Retail and eCommerce highlights this week include: SheerID will work closely with MACH Alliance members to support open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems to develop composable digital experiences. Over the past five years, more than 1.5 billion people started using TikTok, pushing its total user count to 1.92 billion in 2023.
SumUp partners with JCB to boost card acceptance for European merchants within its 4-million-strong global network. Oracle has successfully deployed its cloud-based retail solutions at Prada Group. Kibo Commerce has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Programme.
SheerID joins the MACH Alliance
SheerID, a provider in identity marketing, has joined the MACH Alliance, a not-for-profit industry body dedicated to advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems. MACH Alliance membership certifies that SheerID meets the MACH standard for modern technology: microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native SaaS, and headless.
SheerID allows merchants to easily develop gated, personalized offers for valuable consumer communities like students, teachers, and healthcare professionals. The company has developed the leading digital verification engine by connecting to over 20,000 authoritative data sources through a single API. It allows it to instantly determine consumer eligibility for personalised promotions and loyalty programs.
Its open API’s and pre-built integrations allow organizations to seamlessly connect SheerID products with other best-of-breed technologies to support the ideal composition and delivery of digital experiences. This allows organizations to effectively manage first and third-party experiences in a rapidly changing digital landscape and empowers them to avoid the cost and inflexibility of monolithic suites while defining composable tech stacks that are better aligned with the needs of the business.
US has the largest TikTok advertising audience in the world
Over the past five years, more than 1.5 billion people started using TikTok, pushing its total user count to 1.92 billion in 2023. The impressive growth of the short-form video app has pushed marketers to start heavily investing in TikTok ads, with the potential to reach millions of people practically overnight.
According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, the US has the largest TikTok advertising audience by far, with more than 116 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. Indonesia follows, with around 113 million TikTok users. The US has the Highest Advertising Audience, but Saudi Arabia and UAE Lead in TikTok Reach
In just five years, TikTok climbed to the top of the world. After one of the most head-spinning rises in the social media landscape, the short-form video app temporarily dethroned Google as the most visited website, grew its user count five times to 1.92 billion worldwide, and became the next top social media platform for advertising.
According to a DataReportal survey, the US has the largest TikTok advertising audience, with 116.5 million users as of April. Indonesia closely follows with 112.9 million users, while Brazil ranked third with 84.1 million TikTok users as of last month. Mexico and Russia close the list of the top five TikTok advertising audiences, with 62.4 million and 51.2 million users, respectively.
In comparison, top European markets, like France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are far below these figures, with their advertising audiences counting around 20 million TikTok users.
The DataReportal survey also showed that although the United States has the highest TikTok advertising audience, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Lead in TikTok reach, with virtually 100% of the population aged 18 and older using the popular social video app and engaging with its platform.
Malaysia, Chile, and Thailand follow, with 80%, 76%, and 70% shares, respectively. The United States saw 44% of its population aged 18 and older engaging with the short-form video platform, while the global average was 19.4%.
SumUp partners with JCB to boost card acceptance for European merchants
JCB International has partnered with global financial technology company SumUp, to enable acceptance of JCB Cards across SumUp’s European merchant network. With the return of international travel, the collaboration will provide new opportunities for growth for merchants by welcoming JCB’s valuable card members.
Together with SumUp’s product suite of business tools and rapid growth rates, JCB will ensure that merchants are well-supported to welcome returning travellers. SumUp’s merchant network comprises businesses of all sizes, from nano entrepreneurs to SMEs, such as grocery stores, taxi companies and small-sized shops, and the union represents an ideal gateway to growth for merchants wishing to tap into new revenue streams.
With SumUp’s compact and portable devices and paperless onboarding process, even the smallest of businesses can benefit from the simplicity and convenience of its payment solutions. The enablement of JCB Card will allow SumUp’s merchants in Europe, which are part of its over 4 million merchant network in the world, to become members of JCB’s growing merchant community and meet customer preference towards digital payments.
In addition, the new partnership provides a seamless and faster payment experience for card members who wish to use their JCB Cards when shopping abroad. Our card members can rely on the security and ease of use of JCB Contactless, reinforcing JCB’s commitment to offering innovative solutions and a high level of services to its growing base. With the availability of JCB Contactless, JCB Card members may simply tap their card on SumUp’s readers to enjoy payment convenience.
Oracle Cloud Elevates the Customer Experience at Prada Group
Oracle has successfully deployed its cloud-based retail solutions at Prada Group. The leading, luxury brand is on a journey to combine its physical and digital offerings to get to know its customers better and use data to deliver an increasingly personalised experience.
Through the mobile deployment of Oracle Retail Xstore Point-of-Service (POS) and Oracle Retail Customer Engagement Cloud Service, Prada Group can collect customer preferences and purchase habits. This data can then be analysed and translated into strategic actions to increase loyalty.
Most recently, Prada Group successfully deployed Oracle Retail Cloud Services for Merchandise Financial Planning, Assortment, and Item Planning to optimize its merchandising process. This includes enhancing sales and forecasts, performance analysis, as well as inventory management and allocation. With this data, the Prada Group aims to better understand its operations process, scenario plan more effectively, and react more quickly as the market evolves.
In the next phase, Prada Group will deploy Oracle Retail Demand Forecasting Cloud Service, an enterprise forecasting engine within the Oracle Retail Analytics and Planning suite. These solutions sit on top of Oracle Retail AI Foundation, which provides analytical insights to drive planning, buying, moving, and selling decisions.
Kibo Commerce joins AWS ISV Accelerate programme
Kibo Commerce, a market leader in composable commerce solutions, has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Programme. A co-sell program for AWS Partners who provide software solutions that run on or integrate with AWS.
Kibo’s unified commerce platform enables retailers, wholesalers, and distributors to modernize their business applications and operational strategy to gain agility and speed to market. Kibo offers eCommerce, Order Management, and Subscription Commerce capabilities that can be deployed in a modular, composable way. Leveraging the power of AWS, Kibo can provide secure, scalable, and globally available solutions that empower customers to simplify even the most complex of commerce business use cases.
By joining the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, Kibo can leverage the AWS Sales teams to help deliver optimised commerce experiences at scale. Kibo’s Composable eCommerce and Order Management solutions are also available in AWS Marketplace. In addition to joining the AWS ISV Accelerate Programme, Kibo has also been recognized as a 2023 ISVA Rising Star.
To join the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, AWS Partners must undergo a thorough process of business and technical validation to ensure both organisations are aligned and equipped to support the AWS ISV Accelerate Program initiative and grow together. By joining the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, Kibo will have access to millions of existing AWS customers across the globe.
In addition to joining the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, Kibo has invested increasing resources into building and strengthening relationships with members of the AWS Partner Network (APN) such as AAXIS, Wipro, Cognizant, Vercel, Contentful, and IBM iX in the past 6 months.
In addition, Kibo recently announced a joint jumpstart solution with Builder.io to help companies implement headless and composable commerce experiences faster while making it easier for non-technical business users to update and maintain them.
