Think back to the 90’s. JCPenney launched the first department store online (1994), a little site named Amazon was getting started (1995) and Dell was the first company to hit $1M sales online (1997). Smartphones were a luxury, not a necessity.
Fast forward to early 21st century. Buyers are becoming more savvy as the Internet evolves and smartphones become more prevalent. Along come commerce sites run solely by IT with heavy Java platforms, big project timelines and even bigger price tags.
Sit back and view the present. Buyers expect a consistent experience across multiple devices and shoppers’ journeys are increasingly complex. Merchants expect quick time to market, scalability and control for their business users. B2C isn’t the only player in the game, as B2B is increasingly entering the world of eCommerce. If your brand can’t keep up, it will quickly lose market share to competitors that can. Welcome to the third era of commerce.
At the forefront of this era, some clear thought leaders emerge. Today, two of them announced a partnership that will secure the evolution of the Marketer into the Merchant role. Adobe and Magento Commerce announced at the Shop.org Retail Summit their collaboration to enable merchants to drive deeper engagement and more personalized, integrated brand experiences for customers across channels and in-store.
Adobe’s Director of eCommerce, Errol Denger, explained the new partnership to me like this, “Merchants are increasingly relying on their business teams to take on what used to be considered a role for IT. You see brands going through reinventions on a regular basis to keep up with their customer. The ability to go live in a few short months or even weeks is crucial, as is increased agility, business control and scalability in systems. The partnership between Adobe and Magento Commerce is designed to address these pain points and to ensure global brands with complex supply chain organizational structures can provide a seamless experience to their increasingly demanding customers.”
Through the pre-built integration frame-work the two companies have developed, merchants will be able to seamlessly transmit data. Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target integrate into Magento Digital Commerce and Commerce Order Management allowing the customer to have a consistent experience, while the Merchant will gain a more holistic view of their buyer's journey.
Denger says initially the partnership will largely benefit a combination of retailers and branded manufactures. Multinational beverage and brewing company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, will serve as an initial customer and Denger states that we can expect to see more merchants roll out in early 2017 under this partnership, many sharing the common thread of going direct for the first time.
Magento and Adobe are showcasing the joint solution during Retail's Digital Summit (Shop.org) in the Adobe booth (#7015) and Magento booth (#7023). To schedule a demo and learn more about this powerful new solution, visit https://magento.com/schedule-a-demo.
What do you think of Adobe and Magento Commerce coming together? How does your brand tackle omni-channel?
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