This week in martech
News from Nielsen, DMI, Astound Commerce, BigCommerce and commercetools.
Nielsen’s Fan Insights data available in new markets as Asian coverage expands
With baseball, basketball, football and hockey all in season in the U.S., the Nielsen Fan Insights platform is focusing on foreign markets, adding several Asian markets to its data platform.
Brands and sponsors use consumer information from Nielsen Fan Insights to identify and activate outreach campaigns to desired audiences.
The Nielsen Fan Insights platform allows for access to specific sport fans in separate regions or countries; reports on sports fans’ media consumption habits; and comparison of sports audiences based on demographic, favorite team and recent activity.
Why we care. International sports audiences will have an increasing value for marketers until the U.S. gets the virus under control. As international sports continue to gain more airtime on U.S. television, data on international audiences will be in more demand.
Digital transformation company acquires cloud-native headless commerce platform
Digital transformation company DMI has acquired cloud-native headless commerce solutions provider Devgurus to strengthen its European market resources while establishing a new presence in South America.
Devgurus’ commercetools platform was recognized in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, and the 2020 B2C Commerce Suites Forrester Wave, for developing comprehensive omnichannel retail experiences including apps, social media and video with unlimited scalability.
DMI’s expertise is in mobility device management, IoT, AI, digital commerce and analytics. The new retail capabilities will add commercial resources to DMI’s client roster that includes state and local governments as well as federal agencies.
Why we care. eCommerce isn’t just a web thing any more, hence the growing interest in headless CMSs which can deliver content agnostically across channels.
New platform for video ‘etailing’ plugs into existing ecommerce sales channels
With eCommerce demands changing with little or no notice, platform flexibility is more important than ever. To address that need, Astound Commerce has launched its Vtail platform for video retail content, or ‘etailing.’
Vtail allows for a shortened process for video retail integration into existing eCommerce sales channels via websites and apps.
The Vtail platform includes:
• Group text chat;
• Live-voice integration;
• Customer invitation option;
• Simplified scrolling to order button; and
• Scheduled and private tours.
With a client roster that features Calvin Klein, Under Armour and Louis Vuitton, the technology could be in use in time for the 2020 holiday season.
Why we care. The 2020 holiday season is almost upon us, and how many consumers will be making visits to brick and mortar stores or showrooms a priority? Video can fill an important gap.
New 3D and augmented reality capabilities available on BigCommerce app
The BigCommerce app, used by over 60,000 companies, from small businesses to international enterprises, now offers customized 3D and augmented reality capabilities via Threekit’s Virtual Photographer platform, now live on the BigCommerce Apps Marketplace. The Threekit Virtual Photographer creates photorealistic images at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional photography.
The availability of Threekit on the BigCommerce platform allows brands to:
• Complete configuration, customization and personalization in real-time;
• Review millions of possible production configurations in augmented reality;
• Shorten project timelines for clients as they can view, explore, and customize products to match request; and
• Quickly integrate into their website.
Why we care. eCommerce platforms have gone from valuable to necessary. Getting the most out of eCommerce engagement will be a theme as we head toward the 2020 holiday shopping season.
Commercetools debuts as leader in Gartner Digital Commerce MQ
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce was published this week, and featured some very familiar names among the Leaders group: Adobe and Salesforce running a close race at the front—Adobe has the edge on execution, Salesforce on vision—closely pursued by Oracle and SAP. Enter the outsider, commercetools, previously in the Visionary group (which does feature VTEX, a platform we wrote about this week), now challenging Salesforce for strength of vision, although running behind the other leaders on ability to execute.
If commercetools is a less familiar name than the others, it may be because it’s based in Germany. Founded in 2006, it must have competed with the commerce platform Hybris, acquired by SAP in 2013, and subsequently blended into its global commerce and CX offerings. Gartner acknowledges recent growth, not only in its customer numbers and revenue, but also geographical span.
Challengers in the MQ are BigCommerce, Episerver and Shopify.
Why we care. The big four commerce and CX vendors are with us always. It’s refreshing to have a new competitor on our radar.
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