'Net Features : demandware

Brooks Brothers Personalizes Shopping Experience

Amberly Dressler — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:43:00 GMT

In 1818, Brooks Brothers became the first ready-to-wear fashion emporium in America with the opening of its initial store. Nearly 200 years later, the iconic retailer continues to transform its business to meet the changing needs of consumers across channels.

Its new e-commerce site, brooksbrothers.com, was launched on the Demandware Commerce platform and will be tightly integrated into new merchandising and store systems. Brooks Brothers will also use Demandware for international expansion.

"Over the past two centuries, many things have changed, but Brooks Brothers' commitment to innovation and a superior brand experience has not wavered," said Ken Seiff, EVP, direct and omni-channel at Brooks Brothers. "We want to serve our customers in the most exceptional ways regardless of which channel they choose to engage with us. This means knowing their preferences and providing a personalized shopping experience at all times."

On the retailer's home page, for example, there is a "May We Recommend" section that features products "carefully curated and personally selected for you." Brooks Brothers uses a pre-built integration from Demandware's LINK Technology Partner, MyBuys for the recommendation engine (see below). MyBuys offers cross-channel personalization for retail.

International Ecommerce in Focus; FiftyOne LINKs with Demandware

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Expanding an e-commerce presence to serve additional countries is complicated for Internet retailers. For some U.S. merchants however, it's getting much easier.

FiftyOne Global Ecommerce announced this week that it has become a Demandware LINK Technology Partner, joining a community that accelerates the adoption of e-commerce technologies complementary to the Demandware Commerce platform. As a LINK Technology partner, FiftyOne has created a pre-built integration making it faster and easier for online retailers to deploy FiftyOne’s international ecommerce solution and extend their existing ecommerce operations to online shoppers in 103 countries and territories worldwide.

“Retailers are increasingly focused on generating awareness and growing sales outside of their domestic markets,” said Michael DeSimone, CEO, FiftyOne. “The combination of the Demandware platform with FiftyOne’s international ecommerce capabilities creates a powerful opportunity to accelerate global growth while offering the retailer full control over how their customer experiences their brand.”

Roll Out the Red Carpet for Digital Divas

Amberly Dressler — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:30:00 GMT

Digital divas are a small group of consumers with significant purchasing power - both online and in-person.

That's according to the University of Arizona and Demandware's results from a recent survey of 7,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K., France and Germany that uncovered this valuable consumer segment. The analysis revealed that Digital Divas demand a streamlined omnichannel experience, as they visit an average of 3.4 different channels during their shopping journey at physical retail stores (70 percent) and retailer websites (51 percent). Additionally, this consumer group is twice more likely to use mobile devices while shopping in stores than non-divas.

“Retailers can’t ignore exponential value that Digital Divas represent,” said Rob Garf, Vice President of Product and Solutions Marketing at Demandware. “To address their needs, it is imperative that retailers establish a digital backbone to enable seamless and consistent experiences for these digitally savvy consumers.”

For more information, check out the interesting infographic below, download the full "Who Are Digital Divas and Should Retailers Care?" report, register for the Webinar to be held in February and/or attend the Global Retailing Conference in April.

Lancôme Makes Over Mobile Presence

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:45:00 GMT

Today’s on-the-go consumers want to connect with brands across all devices.

This dramatic shift in the shopping experience led Lancôme, an international luxury beauty brand, to use SapientNitro, an agency with a strong portfolio in mobile and omnichannel customer experience, as well as the Demandware Commerce platform, the digital commerce solution that also powers Lancôme’s e-commerce website, to make over its mobile presence.

The navigational elements on Lancome.com’s mobile home page are impressive, highly user friendly and gives consumers exactly what they need.

“We completely re-thought navigation considering options offered by a phone and needs of a mobile customer,” said Alessio Rossi, Lancôme VP of Digital Strategy. “We wanted to provide a consistent experience with desktop and the added easiness and speed given by a new vertical design that leverages mobile screen dimensions and touch functionalities. We also eliminated any feature that wasn’t mobile-necessary to streamline experience giving what makes most sense to the mobile user.”

The newly launched mobile site provides consumers with a seamless shopping experience as well as:

• Sophisticated product detail pages that incorporate color swatching, videos, how-to information and customer reviews

• Improved category browsing and visual flow providing a richer interface

• Optimized user experience throughout the site for touch browsing and navigation

• Streamlined and simplified checkout alleviating distractions and keeping interaction clean and simple

Providing a streamlined experience was important to Lancôme not only to manage consumer expectations but also because the most important sources of traffic to its mobile site are Direct Load, CRM Programs, Search and Media.

The Hidden Costs of E-Commerce Platforms

Allison Howen — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:30:00 GMT

An online store can only be as successful as the e-commerce platform that is running it, which is why it is vital for merchants to map out their business’s needs, goals and budget before they make a commitment to a solution.

But despite this preparation, a new Demandware study reveals that 43 percent of all e-commerce platforms end up having a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than predicted. In fact, the “Understanding TCO When Evaluating E-Commerce Solutions” study, which was conducted by Forrester Consulting, found that online retailers spend an average of 7 percent of their total online revenue to support their e-commerce platforms, however, 74 percent of merchants don’t believe that their current solutions will scale to support their planned growth.

Hidden Costs and Limitations

Merchants using homegrown or a licensed on-premise e-commerce platform may end up paying a higher TCO because they usually need to purchase additional licenses to grow their business. For example, 67 percent of retailers using a licensed on-premise solution report that they are contractually obligated to acquire additional licenses when reaching a certain threshold of online traffic, while 78 percent of online retailers report that their vendor contract restricts them from using the technology into new markets. This means that many e-commerce platforms are restricting online stores' growth initiatives, such as international and multichannel expansion.

Not only is the TCO for many e-commerce platforms higher than expected, but one of the study's most surprising metrics reveals that due to the complexities associated with upgrading an e-commerce platform, 39 percent of retailers only upgrade their platform to the latest version once every two to three years. This could be attributed to the long amount of time that it typically takes to complete an upgrade, but regardless, it means that these retailers risk falling behind their competitors by not staying up-to-date with basic functionality and usability features.

The Cloud is Gaining Trust

The complexities and lack of support of current e-commerce platforms has led 25 percent of retailers to plan on re-platformming within the next two years, and a further 29 percent will re-platform within four years. According to the report, these merchants will seek a platform that supports their business’s multichannel and global expansion goals, as well as one that caters to digitally connected consumers. Although 81 percent of online retailers currently use a homegrown or licensed on-premise e-commerce solution, some retailers are looking to the cloud for better performance despite the uncertainties that still surround cloud-based solutions.

“In the first generation of e-commerce, when CIOs had to build everything from scratch, retailers took on major new costs to develop and operate platforms, which over time became assumed – and sometimes forgotten – in the P&L (profits and loss),” said Jamus Driscoll, senior VP of marketing for Demandware. “We believe the study clearly shows that as retailers move forward into a new digital world, they also need to pause and challenge yesterday’s assumptions regarding the costs of ecommerce. It’s time to think differently.”

Cloud-based platforms can be beneficial because they tend to offer upgrades that are easy to implement and also don’t restrain growth possibilities. While 44 percent of the survey respondents state that they still perceive cloud-based solutions as lacking maturity, 41 percent are also now including cloud solutions in their selection process.

Regardless of a merchant's preference for cloud or homegrown solutions, they should remember that selecting an e-commerce platform is a long-term decision. This means that they need to take hidden costs, features and functionality into consideration when researching solutions. And most importantly, merchants should choose a platform that has the ability to grow with their online business.

What Small Biz Can Learn from Big Biz

Amberly Dressler — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:15:00 GMT

And how big businesses learned from them.

Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting small businesses nationwide, and the brainchild of American Express. Aside from all-important holiday revenue, participating small, local businesses have much to gain in the way of digital growth.

This is because American Express provides participating businesses with free online marketing materials, such as digital banners to place on their websites promoting their participation. Small business owners also receive sample tweets, Facebook posts and emails to use. By utilizing and understanding the importance of these resources, as well as taking a look at how big businesses use them every day, small businesses can truly establish or grow their Internet presence.

And, although it’s estimated that more than 50 percent of small businesses are operating without a website, the following tips on what small businesses can learn from big businesses, is made with the assumption our readers are also website owners or workers.

Social Media

For many small business owners, it may seem like an uphill battle to participate (let alone compete) in the digital realm. Their worries, however, don’t diminish the importance of doing so. Consumers, especially young ones, want a best-in-class experience at all times – across all channels (e.g. mobile, social, website, in-store). And, there is no better way to begin meeting their demands than through social media.

Example: Nordstrom’s number one goal has always, and always will be, to improve its customer service. And, the 100-year-old-plus company looks at its social media pages as an extension of its customer service. Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct, even said that at one point the company’s Twitter account was shut down due to sending out too many tweets answering customer’s questions.

“The customer is completely in control,” said Nordstrom. “The retailers who are embracing that are going to thrive.”

Additionally, Nordstrom has stern and even out-of-the-box social networking guidelines for its employees. Among the latter is “be humble.”

“Our number-one goal is to offer each customer great service, but we're certainly not perfect and we do make mistakes. Let's stay focused on working to deliver great service instead of bragging about it.”

Lesson Learned: Small businesses should heed Nordstrom’s example, as it is not enough to create social media pages and post about company-related topics, but it also important to actively respond to customers. Additionally, small businesses should set its social media guidelines to include ones that are in-line with company goals and ethos. Don’t type something on a social media page that you wouldn’t say directly to a consumer, in-store. A business’s customer service hat should never come off, even in the comfort of the digital space.

Online Advertising

Eighty-five percent of consumers search online for local businesses, according to Local Consumer Review Survey (2012). That said, business owners not advertising online and employing SEO tactics are also not raising awareness about their business, they are not encouraging repeat visit and they are not generating sales (or conversions). They are also likely losing out to their competitors, as according to e-Marketer.com, next year’s spending predictions include a $7 billion increase in online ad spending. But, even those who are spending the most can still struggle.

Example: SEMrush estimates Groupon’s search engine traffic (the cost of purchasing the same number of visitors through ads) as $1,014,508. Clearly, Groupon makes significant investments to acquire subscribers through online marketing initiatives, such as search engine marketing, display advertisements, referral programs and affiliate marketing. But while this may have worked for the company’s original goals, which was to acquire new subscribers, the company now has to leverage different promotions (e.g. discount codes) to achieve its current goal, which is to activate subscribers (get those who have subscribed to actually purchase). Groupon, however, doesn’t go at their online advertising alone. According to BuiltWith.com, Groupon uses Google’s DoubleClick.net for online advertising assistance.

Lesson Learned: In the virtual world, businesses (of all sizes) have to be flexible with strategies and goals. Being open to change, as well as virtually asking for help, by employing agencies or seasoned professionals, can improve the bottom line and improve a customer’s experience.

Email

The long-standing relationships that many small business owners are able to create and sustain with their customers are only in the dreams of many large enterprises. The former’s face-to-face interactions, not only give consumers a face, but merchants are also on hand to customize their customer service approach and promotions to them. However, many small businesses are missing out on using that information for future communications, such as email.

Example: UGG Australia uses a combination of marketing emails with a segmentation strategy based on interest, triggered actions and personalized communication based on browsing behavior. In order to ensure all of its email communication with the consumer is effective, the company leverages consumer data, sales trends and product interaction to reach a positive return on investment. Additionally, the majority of its email communications goes through a third-party email service provider, Silverpop. The company also leverages Demandware’s native functionality for transactional and back-in-stock emails. Its personalized email communication comes from integration with MyBuys.

Lesson Learned: Again we see that third-party providers increasing a company’s digital prowess and improve customer experience. There are plenty of available email marketing solutions that can help small businesses. For 50 of them, visit Website Magazine’s 50 Top Email Marketing Service Providers article.

The true lesson learned for any business – both small and large – is to put customers/clients first. And, while small, local businesses don’t often (if ever) make news for quality customer relations, it is to them large, digitally responsible companies turn to and try to emulate. We see that through Nordstrom’s use of social media, Groupon’s online advertising and UGG Australia’s email practices. Let us not forget who is driving our success, and ask for help when needed. Innovation is happening all around us and plenty of digital companies – covered every day at WebsiteMagazine.com - can accelerate digital growth.

And as a final note for small businesses looking to reap benefits of Small Business Saturday, look at how American Express uses the same design elements, logos, banner ads, etc., in all the event’s marketing collateral and try to emulate a streamlined experience of your own, long after Small Business Saturday closes.

Finish Line Commits to Omnichannel Race

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT

With more than 640 stores across 47 states and an online presence to match, Finish Line is not only one of the largest mall-based specialty retailers in the United States, but also one of the most aggressive in terms of its omnichannel growth initiatives.

It was these initiatives that drove the company to move from legacy in-house managed software to Demandware’s cloud-based solution, announcing today that it has launched new e-commerce and mobile commerce sites on Demandware Commerce platform. With this platform, Finish Line can provide consumers a highly branded, personalized and consistent experience across channels.

“Our goal is to transform our business, not just maintain it,” said Chris Ladd, executive vice president and chief digital officer for Finish Line. “We want to drive innovation and propel the business. Demandware reduces operational complexity and puts the power in the hands of our users to create world-class brand experiences. It provides customers a better and faster online experience, rather than having technology get in the way. With Demandware’s business model, we’re mutually incentivized by success. We have a true partnership, and over the long-term, it’s much more valuable that the standard vendor/client relationship.”

The new finishline.com features an eye-catching new design and enhanced user experience, including:

The ability to buy online and pick up at a Finish Line store location
Real-time product inventory information that provides accurate availability updates
A mobile shopping site that leverages responsive Web design to optimally display on devices
Seamless integration of Finish Line’s Winner’s Circle loyalty program into the shopping cart to let consumers view their points balance at checkout
Enhanced brand landing pages showcase brand-specific content, such as products, offers, promotions, videos and blog posts
Streamlined navigation and search functionality helps consumers locate products more quickly and efficiently
Flash sales provide exclusive access to new, high-demand merchandise

“Finish Line is a true market leader with a compelling vision for omnichannel commerce,” said Tom Ebling, CEO of Demandware. “With Demandware as its digital commerce backbone, Finish Line is able to move faster in a world of continually evolving consumer behavior. We look forward to a long partnership, driven by our mutual commitment to success and retail innovation.”

Social Plugins Keep Consumers Connected

Allison Howen — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:05:00 GMT

For merchants, keeping consumers connected to their brand on the ’Net is a top priority, which is why e-commerce solutions provider Demandware has launched some new social plugins that aim to make this a much easier task.

The new social plugins help accelerate the integration of an e-commerce site with two of the Webs most popular social networks – Facebook and Google+. This is because the integrations allow merchants to leverage the capabilities of Facebook Open Graph, Facebook Check-In and the Google +1 button as part of their e-commerce strategy. Learn more about the new capabilities below:

• Facebook Open Graph – Retailers can leverage this plugin to enable social action buttons on product pages, such as “Want”, “Own” or “Purchased”. Additionally, this plugin allows retailers to maintain control over brand expressions , more seamlessly integrate into Facebook search and target advertising to Facebook members.

• Facebook Check-In – Retailers integrating Facebook Check-Ins with their sites can create personalized and engaging cross-channel experiences for consumers both in-stores and online. This plugin enables retailers to customize check-in experiences, as well as use check-ins in combination with loyalty or reward programs.

• The Google +1 Button – This plugin allows retailers to add the Google +1 button to their product detail pages. When a consumer clicks the +1 button, members of his or her circles will see the recommendation in their Google search results, which gives the retailer free word-of-mouth advertising while also improving the retailer's overall SEO.

"Facebook and Google+ are becoming ever more important components of a retailer's social commerce strategy, but many are still trying to figure out how to best leverage and tap into its millions of members," said Jamus Driscoll, senior vice president of marketing at Demandware. "These innovations from Demandware Labs provide our clients with easy access to the tools that will help them reach consumers on their social networks, creating a foundation for ongoing social commerce growth."

The Seamless Retail Shopping Experience

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:36:00 GMT

Powerhouse commerce platform Demandware launched a few new enhancements to its Multichannel Commerce Solution that are definitely worth a look – particularly if you’re paying attention to the variety of new devices on the market and recognize the shift in consumers’ purchasing behaviors.

“Consumers are increasingly using multiple channels to access information and make a purchase, and they expect a seamless shopping experience throughout,” said Jamus Driscoll, senior vice president of marketing for Demandware. “With these latest innovations, Demandware is providing our clients with the tools they need to rapidly meet the dynamic needs of their valuable multichannel customers.”

In addition to an updated Web architecture (HTML5) and several new and enhanced integrations with third-party technologies, specific platform improvements include responsive web design and multi-channel optimized commerce - the realization that "buying" takes place anywhere - including at in-store locations.

Most are likely now familiar with responsive design (which allows for dynamic formatting of content presentation based on the type of device) but where Demandware separates itself from the hordes of competition in the e-commerce platform space is in not just thinking multichannel, but acting like it. New features on the platform include store-level inventory visibility and a store locator, and enhanced features include AJAX-based search refinements, kitting and outfitting configuration, and rules-driven merchandise personalization.

While Demandware is certainly not the first to integrate responsive design or create more robust mult-channel experiences, it’s certainly one of the biggest and with some of the biggest clients including fashion retailer Perry Ellis.

“As a global, multichannel brand, it is critical that we enable a seamless shopping experience for our customers who may start shopping on a mobile phone, continue on a desktop and finish on an iPad. With Demandware’s responsive design architecture, we were able to efficiently implement across multiple device types in a fraction of the time it would normally take developing for multiple device types,” said Michelle Magallon, VP of digital commerce for Perry Ellis International.

“Since launching last fall, we have experienced improved customer satisfaction and greater online revenue growth from our customers’ ability to shop our brands seamlessly across location, device or channel.”

Expand Your Digital Reach to Multichannel Shoppers

Linc Wonham — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

According to research conducted by Forrester Consulting, 68 percent of U.S. multichannel shoppers are more likely to purchase from brands whose products are readily available through a variety of physical and virtual touchpoints.

To help retailers achieve this goal, e-commerce solutions provider Demandware has expanded its Multichannel Commerce offering with a prescriptive framework that extends their digital commerce efforts to smartphones, tablets, in-store kiosks and other Web-enabled devices. The Multichannel Commerce solution combines Demandware’s cloud-based digital commerce platform, multichannel accelerators, pre-built integrations from Demandware LINK technology partners, education, implementation services and solution support to provide a cohesive framework for extending digital commerce capabilities to wherever and whenever multichannel consumers interact with a brand.

The expanded solution includes a set of accelerators – technology and strategy tools – that help deliver a consistent consumer experience across traditional Web, mobile, social, call center and in-store silos. Key accelerators are Open Commerce APIs to syndicate and synchronize commerce capabilities and content across channels; a mobile reference application with store locator functionality, and multichannel impact assessment tool and reference architecture for prioritizing, depicting and enabling key multichannel capabilities.

Demandware’s Multichannel Commerce solution is part of a suite of solutions that also includes Global Commerce, End-to-End Commerce, Emerging Commerce, Mobile Commerce and Web Commerce.

A Clear Case for the Commerce Cloud

Linc Wonham — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Consumer demands continue to drive technology innovation while e-commerce managers and Internet professionals try to keep pace with their evolving behavior and growing number of touch points.

Whether accessed through a tablet, a mobile application or a computer, the website must ultimately deliver a unified experience and maintain a consistent look and feel of the brand. Combining this challenge with the need to anticipate the “next big thing” in technology to enhance the cross-channel shopping experience, and keeping your digital backbone in optimum shape, might seem downright daunting.

So, how can retailers deliver a digital experience that attracts and retains consumers?

Simply stated, consider a scalable and flexible cloud-based commerce platform that enables innovation. If your commerce site is frozen in time, bound to on-premise infrastructure that limits growth and necessitates the involvement of outside IT teams for major overhauls, you cannot continually enhance brand interactions. The accelerated pace of consumer control, access and knowledge requires that retailers ready themselves for frequent change.

This cannot be done easily or quickly on an on-premise platform.

Having a digital commerce management (DCM) strategy in place can help retailers better manage all digital interactions with consumers across devices, applications and channels. There are several important facets to DCM, but success is predicated on a cloud delivery model.

Here is why is a commerce cloud is essential?

Innovation is seamless: Commerce in the cloud enables brands and retailers to continuously develop new and innovative digital experiences. New enhancements are frequently and quietly introduced to the commerce environment. Unlike on-premise software, capabilities are automatically delivered without a potential laborious and costly upgrade cycle.

Site is open: Openness is key to a successful digital strategy. The commerce cloud enables organizations to invite partners and developers to complement core functionality. Because of the common code base, integration and developer customization is not point-in-time that must be maintained over time.

Merchandising control: Cloud platforms also encourage user empowerment that allow experts to drive all aspects of the user experience – from cross-channel merchandising, to unique innovation and quick reaction to market opportunities. Merchants and marketers have complete control of the consumer shopping experience.

So, while competitors’ requests are waiting in a queue or hampered by an older version of software, the commerce cloud delivers capabilities to drive brand loyalty and advocacy.

Enjoy the "Ah Ha" moment: Every retailer dreams of that magic moment when their business changes forever and consumers bust down their virtual doors, but most cringe when they contemplate how their infrastructure will react to a deluge of traffic. Those occurrences can be overwhelmingly exciting and incredibly stressful at the same time, but cloud platforms should provide peace of mind.

A scalable, secure, and stable foundation ensures an efficient response to heightened traffic and effective allocation of additional capacity when required. An on-premise or merely hosted commerce product might need weeks – and costly hardware – to manage this possible surge in traffic. The commerce cloud is already built and ready to plug into.

Retailers often find themselves in reactive modes, working furiously to respond to new customer demands. Commerce that leverages proven cloud environments allows retailers to streamline operations providing more time for merchandising, innovation and the creation of new brand experiences.

This model offers more control of the customer experience and enables faster response to new consumer trends like multichannel, mobile and social commerce. In this digital world in which we live, why invest in anything other than a digital backbone in the cloud?

About the Author: As vice president of product and solutions marketing for Demandware, Rob Garf taps into his more than 20 years of retail industry experience. Prior to Demandware, Garf served as the global retail strategy leader of IBM Global Business Services and was vice president of Retail Strategies Service at AMR Research, where he led coverage of customer intelligence and multichannel operations.

Pinterest Integrations from Demandware and StrongMail

Allison Howen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:30:00 GMT

Although a recent study suggests that Pinterest isn’t directly influencing purchasing decisions yet, it doesn’t mean that retailers should write off the social pin board site when it comes to social media marketing strategies.

In fact, the interest in Pinterest is gaining more steam everyday – most recently with two tech companies that have integrated Pinterest features into their solutions.

Demandware

E-commerce solution provider Demandware launched a Pinterest integration, which allows retailers to display the Pin It button on e-commerce product pages, providing consumers with an easy way to share product content among the social pin board site.

Retailers are able to benefit from the Pinterest integration because it enables them to attract and engage with consumers, increase brand awareness, and allows for more targeted pinning of specific items – including color and size.

“Pinterest has had extremely positive adoption rates and we wanted to make sure our clients could leverage this exciting new tool to drive their online revenue,” says Jamus Driscoll, senior VP of marketing for Demandware. “Our Labs team was quickly able to develop this valuable integration and now it’s in the hands of our clients for adoption. This is another great example of how our commerce platform can be easily extended to meet the demands of today’s consumers.”

StrongMail

Email marketing provider StrongMail added Pinterest as an additional sharing channel to its StrongMail Influencer word-of-mouth customer acquisition solution, which allows marketers to expand their reach by motivating brand advocates to share content via Facebook, Twitter, email and now, Pinterest. By allowing customers to share content via Pinterest, marketers have the ability to track what colors, shapes and words customers are attracted to, and are more likely to share (or purchase).

"Pinterest opens up a promising new word-of-mouth marketing channel for brands to connect with consumers, and StrongMail Influencer fully leverages its capabilities to maximize customer acquisition," says Joerg Habermeier, Senior Director of Social Media Product Development, StrongMail. "When it comes to building a healthy and profitable customer base, there is nothing more powerful than word-of-mouth referral, and that is exactly what Influencer is designed to do best."

WordPress Plugin for Social Commerce from Demandware

Administrator — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:30:00 GMT

Emerging from its experimental research lab, SaaS e-commerce solution provider Demandware has released a new WordPress plugin that provides retailers with a way to bring some social into the world of commerce.

Powered by Demandware’s Open Commerce APIs, the plugin allows retailers to tag text and images with product details from the Demadware Commerce platform and bring the shopping experience into the blog experience. When users hover over product names and images, consumers are served details about the product. The plug-in can be customized to meet brand design, and retails can even extend the app using the capabilities within Demandware’s customization environment.

“Blogging is a critical channel for building a stronger connection between the consumer and the brand,” says Jamus Driscoll, senior vice president of marketing for Demandware. “With Demandware’s new WordPress Plug-In, powered by our Open Commerce APIs, merchants can deliver the same vivid product descriptions and images found on its ecommerce site directly into its company blog to further connect with its most engaged consumers.”

The plugin is available now but only to Demandware clients for testing and implementation.

Demandware Deal Kicks Up Ecommerce Sales

Linc Wonham — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:41:00 GMT

Digital marketing agency Acquity Group has announced a new partnership with on-demand ecommerce solutions provider Demandware. The collaboration aims to empower retailers to deliver a higher-quality, customized online shopping experience for their customers.

Acquity Group’s client base will have access to Demandware’s ecommerce platform, which provides retailers with the merchandising flexibility to better serve the demands of their customers. Similarly, current and future Demandware clients can leverage Acquity Group’s award-winning digital marketing expertise to complement the platform’s technology.

“Our solution partners are extremely valuable, as they have specialized training to implement our technology in a way that drives the most business value for our clients,” says Demandware CEO Tom Ebling. “Acquity Group is a very well-respected leader in brand ecommerce and we look forward to growing our relationship from here.”

The new alliance could prove to be an important one for retailers looking to enhance their online presence. Boot Barn – the world’s largest western wear retailer – has already seen positive results from the partnership.

Boot Barn turned to Acquity Group to impact growth, customer satisfaction, user experience and brand recognition. In combination with Demandware’s ecommerce platform, Boot Barn emerged with a completely rebranded digital presence and new design for Bootbarn.com. The initiative has thus far won an Interactive Media Award and a Horizon Interactive Award for Boot Barn.

Demandware Expands Cloud Strategy with DCM

Linc Wonham — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:30:00 GMT

E-commerce software as a service (SaaS) solutions provider Demandware has announced Digital Commerce Management (DCM), the next generation of the company’s open cloud strategy to manage all digital interactions between brands and consumers.

DCM enables retailers to design, build, manage and deliver highly branded consumer experiences into any Web-enabled channel, application and device. The strategy is delivered entirely in the cloud, which removes the burden of infrastructure maintenance and redirects retailer and branded manufacturer resources toward brand engagement, innovation and more profitable operations.

Eighty-seven percent of retailers surveyed by Forrester Consulting acknowledged they have to improve their existing multi-channel capabilities to serve the new and digital consumer. DCM details a clear path forward for retailers, and is a public declaration of Demandware’s past and future vision for its product, solutions, services and partner ecosystem strategy.

Over the past 18 months, Demandware has worked toward its DCM vision by making portfolio enhancements that include the following:

• Open Commerce APIs: Cross-channel integration to syndicate and synchronize critical commerce information such as promotion, price, order, customer record, content and images to anywhere consumers and store associates interact with web-enabled devices.

• Commerce Center: The new application enables merchants to manage commerce via an intuitive user interface and seamless workflow that provides single view into digital operations across channels.

• Product Content Management: Retailers operationalize data directly within the Demandware Commerce platform to source, manage and control product information across digital media -- within the context of user experience versus back office application.

• LINK Partner Ecosystem: More than one hundred pre-integrated technology and certified solution partners extend capabilities of the Demandware platform to cover all direct-to-consumer requirements.

• Cloud Infrastructure: The extension of the global network to support the growing number of international operations by continually scaling its cloud infrastructure.

“Retailer success in this dynamic consumer environment is predicated on technology. And we heard loud and clear that retailers expect commerce technology providers to do a better job solving business problems, delivering better products, and accelerating innovation,” says Tom Ebling, CEO of Demandware. “Our company was built on openness, innovation and mutual success. DCM is not only a strategic response to the industry’s challenge, but transparency regarding the vision for our portfolio.”