Retail and eCommerce highlights this week include: Yext. the Answers company, has announced a partnership with Post Office, the UK’s largest retail network. Support for Amazon follows hundreds of integrations that Cymbio rolled-out with marketplaces and retailers, enabling Cymbio’s customers to reach consumers. Fluent Commerce, a cloud-native order management system, Fluent Order Management, has announced a new partnership with Like Digital & Partners.
New eCommerce finance integration will deliver enhanced payment options for Craft merchants in under 24 hours. eCommerce merchants operating on the Craft Commerce system will now be able to offer enhanced consumer finance options. It follows the launch of a new module from Deko, the multi-lender Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform. Data from Funding Options sees the highest volume of credit approvals in almost two years, with ‘resilient’ company owners planning for all scenarios.
Yext to provide Post Office customers with improved digital customer experience
Yext, the Answers Company, has announced a partnership with the Post Office, the UK’s largest retail network. The company will support the Post Office by providing its customers with consistent and accurate information across all of its digital touchpoints.
With over 11,500 branches, Post Office will leverage Yext to improve online visibility, drive footfall, and improve branch profitability. Post Office will also more efficiently monitor, analyse and respond to reviews using Yext’s intelligent response methods.
Yext syncs information to more than 100 million business listings. It supports over a billion updates annually across the industry’s largest network of direct integration partners. This includes platforms like Google, Amazon Alexa, Apple Maps, Facebook, and many others.
Cymbio launches support for Amazon, automating the entire sales process
Cymbio, the all-in-one digital sales growth platform for brands, announced that it now supports Amazon. It has automated the entire sales process for brands selling on Amazon.
With Cymbio, any brand can now automatically connect with Amazon’s platform to automate all backend operations. Both to Amazon and also to other marketplace and retailer connections. It includes managing the onboarding and listing of their products, maximising available-to-sell inventory, fulfilling orders and streamlining billing and collections.
Automating these processes provides Cymbio’s brand customers with the ability to create a long-lasting impact on their businesses. Cymbio’s platform enables brands to free up valuable time and resources. These can be used to scale their business and partner with new retailers to achieve real growth.
In addition to Cymbio’s automation platform, Cymbio recently launched Cymbio Finance, which provides tools for brands to automate their fin-ops across retailers and marketplaces like Amazon. By consolidating financial flows and enabling next-day payouts, Cymbio empowers brands to gain more control over their finances. It allows them to put their profits back to work almost immediately.
Like Digital & Partners reveals new partnership with Fluent Commerce
Fluent Commerce is a cloud-native order management system. With Fluent Order Management, it has announced a new partnership with Like Digital & Partners. Like Digital & Partner are an agency offering digital transformation services to retailers and luxury brands. It has offices in Dubai, London, and soon opening in Riyadh.
This strategic partnership is a fitting complement to Like Digital & Partners’ services, helping luxury and heritage brands unlock their full potential via complete digital transformation.
Deko launches new integration module for Craft Commerce
eCommerce merchants operating on the Craft Commerce system will now be able to offer enhanced consumer finance options. It follows the launch of a new module from Deko, the multi-lender Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform.
The module was developed by Imegamedia, part of the Deko Group since 2021, in just two weeks. It was in direct response to increased market demand for an online finance solution for Craft Commerce merchants. This rapid turnaround was only possible through their industry-leading integration expertise and cloud-based tech. Designed from the ground up and hosted on their high-performance server, this module now brings their total number of supported eCommerce platforms up to 23.
Craft Commerce is based on the industry-leading Craft content management system. It adds back-office functionality, including payment processing, delivery, invoicing, and customer account management. With an intuitive administration interface and extensive API, merchants can have total control over every aspect of their storefront and order management workflow.
The Deko module designed for its multi-lender platform will endeavour to match customers to lenders best suited to their needs, guaranteeing that both merchants and consumers have a seamless retail finance experience.
Funding Options data shows lenders acting to back small businesses
Proprietary data from Funding Options, the leading marketplace for business finance, shows thousands of SME customers “hunkering down” for a bleak economic winter. In October, the platform recorded the highest number of credit approvals since January 2021. It was also the highest combined value this financial year, with £22m of loans approved in the month.
Small businesses are facing a ‘perfect storm’. It is caused by macroeconomic factors that have led to increased inflation, high energy rates and a higher cost of living. Funding Options’ data suggests that the lending market remains active. It also shows that strong and well-managed businesses are planning for all scenarios. Drawdown levels dropped slightly, with some businesses appearing to secure finance today in order to access it at that rate ‘tomorrow’.
The business finance marketplace works with more than 120 active lending partners. It saw the highest volume of drawdowns on term loans, revolving credit facilities and Merchant Cash Advance products. In a Funding Options-commissioned survey of 1,000 small business owners, carried out by global insight-driven research company Censuswide, three-quarters of businesses (75 per cent) are actively seeking finance, and 84 per cent remain confident of survival.
Respondents highlighted energy price hikes, supplier costs, and interest rates as the biggest pressures they face. But they evidenced their resilience when sharing the primary purpose for securing capital. Company owners said that their three biggest reasons for securing finance were: to expand business operations; invest in plant, machinery or premises; and cover employee salaries. There was also a sense of realism, with 68 percent of companies admitting they expect to make redundancies.
