Our weekly roundup of noteworthy announcements in the ecommerce sector.
BigCommerce an Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, has announced it has acquired Feedonomics in an asset purchase transaction. “This acquisition reflects our strong belief that Feedonomics offers the world’s best product feed optimization and syndication solution for merchants looking to optimize their advertising and selling via search engines, ad networks, social media sites and marketplaces. On average, these channels represent ecommerce merchants’ largest non-direct source of sales and one of the largest spending line items,” said Brent Bellm, CEO at BigCommerce.
Forecast, the AI-native platform for project and resource management, has announced the appointment of Sohaib Abbasi as Chairman. This appointment follows the recent Series A funding round, capping a year of unprecedented revenue growth exceeding 300%. Abbasi has an illustrious career in the software industry, helping iconic businesses grow from disruptors to industry leaders. Abbasi helped Oracle grow from a 30-person start-up in 1982 to a $9 billion, multinational corporation by 2003. From 2004 to 2015, as Chairman and CEO, he helped grow business five-fold at Informatica, the cloud data management leader. Abbasi brings a wealth of leadership experience, technology insights and business acumen to help the Forecast leadership team successfully master the next phase of growth.
Clearco are launching a new partnership recommendation service, ‘ClearMatch’, for their Founders to help grow their businesses. This service is unique in the growth capital space and is based on the more than 25,000 companies that have connected with Clearco to date. ClearMatch empowers customers to view and compare their performance across more than 20 key metrics, allowing them to compare themselves to competitors in their own industry and verticals. The launch of this new service underscores the company’s long-term vision of providing data-driven solutions beyond capital.
NextPlay Technologies, Inc, a technology solutions company building a digital business ecosystem for digital advertisers, consumers, video gamers and travellers, has reported that it has closed its previously announced acquisition of International Financial Enterprise Bank (IFEB), a global financial institution headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Company is pleased to announce that it has increased its previously disclosed intended stake in IFEB, and formally closed the acquisition of 100% of the Bank as of July 21st after receiving previously reported formal regulatory approval from the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico (OCIF) for up to 100% ownership. Additionally, OCIF has granted NextPlay approval to change the bank’s name to NextBank International.
Over half (51%) of ecommerce decision-makers find Amazon hard to navigate, while more than two in five agree that gaining control of their brand on Amazon is difficult. These are just some of the key findings of a new European survey conducted by Censuswide on behalf of leading ecommerce platform and services provider Luzern. The research provides detailed insights into Amazon sales strategies from brands across the UK and Europe. The Coronavirus crisis has fuelled an online shopping boom. Amazon’s profit soared 220 per cent as the pandemic drove shopping online. Luzern’s new survey confirms Amazon’s power and significance – with nearly nine in ten (86%) decision-makers stating that Amazon is crucial to their sales strategy to survive in 2021 and beyond. In addition, three quarters (75%) believe that ambitious brands must have a presence on Amazon in order to meet customers on their platform of choice.
commercetools has announced that it has received the 2020 Google Cloud Industry Solution Partner of the Year – Retail award. The next-generation commerce company was recognised for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping customers design unique and engaging digital commerce experiences – and roll them out fast. The Google Cloud Industry Solution Partner of the Year – Retail award recognises success in leveraging Google Cloud to create comprehensive and compelling solutions that make a significant impact on the industry across multiple regions.
InPost, an out-of-home and eCommerce delivery company, has announced a new partnership with sustainable fashion trailblazer, Yellow Octopus Group, which aims to offer consumers a more convenient and greener way of donating and recycling clothes. The collaboration aims to encourage and incentivise more sustainable behaviour by offering consumers exclusive discount coupons for every donation made, and in doing so, contributing to the creation of “circular fashion” with old clothes being reused, recycled or remade into new products and preventing them from ending up in landfill. The circular fashion industry is a fast-growing movement to reuse and recycle all materials, eliminating waste and pollution and regenerating the environment. Consumers can register old clothing via Yellow Octopus’s reGAIN app and drop off donations to any InPost locker in the UK completely free of charge — with the whole process taking a matter of seconds.
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