January 2020

METRO Leverages Zilliant IQ Platform in Turkey
 B2B Data, News

METRO Leverages Zilliant IQ Platform in Turkey

Actionable Intelligence for Smarter B2B Foodservice Decisions

Zilliant, a multi-tenant SaaS company that helps B2B enterprises turn data into actionable intelligence to accelerate profitable growth, announced that METRO, a leading international specialist in food wholesale and retail, will implement and utilize the Zilliant Price IQ platform in Turkey.

“We believe that Zilliant is the right partner to support our ambitious growth plans,” said METRO Cash & Carry Foodservice Director Deniz Alkaḉ. “They are uniquely positioned to deliver optimized pricing guidance in both our Cash & Carry and Foodservice Delivery (FSD) businesses.”

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METRO had investigated multiple software companies in the marketplace and concluded that Zilliant Price IQ was the only solution able to simultaneously address both shelf and FSD pricing optimization. Using a thorough business diagnostic process, Zilliant uncovered significant pricing opportunities by leveraging AI and advanced analytics, therefore solidifying METRO’s decision to engage in a long-term partnership with Zilliant.

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“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with the METRO group,” said Zilliant President & CEO Greg Peters. “Zilliant is uniquely positioned among price optimization and prescriptive sales solution vendors to deliver a single solution and instance that can enable B2B companies to accelerate profitable growth with AI-driven actionable insights that result in smarter commercial decisions throughout the company.”

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 AI/ML, Marketing Clouds, Mobile Marketing, Sales Intelligence

2018’s Cyber Monday Breaks All Records, Reports Adobe

Adobe Leverages Their Powerful Analytics Engine to Conclude Record Sales of $7.9 Billion on Cyber Monday for the Year 2018

Adobe Analytics released a consolidated report to share facts pertaining to Cyber Monday and the holiday week that went by on Monday. Here is a snapshot of the report-

  • $7.9 billion spent on Cyber Monday alone – 19.7 percent increment YoY
  • $3.7 billion spent on Thanksgiving Day – 28.7 percent growth YoY
  • $6.2 billion spent on Black Friday – 23.6 percent rise YoY
  • $6.4 billion spent on November 24, 25 – Biggest shopping weekend in the USA
  • $58.5 billion spent in November (till the twenty-sixth) – 19.9 percent growth YoY
  • $1 billion spent by shoppers on an average, every day – 1 to 26 November till 1900 hours ET
  • Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS) saw a whopping fifty percent increase YoY
  • Brick & Mortar stores saw 28 percent higher conversions – thanks to the blending of online and offline shopping

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Adobe also compiled a report specific to mobile phone shopping revenues-

  • $2.1 billion in revenues from smartphones for Cyber Monday (up from $1.4 billion in 2017) – 48.1 percent growth YoY
  • Smartphone’s traffic share (when compared to the personal computer) grew by 16 percent overall
  • 4 % site visits from smartphone – 7.8 percent tablets & 43.6 percent smartphones
  • Smartphones generated 34% of revenues – 7 percent tablets & 26.3 percent smartphones

This is America’s first Cyber Monday where more than 50 percent of site visits have happened via a smartphone.

The Most-Sold Products

  • Nintendo Switch
  • Little Live Pets
  • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • LG TVs
  • Drones (DJI, Air Hogs, Sky Viper)
  • Dell laptops
  • FurReal Pets
  • Amazon Echo devices

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“Cyber Monday sales topped $7.9 billion according to Adobe Analytics data, making it the single largest shopping day in US history,” said John Copeland, Head of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe. “Sales coming from smartphones hit an all-time high of $2 billion and we saw a significant spike in the ‘Buy Online, Pickup In-Store’ trend.”

Adobe should be complimented on the way they have detailed the report. These extremely deep-dived statistics are only possible due to Adobe’s Sensei – Adobe’s technology powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Sensei extracts data from a trillion data points that flow into Adobe’s analytics engine and Magento’s Commerce Cloud — parts of the Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe’s acquisition of Magento has added major capabilities for Adobe in their digital transformation endeavors.

Here are some statistics about Adobe’s Analytics Engine:

Recommended Read: Marketing Technology Bulletin Covering the Week Gone By

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Serial Entrepreneur, Godard Abel, Leads $10 Million Investment in 3D Product Visualization Technology, ThreeKit
 Customer Experience Management

Serial Entrepreneur, Godard Abel, Leads $10 Million Investment in 3D Product Visualization Technology, ThreeKit

Strategic Investment Further Strengthens 3D Visualization Capabilities, Allowing Brands to Create More Interactive and Personalized Online Shopping Experiences

Serial entrepreneur, Godard Abel, has led a $10 million seed round investment in ThreeKit, a 3D product configuration and visualization platform, to help the company further meet the demands of brands for more interactive and personalized e-commerce experiences. The investment will fund talent acquisition, and product and business development for the rapidly growing company.

ThreeKit was founded by Ben Houston, a 15-year veteran in Hollywood Visual FX software, and a dedicated group of 3D pioneers and visual effects professionals. After creating 3D visualization technology for the special effects used in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster movies, the group has been working with brands to use this same technology to revolutionize the online experience. Houston will now serve as Chief Technology Officer of ThreeKit.

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Abel will take the role of executive chairman of ThreeKit. The leadership team will be comprised of B2B commerce veterans from several well-known companies in the space, including BigMachines (acquired by Oracle), SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce), CloudCraze (acquired by Salesforce), and G2 Crowd. Executives will include:

  • Joachim Klein, President and COO
  • John Kim, SVP of Sales
  • Slava Kovelman, VP of Operations
  • Kelly Wilson, VP of Customer Success
  • Nancy Rizkallah, VP of Finance

Together, the team has created over $1 billion in investor value and over 1,000 high-tech jobs. Now, they will leverage their expertise to give brands the ability to differentiate their customer experiences through next-generation 3D product visualization, virtual photography and augmented reality (AR).

“Traditionally visualization technologies have been clunky and difficult to use, but ThreeKit is a holistic platform that allows sellers to create their own interactive product experiences for their web stores,” said Houston. “Originally built for Hollywood, we saw a major opportunity to bring this technology to e-commerce, and are leading a new standard of product experience in the industry.”

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ThreeKit’s solutions allow brands to move from static images to a completely interactive 3D experience online, with features such as custom product designs, product tours and more. Additionally, powerful AR and virtual photography capabilities allow customers to preview their customizations before making their purchase decision. By using these tools and showing consumers exactly what they’re getting, brands can see a 40 percent increase in online conversions and an 80 percent reduction in online returns. Brands already leveraging ThreeKit technology include Crate & Barrel, Steelcase and CÎROC.

“There has been a critical gap in the ability of brands to provide engaging product experiences in their web stores, but ThreeKit is solving for this by fulfilling the touch and feel needs consumers have when shopping online,” said Abel. “It’s clear the company is leading a new generation of immersive and experiential commerce, and I look forward to accelerating its momentum to be a world market leader in 3D visualization technology.”

Recommended Read: Prediction Series 2019: Interview with Irina Kovalenko, CMO, SmartyAds

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Survey of Retailers Reveals Mainstream Adoption of Recurring Revenue Programs in 2019
 Marketing Attribution

Survey of Retailers Reveals Mainstream Adoption of Recurring Revenue Programs in 2019

Eighty-Three Percent of Retailers Surveyed View Converting One-Time Buyers into Recurring Customer Relationships as Very Important for Their Overall Retail Strategy in 2019

According to a new study commissioned by Ordergroove, the leader in Relationship Commerce, retailers view converting one-and-done shoppers into recurring customers as very important for their business and expect that recurring revenue programs will be a significant driver of revenue for their organizations in 2019. Findings from the study, “Retail 2019: The Year of the Recurring Revenue Model” will be presented at National Retail Federation (NRF) 2019: Retail’s Big Show, to be held in New York City on January 13-15, 2019.

83% of retailers surveyed agree that converting one-and-done buyers into recurring customers is very important for their overall retail strategy. Get the full results of Ordergroove’s survey: https://www.ordergroove.com/2019_survey_download #relationshipcommerce #NRF2019

Recurring revenue programs – such as subscriptions, reordering, and membership programs – enable brands to transform shopping experiences from one-time consumer transactions to frictionless, recurring relationships that drive predictable, profitable revenue streams.

Retail 2019: The Year of the Recurring Revenue Mode
Retail 2019: The Year of the Recurring Revenue Mode

Also Read: Infogroup Hires Seasoned Digital Executive as Chief Financial Officer

Key findings from the study, which surveyed retail leaders representing companies with an annual revenue exceeding $100 million, include:

  • 83 percent of retail leaders surveyed agree that converting one-and-done buyers into recurring customers is very important for their overall retail strategy.
  • 54 percent expect significant growth in revenue in 2019 and beyond from recurring customer purchases.
  • Today, 65 percent of respondents offer subscription programs; additional 22 percent are thinking of adding them in 2019.

Relationship Commerce Also Equates to Value for Consumers

Retailers are experiencing a clear correlation between recurring customer purchases and customer satisfaction, with 86 percent of respondents indicating that their subscription customers are more satisfied than their non-subscription customers. Additionally, more than half state their overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) has increased since launching subscription offerings.

“In today’s on-demand world, consumers have more choices than ever and are choosing those retailers and brands who make their lives’ easier,” said Greg Alvo, CEO, Ordergroove. “Retailers who are not investing in frictionless relationship commerce programs are merely acquiring customers and absorbing the Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC), only to lose profitability and Lifetime Value (LTV) to Amazon. Amazon’s investments in programs like Prime for memberships, Subscribe & Save for subscriptions, Dash for IoT reordering and Alexa for voice reordering are all part of a master plan to build a recurring revenue business centered around the highest level of consumer convenience.”

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Alvo continued, “It’s clear from this study that retailers are responding with their own recurring revenue programs and are putting a relationship commerce strategy in place, elevating recurring revenue programs from a sideline to a business imperative.”

Results of the study will be highlighted at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2019: Retail’s Big Show during the Big Ideas session: “The Big Shift – Moving from transactional to relationship-driven commerce,” on Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 2:45 p.m. on Stage 6, EXPO Hall, Level 3. The session will feature Ordergroove CEO Greg Alvo and Colin Watts, Consultant and former CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe. Ordergroove will be at Booth 4364 during NRF.

The survey was conducted by NAPCO Research in November 2018 among close to 300 retailers. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation.

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