Retail, eCommerce and Payments stories this week come from Acquia, commercetools, Kibo Commerce, Lucid, Rokt, Soona, and Spryker. Acquia hosted its annual conference in Boston last week and made a series of announcements. There was a survey from commercetools, and Kibo Commerce took a look back at the improvements it delivered during 2023.
Acquia
Acquia made a series of announcements last week at Engage Boston that included:
The acquisition of the Monsido platform, a website accessibility and optimization solution from CivicPlus. Steve Reny, President and CEO of Acquia, said, “Acquia’s vision is to deliver the most open DXP to enable our customers to improve their businesses by creating superior experiences.
“Monsido empowers digital marketers and website owners with an all-in-one suite of capabilities for website optimization and compliance. Used with any website or as part of Acquia DXP. Monsido helps make digital experiences more optimized, accessible, and inclusive, so organizations can fulfill legal and regulatory requirements, uphold social responsibility, and expand market reach.”
Acquia unveiled the most comprehensive solution on the market for digital experience optimization. The company is expanding its digital experience platform, Acquia DXP. Enabling organizations to provide even better, more productive digital journeys to meet ever-evolving customer expectations. The enhanced optimization solution includes everything marketers need to improve their organizations’ online presence. Including optimization of websites, content, and digital engagement and is based on the Monsido acquisition.
The company also revealed strategic partnerships with Conductor, the leading organic marketing platform, and VWO, the leading experimentation and conversion optimization platform.
At Engage, Acquia unveiled its annual Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report (registration required). 83% of marketers say their organization is under pressure to deliver content differently to ensure they stand out to customers and prospects.
Jennifer Griffin Smith, Chief Market Officer at Acquia, commented, “There have never been more martech tools or platforms available, yet many marketers still struggle to quickly deliver productive digital experiences that maintain brand consistency and appropriate data governance. At Acquia Engage, we will share best practices from this research as well as real customer examples of how marketers can achieve more value from their tech stack and drive greater results.”
The firm also unveiled new capabilities for Acquia Site Studio, the low-code Drupal website builder. With the launch of the new JSON:API for Site Studio. JavaScript and front-end developers can easily access the content and layouts created via Site Studio in decoupled or headless apps to create more engaging, interactive digital experiences.
commercetools
A new survey commissioned by commercetools and conducted by YouGov revealed that US and UK consumers report abandoning their online shopping carts mostly due to shipping costs (19.6%), looking for better deals (19.5%), and waiting for sales to hit (14.9%), getting distracted(95) and wanting to see the physical product before buying (8%).
The report notes differences between nationality, genders and generations. Common themes were concerns about privacy playing a minor role. With 98% of UK consumers and 96% of their US counterparts do not identify privacy as their primary reason for cart abandonment.
Jen Jones, CMO, commercetools, commented, “When carts are abandoned, revenue is lost. Given higher interest rates and slowed ─ not halted ─ consumer spending across the US and UK, retailers need to focus on offering a wide array of payment options, investing in easy-to-use loyalty programs that provide distinct financial benefits, and personalization in engagement from product discovery to post-purchase.
“Brand loyalty cannot be sustained in an environment where cost is a significant barrier to entry coupled with a subpar end-to-end customer experience. Consumers have more options than they ever did before, and you can bet that they will take advantage of that. The retailers that do well this holiday season will be the ones that don’t solely focus on discounts, but also the experience. That means confidence in data privacy, how discounts and loyalty benefits are communicated and marketed, price matching, shipping options, etc.”
Kibo Commerce
Kibo Commerce announced a series of product updates and resources for enablement, including a free trial of its composable commerce platform. The features, which were rolled out over the last year include:
- “Accurate Fulfillment Dates” to give shoppers visibility into specific fulfillment timing
- Improved search results with AI/ML-based enhancements
- The ability to launch new customer experiences quickly with Kibo Storefront and Headstart Accelerators
- Remorse Period Updates enable shoppers to have extended cancellation periods
- Enhanced Order permissions enabling customer reps to edit and manage orders
Kibo also announced a 60-day free trial of its software launched the Kibo Academy and a partner portal.
Ram Venkataraman, CEO of Kibo Commerce, said, “As a fully modular, API-first platform, Kibo’s composable commerce platform is in an even stronger position to serve its customers and partners with innovative solutions and enablement resources that span the breadth of eCommerce, Order Management and Subscription use cases. We’re excited about the newly released capabilities and resources, and look forward to building on this momentum to best support its customers.”
Lucid
Research technology leader Cint, which acquired US-based Lucid in 2021, announced Lucid’s verified partner status with Amazon Ads. As a verified partner on the Amazon Ads Partner Network, Lucid Impact Measurement is dedicated to streamlining the measurement of brand advertising campaigns.
Laura Manning, SVP of Measurement at Cint, commented, “When shopping behaviours and external factors are changing rapidly, each day matters.
“Today’s world demands that we be more agile in our campaign strategies. Marketers need to have access to readily available insights that they can act on quickly. Our collaboration with Amazon Ads is designed to help advertisers globally get statistically significant results and greater depth of insights more often. Across all digital properties, we want to demonstrate the true impact of their brand campaigns and show real business results.
“Together with Amazon Ads, users can leverage our Lucid Impact Measurement to pioneer the next wave of intelligent brand measurement, in real-time.”
Oracle
Oak View Group (OVG), the largest developer of sports and live entertainment venues in the world, will deploy Oracle’s MICROS Simphony Cloud and Payments Cloud Service. This will be deployed in its owned and operated arenas with rollout to its global portfolio of arenas, stadiums and event venues over the next several months.
Ken Gaber, President of OVG Hospitality, said, “Oak View Group’s partnership with Oracle is 100 percent about the fan experience. From grab-and-go, self-checkout, mobile ordering to just-walk-out, we are hyper-focused on ensuring our guests have shorter lines and quicker access to a wide variety of high-quality delicious food and beverage options to increase the fan’s time spent enjoying the event. We want our guests to have a memorable experience anytime they attend an event at an OVG venue. We are ensuring our technology mirrors the technology our guests experience in other aspects of their lives.”
Rokt
Rokt has partnered with Buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Afterpay. The collaboration aims to expand Afterpay’s ads business and provide eCommerce shoppers with more relevant offers at checkout. The partnership not only drives new revenue for Afterpay but also deepens customer lifetime value.
Saket Mehta, Global Head of Advertising Partnerships and Strategy at Afterpay, said, “Afterpay is committed to delivering the most meaningful and relevant shopping experience for its customers, and we are thrilled to build on this mission by leveraging Rokt’s eCommerce technology. This partnership allows us to further enhance our in-app offering and give shoppers more choice at checkout.”
Elizabeth Buchanan, Chief Commercial Officer of Rokt, added, “We are thrilled that Afterpay has chosen Rokt to provide their customers the most relevant shopping experiences possible. Both Afterpay and Rokt were originally founded in Australia, and so it is especially exciting to now be partners on the global stage.”
soona
soona has launched a new app for Canva. The app combines soona’s high-quality media with Canva’s extensive editing tools. It is possible to customize content with text, graphics and effects to create stunning visuals that stand out.
Spryker
Spryker announced a new partnership with Vertex Inc., a leading global provider of indirect tax technology solutions. The partnership will see Vertex’s services offered through Spryker’s App Composition Platform. Simplifying the process of complying with local tax jurisdictions in more than 19,000 jurisdictions worldwide. Customers can now connect with and leverage Vertex O Series to streamline tax needs for third-party seller configuration and sales tax.
Manishi Singh, SVP App Composition Platform & Technology Partnerships at Spryker, said, “Our customers expect us to provide solutions that empower their businesses and simplify their commerce needs. By partnering with Vertex, Spryker customers can confidently manage complex tax requirements at scale, regardless of whether the organization focuses on B2B, B2C, D2C, marketplaces or any other form of sophisticated commerce.
“Vertex’s solutions integrate seamlessly with Spryker through our App Composition Platform, extending the value of our composable platform and streamlining indirect tax compliance for our global customers.”
Bradd Wildstein, Vice President of Global Channel Sales at Vertex, said, “In an increasingly interconnected world, businesses face the complex challenge of navigating the intricate landscape of indirect taxes across borders. We are excited to partner with Spryker to offer robust indirect tax solutions that empower their merchants to overcome tax-related hurdles – fostering growth and expansion in the global marketplace.”
Ecommerce, Retail and Payments news from the week beginning 6th November 2023
