Start-up watch – e-commerce

For this edition of Global Intelligence magazine we looked at four e-commerce businesses helping big brands to experiment with entirely new ways to sell online

Duel
Brands that use poor-quality product shots that fail to show items in context tend to have low conversion rates for e-commerce. Duel’s AI-assisted ‘user generated content management system’ helps brands to capture and collate high-quality photographic submissions from real customers. In this way, brands can build a shoppable archive of UGC: an inspiring and informative way to acquire new shoppers and focus them on making a purchase.

SoPost

With such a focus placed on ‘brand storytelling’ it‘s easy to forget that no single medium can match a real product for persuasiveness – yet in this digital age, what options exist for putting product in hand (aside from hiring an  experiential agency)? Enter SoPost, whose digital-first approach to targeted product sampling offers end-to-end fulfilment of sampling campaigns using the latest in addressable media, with inbuilt social referral features, and a feedback loop for post-usage research, all at a guaranteed cost per sample.

Formisimo + NUDGR
On average 67% of people who start typing in an online checkout don’t complete the process. Formisimo’s advanced platform for form analytics provides unparalleled insight into underlying usability and conversion problems with online forms and checkouts, and gives clear recommendations for improvements. Their newest product uses deep learning to predict basket abandonment, and triggers relevant counter-offers directly on the page.

GoInStore
Online retail is fantastic for seeking out that perfect purchase, but nothing beats a real-life encounter in a physical retail environment, especially for high-consideration items (think automotive or white goods). This start-up offer a first-person shopping experience for online customers, delivered using mobile technology to stream live via webcam from the view point of an in-store sales person directly to a website visitor.

Please click here to download a copy of Global Intelligence magazine.