Here is a list of product releases and updates for mid-January from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on sponsored search ads, social networking tools, customer experience management, and artificial intelligence.
Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.
Ecommerce Product Releases
Walmart Media Group expands sponsored search. Walmart Media Group has launched the Walmart Advertising Partners program to expand advertisers’ direct access to their Sponsored Products campaigns on the Walmart marketplace, giving them more transparency and control. Brands will now be able to increase visibility with Walmart.com’s sizable audience of shoppers and ensure delivery of the right sponsored ad experience.
Walmart Media Group
Splitit joins Magento Technology Partner Program. Splitit, a monthly installment payment service, has joined the Magento Technology Partner program. The Splitit extension for Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce enables merchants to offer their customers Splitit’s installment payments for online purchases with an existing credit card, splitting the cost into interest and fee-free monthly payments. After downloading the extension, Magento merchants can go live with the Splitit payment method via a drop-down menu in the Magento admin.
Twitter unveils option to limit replies. At a Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Twitter unveiled a new setting to the compose screen for conversation types — Global, Group, Panel, and Statement — which will give users the option to limit the spread of their tweets, including replies. Another feature coming is a specific conversation view, including threading, to put all of a conversation on one screen.
DoubleVerify launches Authentic Performance to ensure digital ad effectiveness. DoubleVerify, a software platform for digital media measurement, data, and analytics, has announced the launch of Authentic Performance, which will provide predictive data to drive campaign performance, from the impact of an ad’s presentation to key dimensions of consumer engagement. Authentic Performance can analyze over 50 data points on exposure and engagement in real-time.
DoubleVerify
Spotify announces streaming ad insertion for podcasts. At CES in Las Vegas, Spotify has unveiled Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI), its new, proprietary podcast ad technology for Spotify Podcast Ads. The technology makes critical data (ad impressions, frequency, reach, and anonymized age, gender, and device type) available to podcasters and advertisers. SAI aims to improve the ad experience via better targeting and data. At launch, Spotify’s SAI technology will be available only to its original and exclusive shows.
PlumSlice Labs announces product platform for brands and retailers. PlumSlice Labs has announced the PlumSlice Product Platform to bridge complex business processes around the product lifecycle — providing consistency, real-time workflow and alerts, automation, analytics, and reporting. The platform combines Product Experience Management with enterprise-grade business-process workflow throughout the product lifecycle, providing speed to market, channel consistency, and brand integrity. Contact for pricing.
Adobe unveils new tools for customer experience management. Adobe has introduced tools in Adobe Experience Cloud to help retailers with customer experience management across physical and digital storefronts. Sensei, Adobe’s AI technology, lets retailers choose personalized product recommendations through Adobe Target and prioritize customer experience data through Adobe Analytics. Retailers can control elements of display ads with a new self-serve platform, Adobe Advertising Cloud Creative. The new progressive web applications studio in Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Experience Cloud, lets merchants and developers build online stores with engaging app-like experiences. Adobe Campaign enables retailers to embed personalized product lists into promotional emails, eliminating the need for coding.
Adobe Experience Platform
Salesforce announces new tools to boost developer experience on Commerce Cloud. Salesforce announced at the National Retail Federation conference new developer tools to make it easier to build applications on top of Commerce Cloud as a headless system. The new enhanced API will take advantage of features built into the Commerce Cloud platform — such as Salesforce’s AI platform Einstein to add intelligent functionality elements — without having to build them from scratch. Salesforce is also using integration technology to help developers connect ecommerce sites to other systems, such as financial platforms and product management tools. The company also announced a new Commerce Cloud Development Center to access a community of developers who can discuss and share solutions, an SDK with code samples, and education resources.
Facebook and eBay to combat trading in fake reviews. Facebook and eBay have signed agreements to better identify, investigate, and respond to fake and misleading reviews. As part of this, Facebook has agreed to introduce more robust systems to detect and remove such content. eBay has improved its existing filters to better identify and block listings for the sale or trade of online reviews. In response to the Competition and Markets Authority (a U.K. government department) highlighting concerns about fake and misleading reviews in the summer, Facebook has removed 188 groups and disabled 24 user accounts. eBay has permanently banned 140 users.
Visa to acquire Plaid. Visa has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Plaid, a service that makes it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to their apps securely. Plaid’s products enable consumers to share their financial information with thousands of apps and services such as Acorns, Betterment, Chime, TransferWise, and Venmo. Visa will pay $5.3 billion to acquire Plaid.
Plaid
