zombie cheerleader combo" prioritized
Legacy Search
MIQ Search
green dinosaur costumes
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: Mixed colors, green not prioritized
Understanding: "Green dinosaur" specificity understood
Legacy Search
MiQ Search
whostbusters
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: No results for typo, customer bounces
Understanding: "Ghostbusters" (typo corrected)
Measured impact
Search Session Conversion Rate
Search Revenue
Search Revenue Growth
Key Insight
Legacy systems can't learn from behavior. MiQ adapts with every action — even from a first visit.
1
Search
Fun.com started where revenue was leaking fastest: search. MiQ replaced their legacy search engine with a real-time, intent-aware system that could adapt immediately — even on the first visit.
What changed
Misspellings understood automatically
No more zero-result pages from typos
Search adapted to real-time trends
TikTok-driven demand captured instantly
Failed searches rescued in-session
Long-tail queries now deliver results
Legacy Search
MiQ Search
zombie cheerleaders
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: Shows zombies OR cheerleaders, not combo
Understanding: "Zombie cheerleader combo" prioritized
Legacy Search
MIQ Search
green dinosaur costumes
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: Mixed colors, green not prioritized
Understanding: "Green dinosaur" specificity understood
Legacy Search
MiQ Search
whostbusters
Results reordered in in 50ms
Issue: No results for typo, customer bounces
Understanding: "Ghostbusters" (typo corrected)
Measured impact
Search Session Conversion Rate
Search Revenue
Search Revenue Growth
Key Insight
Legacy systems can't learn from behavior. MiQ adapts with every action — even from a first visit.
2
Personalized Recommendations
After stabilizing search, Fun.com extended MiQ to product detail pages — turning static recommendations into live, in-session discovery. After just 3–5 interactions, PDP recommendations adapted in real time.
What changed
Duplicate items eliminated
Recommendations became context-aware
Recommendations aligned to theme
Intent captured within the same session
Discovery improved without rules
No manual merchandising needed
Before (Legacy)
After (MiQ)
Anchor Product
Toy Story Rex Costume for Toddlers
$59.99
Recommended for You
CTR 25%
0.04
0.10
0.04
0.02
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Measured impact
Recommendation-Driven Revenue
Key Insight
Cold-start PDPs became adaptive systems — learning within the same visit.
2
Personalized Recommendations
After stabilizing search, Fun.com extended MiQ to product detail pages — turning static recommendations into live, in-session discovery. After just 3–5 interactions, PDP recommendations adapted in real time.
What changed
Duplicate items eliminated
Recommendations became context-aware
Recommendations aligned to theme
Intent captured within the same session
Discovery improved without rules
No manual merchandising needed
Before (Legacy)
After (MiQ)
Anchor Product
Toy Story Rex Costume for Toddlers
$59.99
Recommended for You
CTR 25%
0.04
0.10
0
0
0
0
Measured impact
Recommendation-Driven Revenue
Key Insight
Cold-start PDPs became adaptive systems — learning within the same visit.
3
Unified Discovery & In-Session Learning
With search and PDPs aligned, Fun.com extended MiQ across additional discovery surfaces, powered by the same real-time understanding.
What changed
Homepage recommendations
Personalized landing experience
Add-to-cart recommendations
Cross-sell at conversion point
Cross-journey consistency
Unified intelligence everywhere
Measured impact
Revenue per Visitor
Orders influenced by recommendations
PDP CTR improvement
"We haven't seen this kind of growth, at scale in years."
— CMO
3
Unified Discovery & In-Session Learning
With search and PDPs aligned, Fun.com extended MiQ across additional discovery surfaces, powered by the same real-time understanding.
What changed
Homepage recommendations
Personalized landing experience
Add-to-cart recommendations
Cross-sell at conversion point
Cross-journey consistency
Unified intelligence everywhere
Measured impact
Revenue per Visitor
Orders influenced by recommendations
PDP CTR improvement
"We haven't seen this kind of growth, at scale in years."
— CMO
4
Copilot & Real-Time Controls
As confidence grew, Fun.com's merchandising team began using MiQ's fine-tuning controls to guide real-time outcomes, without engineering.
What changed
Boosting trending SKUs
e.g. Barbie, Vampire Cowboy
Suppressing out-of-stock items
Real-time inventory control
Testing strategy changes safely
A/B test merchandising rules
Merchandising Control Panel
Luna Lovegood Costume
$69.99
Harry Potter Ravenclaw Robe
$39.99
Professor Trelawney Costume
$129.99
Luna Lovegood Accessory Costume Kit
$9.00
Rainbow Glasses
$29.00
Key Insight
MiQ puts your merchandising team in the driver's seat — no code, just impact.
4
Copilot & Real-Time Controls
As confidence grew, Fun.com's merchandising team began using MiQ's fine-tuning controls to guide real-time outcomes, without engineering.
What changed
Boosting trending SKUs
e.g. Barbie, Vampire Cowboy
Suppressing out-of-stock items
Real-time inventory control
Testing strategy changes safely
A/B test merchandising rules
Merchandising Control Panel
Luna Lovegood Costume
$69.99
Harry Potter Ravenclaw Robe
$39.99
Professor Trelawney Costume
$129.99
Luna Lovegood Accessory Costume Kit
$9.00
Rainbow Glasses
$29.00
Key Insight
MiQ puts your merchandising team in the driver's seat — no code, just impact.