Longstanding Customer Expands to Next-Generation AI Search Platform Under Multi-Year Agreement with Bridgeline

WOBURN, MA / ACCESS Newswire / July 16, 2026 / Bridgeline Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLIN), a leader in AI-powered product discovery and eCommerce solutions, announced today that a specialty online retailer has expanded its investment in HawkSearch, upgrading to the platform's latest OpenSearch-powered architecture to support continued growth and unlock new AI-driven capabilities.

The multi-year expansion highlights Bridgeline's ability to grow existing customer relationships through platform modernization, increased scale, and adoption of next-generation AI-powered commerce functionality.

Supporting Continued Growth Through Search Innovation

The specialty online retailer has leveraged HawkSearch for several years, supporting its eCommerce growth with advanced search and merchandising capabilities. As the business has scaled, the retailer identified an opportunity to modernize its search infrastructure and adopt a more flexible, high-performance architecture capable of supporting increased demand.

Under a new agreement extending through 2029, the customer is upgrading from a legacy deployment to HawkSearch's OpenSearch-based platform. The expansion includes increased API and record capacity to support higher volumes, along with the addition of Visual Search to enable more intuitive, image-driven product discovery.

This upgrade positions the retailer to take advantage of HawkSearch's expanding AI roadmap, including enhanced semantic search, personalization, and next-generation shopping experiences.

Modernizing Search for Scalable eCommerce Growth

As eCommerce environments grow more complex, organizations are increasingly investing in modern search architectures that can support richer product data, higher traffic volumes, and AI-driven discovery.

Key drivers behind the expansion included:

• Enhanced product discovery through visual and semantic search

HawkSearch was selected to support these initiatives due to its flexible OpenSearch foundation, advanced merchandising tools, and ability to deliver highly relevant, AI-driven search experiences at scale.

"Expanding existing customer relationships is a strong indicator of long-term platform value," said Ari Kahn, President and CEO of Bridgeline Digital. "This upgrade reflects the growing demand for modern, AI-powered search architectures that can scale with our customers' businesses while enabling more intelligent and intuitive product discovery experiences."

About Bridgeline

Bridgeline helps companies accelerate online revenue by improving traffic, conversion rates, and average order value through AI-powered commerce technology. Its HawkSearch platform delivers advanced search, personalization, and merchandising capabilities for B2B and B2C enterprises across high-growth industries.

Learn more at www.bridgeline.com and www.hawksearch.com