6 eCommerce trends for 2020

Kelly Goetsch, CPO at commercetools, predicts 6 eCommerce tech trends for 2020, including the race to attract talent and the shift away from legacy platforms

CARMA announces acquisition of mmi Analytics

CARMA announces acquisition of mmi Analytics, expanding expertise in Beauty, Fashion, and Lifestyle sectors

The combined organisation is set to redefine the landscape of media intelligence, providing unparalleled expertise and comprehensive insights for PR professional and marketers in the exciting world of beauty, fashion and lifestyle.

Why MACH is the future of customer experience

Because MACH architecture is modular, retailers can not only select the best technology solutions on the market to create their eCommerce system, but also integrate them together without the need for a disruptive re-platforming project.

Retail Trends for 2023

Inflation is set to influence every aspect of retail for the next 12 months and beyond. In the first week of January, shop prices surged to 8%, hitting a record high, according to the latest figures from the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index. With falling consumer sentiment and customers searching for value, what can retailers do to support their customer base while also safeguarding margins?

Travel industry, ‘check-in’ on cart abandonment

People are not loyal to travel brands now – they can’t afford to be. With the right deal and customer experience, there is an opportunity to capture the huge number of customers who will be shopping for their summer deals this month and beyond.

Do we still need to care about the metaverse?

The first thing we need to understand is that the metaverse does not live or die by what Zuckerberg does. In fact, the metaverse is better defined as the ultimate goal of a whole suite of virtual and augmented reality propositions that will change how we interact online. In fact, if Meta’s metaverse comes into fruition, it is highly unlikely to be the only one.

Why accountancy is poised to undergo major digital transformation

Amidst today’s economic uncertainties, financial management skills and streamlining company spending have become a vital part of the finance function. Maintaining data accuracy throughout the spend management process is a huge challenge for many accountants and SMEs more generally, with an array of spending methods including online eCommerce sites, company cards, subscriptions and more complicating the invoicing process. Fortunately, spend management is the area about to undergo the greatest technological change, with new capabilities putting accounting on the road to fully automated spend management in the next five to 10 years.

Supply Chain Commerce & The Green Imperative

We are in the midst of a real-time, seismic shift as consumers transform expectations of global supply and demand models. The pandemic exposed the fragility of many supply chain networks. An inability to sense and dynamically adjust to shifting demand signals, consumer preferences, labour requirements, transportation, storage, inventory and trade policy changes caused havoc to economies and brands around the world.

SMEs must prepare for the next cyber attack?

Ultimately, leave nothing to chance. Always expect an attack to happen, as cybercriminals are constantly looking for that open entryway. SMEs cannot afford to leave the door open. One negative experience can damage your customer relationships, reputation and overall business health. In this constant game of cat and mouse, we all need to be on our guard.

Overcoming the conflict between speed and quality

Today’s winners are defined by speed. If you can develop an idea, turn it into a tangible product, and get it out to your target audience faster than the competition, you are in a much better position to win. It doesn’t matter how great your offer is; it’s much harder to win customers if you’re always trailing behind competitors.

Micro-fulfilment and Opportunistic Retail

James Hyde, Chief Product Officer & Founder, James and James Fulfilment ,explains how cloud based business intelligence led fulfilment is delivering the agility required to enable truly opportunistic retail.

Does GraphQL make a difference in composability?

Looking back some years ago, organisations looking to build online experiences went to vendors and simply bought a website. Not long after, organisations realised that the approach didn’t actually connect with their customers. As public cloud arose in the late 2000s and vendors began to offer data and functionality over discrete APIs, what we now know of as composable IT emerged.

Fashion and sustainability are working the cloud.

Leaders across sectors and markets know that in order to digitize quickly and effectively following Covid-19, they need to accelerate their journey to the cloud. By Jason Gregson, Head of AWS Programs and Operations, DoiT International.

Warehouses – the Achilles’ heel in net zero?

Over the past few years, retailers have taken huge strides to understand and address the environmental impact of the supply chain. In a bid to achieve Net Zero objectives, a shift to domestic and near shore production is reducing carbon emissions and a focus on reducing empty miles in both inbound and last mile deliveries is improving green performance.

How websites can tackle Magecart attacks

One of the most major security concerns for many organizations – in particular those operating in ecommerce – is currently Magecart web skimming attacks. Actively targeting online shopping carts, these cyber criminals have cost businesses of all shapes and sizes thousands, and even millions, of pounds as they intercept vital data. So, how can companies deter hackers and why does their website have a part to play in reducing the threat level? Gav Winter, CEO of next generation website monitoring company RapidSpike, explains…

Is your business ready for Headless Commerce?

Sam Van Hees, co-founder & CMO of Instant Commerce, a frontend as a service solution which enables any eCommerce brand to build a high-end headless storefront, explores the top seven signs your ecommerce business is ready to make the switch to headless commerce.

The Fall Of The Retailers

Where once upon a time retail business models had the luxury of evolving over years and sometimes decades, retailers over the last two years have been forced to rapidly pivot their operations, change business models and switch (in many cases) to unfamiliar, new ways of working.

Embracing the value of AI for payments

George Ralchev is the Head of Security at emerchantpay, a leading global payment service provider. In this article, George explores the value of AI in today’s payments and retail landscape with a particular focus on how merchants can ensure that their security capabilities are innovating alongside growing digitization in payments and consumer shopping patterns.

Protecting Your Business From Loyalty Fraud

Today, businesses are realising that a top-notch customer experience is the key to staying one step ahead in a highly competitive market. Enterprises are investing in loyalty schemes to elevate the online shopping experience for their most valued customers.

Twinning – Future of Digital Twins

The benefits of digital twins are set to have a profound impact on a range of industries. They can help real estate agents in the process of buying and selling houses, by providing immersive, dimensionally accurate walkthroughs of properties to prospective buyers. This gives them a real sense of what it would be like to live there. Or in the travel and hospitality sector, hotels can better market the rooms they have to offer with digital twins, allowing consumers to check out a hotel, before they check in. The potential for the creation of digital twins is seismic – Matterport research has shown that there are over four billion buildings, comprising 20 billion spaces in the world.

Payment evolution as part of Industry 4.0

By uniting physical and digital technologies, Industry 4.0 promises a transformation in how we lead our lives. It offers both an opportunity and a challenge to industries, and a world of innovation that will benefit consumers. In this article, Ralf Gladis, CEO at the global payment service provider, Computop looks at the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the world of payments.

2022 the year of the Unicorns?

Insider, a leader in cross-channel customer personalization experiences, has recently announced a $121 million Series D funding round valued at $1.22 billion. Other investors that joined funding included the likes of Sequoia, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst.

Are digital neighbourhoods the future for commerce?

It’s a trend that every retail business needs to get on board with – and fast – because in the digital neighborhoods of the future, people will ‘show up’ to online stores as an event; not only to browse and buy goods, but also to socialise and be entertained, just as they do in physical stores. Digital neighbourhoods are forming – and they’re here to stay. Brightpearl’s CEO, Derek O’Carroll will outline the concept of ‘digital neighbourhoods’, and what this means for retail.

The metaverse: Why it matters for business

James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Managing Director of Matterport, explores why the metaverse: virtual replica of the built world, made up of billions of digital twins, will fundamentally change how we experience, interact with, and analyse the space around us.

How AI can put brands back on top

In the face of competition from private label, new brands and online fulfilment, which is stressing margins, consumer brands will need new ways to work with retail partners to optimise allocation and replenishment, says Alex Barnes from antuit.ai.