Here is a list of product releases and updates for late June from companies that offer services to online merchants. There are updates on website builders, logistics tools, free product listings, predictive artificial intelligence, product recommendations, social commerce, and shoppable videos.
Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com.
Ecommerce Product Releases
Wix launches extended ecommerce. Wix, a website creation platform, has announced the launch of an ecommerce offering. The new service provides merchants and brands features such as customizable branded storefronts and carts, multichannel sales, drop shipping, native payment processing with Wix Payments, analytics and report creation, shipping and fulfillment capabilities, and more. The new offering can be enhanced with Ascend by Wix, a customer management and marketing suite, and Corvid by Wix, a web development platform.
Wix eCommerce
Google places free product listings to its main Search results. Google recently announced that product results on the Google Shopping tab in the U.S. would consist primarily of free listings. Now Google is bringing free listings to the main U.S. search results page. Initially, free listings on Google Search will appear in a product knowledge panel that shows buying options for a particular item. Starting this summer, these listings will be free. Google is rolling this out in the U.S., first on mobile, followed later by desktop. Shopping ads will appear separately at the top of the page, marked similarly to Google’s other ad units.
Product Recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei now integrates with Magento Page Builder. Adobe has announced that Product Recommendations for Magento Commerce has been integrated with Magento’s content creation tool, Page Builder. Magento merchants can now drag and drop Sensei-powered recommendation units on any position within content that’s authored in Page Builder. Product Recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei allows merchants to deploy automated and intelligent recommendations across storefronts to help shoppers discover new, relevant products.
Instagram’s new commerce eligibility requirements help businesses and creators sell products. Instagram has announced new commerce eligibility requirements that expand access to Instagram Shopping to more types of businesses, including creators, to connect with shoppers and sell their merchandise on Instagram. Any eligible business or creator account with at least one product can use shopping tags to drive people to their website to make a purchase. U.S. businesses that are part of the checkout test on Instagram can drive people to purchase directly in the app. The updated requirements go into effect on July 9 in all countries where Instagram Shopping is supported.
Instagram Shopping
YouTube launches shoppable ad format. YouTube is making it easier to inspire consumers to take action on YouTube with services that make video more shoppable, use automation to drive conversions, and help you better understand attribution. To get started, sync your Google Merchant Center feed to your video ads, and visually expand your call-to-action button with the best-sellers you want to feature, to drive traffic. YouTube is also announcing video action campaigns to automatically bring video ads to the YouTube home feed, watch pages, and Google video partners — all within one campaign.
Pattern89 announces Predict — AI that simulates campaign results before launch. Pattern89, an artificial intelligence marketing platform, announces an alternative to A/B testing with Pattern89 Predict, which simulates creative elements to predict a brand’s top-performing ad combinations. Predict unlocks creative insights for over 2,900 ad dimensions, including image direction, video direction, copywriting, and ad formatting. Pattern89 Predict cross-analyzes a brand’s historic advertiser data against social media advertising data points to surface statistically significant insights in minutes.
BigCommerce unveils Page Builder to create next-generation shopping experiences. BigCommerce, the SaaS commerce platform, has announced the release of Page Builder, a drag-and-drop design tool to build differentiated shopping experiences across online storefronts. Page Builder simplifies the ability to build and edit pages with drag-and-drop blocks of content called widgets, including individual products, carousels, text blocks, branded images and video, promotional banners, buy buttons, custom HTML, and more.
BigCommerce Page Builder
FarEye partners with Blue Yonder to enhance logistics. FarEye, a predictive logistics SaaS platform, has announced a partnership with Blue Yonder, a digital fulfillment platform provider. The partnership will help global enterprises drive interoperability between legacy infrastructure and modern supply chain and logistics tools. The joint capabilities of both organizations will bring predictive and real-time visibility to supply chains across manufacturing, retail distribution, logistics, and ecommerce. The joint service can be accessed through Blue Yonder’s Luminate Platform.
AfterShip makes shipping software free to support ecommerce shipping needs. AfterShip, a shipping and tracking platform for online retailers, is making Postmen, its ecommerce shipping API, free with no limit on shipping volumes. Postmen is a scalable shipping platform that allows ecommerce companies to automate and optimize their shipping processes with 60 couriers worldwide. With Postmen, merchants can quickly choose the best shipping and courier options and estimate delivery times and costs for each courier.
Walmart opens its ecommerce marketplace to Shopify merchants. Walmart is partnering with Shopify, opening the Walmart Marketplace to Shopify’s sellers. The integration will allow approved Shopify sellers to seamlessly list their items on Walmart.com, which gives Walmart customers access to a broader assortment. Walmart expects to add 1,200 Shopify sellers this year.
Walmart Marketplace
