Commerce Summit 2017 reveals the mega-trends and technologies set to make or break SMB retail

Transcription

1 Commerce Summit 2017 reveals the mega-trends and technologies set to make or break SMB retail - Over 400 attendees in Hamburg enjoy deep dive into SMB ecommerce - Global experts covered topics including cognitive digital business, micro-services, cross border ecommerce, psychology of pricing, fraud management, AI and machine-learning. Hamburg, 25 September 2017 Commerce Summit 2017, hosted by epages ( an innovation leader for online shop software, commenced in Hamburg 21 & 22 September. A packed Curio-Haus enjoyed discussion of cutting edge and disruptive trends, technologies and innovations in the SMB retail space. The conference programme, including tracks for Strategy, Technology and Merchant areas, attracted strategic thinkers from all aspects of the online retail spectrum - exploring evolving technologies, shopping trends, marketing and social shifts. The event was kicked off with an analysis of just how far small business retailing has progressed since the last Summit in Wilfried Beeck, CEO epages, showed how the modern consumer journey from search to social, brand experience and customer management now challenges and empowers SMBs in equal measure. New consumer devices and touchpoints mean that shopping is truly everywhere. Future-proofing SMB merchants Announced at Summit, epages and 1&1 partnered to launch a new range of cloud-driven 1&1 eshops, based on next generation epages Now software. Available first in 6 countries, the shop packages specifically address the key modern requirements for rapid ecommerce success. With over 50 million small companies in Europe and North America alone, Robert Hoffmann, CEO 1&1 Internet, delivered a rousing keynote on the huge untapped opportunity and responsibility the industry shares to inspire, equip and educate SMBs. "We must support SMBs well in their big decisions of selecting the right business applications. epages and 1&1 is a great example of best of breed technology partnership". The transformational power of mcommerce was further underlined by ecommerce pioneer and CEO NewStore Stephan Schambach, who summarizes, "Retail needs a makeover. Millennials get their brand inspiration via mobile devices seamless integration of mobile and in-store is absolutely needed. Multichannel should mean truly friction-less selling across channels".

2 High Tech empowers and challenges equally The most high tech innovations such as artificial intelligence, cognitive business and machine learning are already making marks on SMB retailing. There was a consensus at Summit that AI is now being used to disrupt and transform business processes a trend that could be a powerful asset for SMBs with limited resources. Gabriel Vizzard and David Hogg from IBM Watson reported how Watson is expected to touch 1 billion people this year. AI is coming closer to the reach of SMB owners for live interactions with customers and powerful personalization. In the coming years, AI will offer SMB retailers deeper learning and the freedom to focus more resources on their core challenges. Renowned futurist Theo Priestley concurred with this trend, observing how China is the region progressing AI for SMBs most right now. He advises SMBs, Think about the future of your business in terms of connecting different types of intelligence. It's time to really know your customers contextually. Tech has removed the barriers of size, now join networks and create experiences. As well as shaping new consumer touchpoints, AI is on the way to becoming a strong support with back-office ecommerce processes with epages demonstrating how Alexa can assist merchants with tasks like managing open orders and administering shipping. SMBs must target for niches, fulfil like a multi-national Ann-Kristin Hamke from Statista showed how mobile shopping remains the biggest game changer, with same day delivery, virtual wardrobe and social commerce gaining pace as important trends. The digital platforms that most thrive succeed in decentralizing consumer touchpoints and ensuring simplicity with a plug & play ecosystem. Achieving success from marketplaces remains mission critical for most retailers. Thennarasu Ponnusamy, Principal Engineer at ebay, offered new strategic advice on how a cost per sale model can maximize SMB sales and ad investments. SMBs can and should borrow from enterprise retail techniques and often have the agility to gain the best impacts. For example, consumer psychology is more relevant than ever, with Internet Psychologist Graham Jones using the Sex & Shopping adage to prove how unconscious consumer preferences and impulses can be harnessed by SMBs. "Shoppers are making decisions before they even know consciously what they're looking at", he advises. The use of pricing psychology also offers great effects according to Professor David Loschelder, Leuphana University, who delivered research on pricing models and what degree of choice will optimize consumer confidence. For example, When to ask for payment information in customer journey remains a critical science too soon or too late can wreck confidence.

3 Interactive merchant advice A unique and thriving aspect of Commerce Summit was the live workshop theatre tackling practical topics for SMB retail success. Speakers on marketplace and price comparison strategies included Torben Schwanke from ebay, and Erik Meierhoff from Idealo. Shop usability is nowadays a success factor as well as a concern, with a session from Johannes Altmann from Shoplupe. The opportunity to use machine learning to recognize behavourial patterns in shops was explored by Olaf Brandt from etracker, proving that the simple linking of web analytics data to programmatic advertising can greatly optimize sales conversions for SMBs. Best practice payment options were discussed by Markus Fuchs from PayPal, Marcus Lilienthal from Ingenico and PAYONE founder Jan Kanieß. Opportunities for merchants to leverage apps and integrations were showcased by etrusted, Sendcloud, and rankingcoach. With social media now shaping revenues as well as branding and communication, Teja Töpfer, from Facelift, offered merchants up to date case studies and the latest practical tips. Developing ecommerce for 2030 The Technology track of Commerce Summit attracted developers and technologists from across the ecommerce ecosystem. There was consensus that cloud-based ecommerce with an API approach offers the best possible catalyst for SMBs to compete online. Workshops explored both single micro and wider macro architecture with communication patterns, APIs, operational requirements and guidelines covered. Coding workshops included topics such as OAuth 2.0 and webhooks. Harm Behrens, CTO epages, explained, Microservices allow us to try out and quickly bring new innovation to our merchants, without putting proven functionality at risk. An API approach means greater customization for niche retailers whilst the platform itself can remain focused on optimizing the key competencies. Ecommerce platforms face the challenge to handle modern consumer interfaces such as voice devices and virtual reality applications. Highlights included a demo of online shopping using Microsoft HoloLens and its underlying technology, courtesy of Luis Gomes of commercetools. Beeck adds, As well as being highly enjoyable, our largest Commerce Summit to date proved the importance of collaboration it s through being able to come together, discuss and measure progress and potentials within each facet of commerce that we can work best with SMBs to drive their use of technology and future success. Sponsors of Commerce Summit included Aruba Cloud, Amazon Pay, Open-Xchange, CM4all, Ingenico epayments, flour.io, PayPal, Shoplupe,.SHOP, SendCloud, etracker, Händlerbund and TrustedShops.

4 Press contact Richard Stevenson Head of Corporate Communications epages Software Inc. About epages epages ( is a global leader for online shop software. 140,000 companies in 75 countries run professional online shops based on epages products; complete with up to 15 languages, search engine optimisation, individual design and optimised for tablets and smartphones. Thanks to regular updates, epages online shops are always up-to-date with the latest ecommerce trends. The company collaborates with more than 80 technology partners such as online marketplaces, comparison shopping websites, payment providers and ERP vendors. Sales partners are hosting providers as well as logistics, telecommunications, and yellow pages companies who provide best of breed ecommerce solutions to their SMB customer base. Both epages partners and customers benefit from over 20 years of experience. The company headquarters is in Hamburg with additional subsidiaries in London, Barcelona and New York.

5 epages and 1&1 collaborate to launch next generation eshop packages internationally - Innovative and flexible shops engineered to deliver SMBs rapid retail success - epages builds microservices architecture to transform capabilities for SMB retailers Hamburg, 21 September 2017 epages ( an innovation leader for online shop software, and 1&1 ( one of the world s leading web hosting providers, today unveiled a new range of 1&1 eshop packages, powered by epages cloud-driven ecommerce platform. Available now in six markets across Europe and the Americas, the shop packages deliver SMBs everything they need for retail success, and are strongly positioned to satisfy the enormous demand for rapid ecommerce success. Online shopping continues to surge globally, with total online shopping revenues worldwide now amounting to $2.3 trillion, and set to rise to $4.5 trillion by 2021 (Statista). An important proportion of this growth is the rise of SMB retailers, as millions of companies optimize and evolve with transactional websites. 1&1 is the first multi-national provider to offer shop packages based upon a new software from epages called epages Now. The cloud-based solution is designed to deliver accelerated ecommerce success via rapid and easy deployment, powerful shop functionality, and compelling, fully-responsive shop designs. The new 1&1 shop range is as of now available in 6 countries Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, United States, and Canada. Italy and Mexico will follow within the next weeks. The shops further enhance the diverse range of innovative services that 1&1 delivers to millions of SMBs to help them compete and thrive online. The feature-set uniquely addresses both modern shopper demands across sales channels, and also merchants needs for efficiency and growth. Robert Hoffmann, CEO 1&1 Internet, comments, Business success in the digital world is above all driven by speed and flexibility thus SMBs must constantly adapt their business according to the high expectations of their customers in order to remain competitive. This applies especially to the ecommerce sector. With our revised eshop portfolio, we offer ecommerce for everyone. Using the 1&1 eshop based on epages techology, SMBs can sell fast and easily on all channels. At the same time, they can concentrate on their core business we will take care of the rest. epages CEO, Wilfried Beeck, adds Our next generation eshop technology is perfect for startups and ambitious online retailers who are pressed for time and require an all-inclusive solution that is sleek

6 and easy to use. Combined with 1&1 s excellent service and support it s a strong proposition for many use cases. epages makes building an online store speedier and more enjoyable than ever. Users select from a number of attractive layouts, and edit with a drag-and-drop design editor meaning rapid set up of a compelling, modern shop that is fully responsive for all devices. Elements can be added to pages rapidly using blocks, saving merchants time every day. The powerful commerce cockpit equips SMBs to create product content once in a central location and sell it across multiple sales channels, such as marketplaces or comparison shopping engines fully synchronized and inventoried. Reliability, security and speed are guaranteed via 1&1 s industryleading hosting and high-speed infrastructure. Next generation ecommerce built today Today at Commerce Summit in Hamburg, epages set out its technical direction and roadmap for its software. The company s next generation commerce software leverages a microservices based architecture, meaning greatly enhanced performance and deployment of new functionalities for merchants. The new development environment means epages users will benefit from many highly flexible, modular services accessed via a super responsive back-end. Developers create and integrate many new features for epages users, that synchronize seamlessly with systems such as accounting or ERP software. In practical terms, microservices means epages shops will be future proof by remaining agile, on-trend with consumer needs and more competitive online. Beeck added, Our investment in a microservices architecture with an API-first approach comprises a transformational change not only for us as a platform provider, but for the thousands of SMBs whose online success we share. Press contact Richard Stevenson Head of Corporate Communications epages Software Inc. press@epages.com About epages epages ( is a global leader for online shop software. 140,000 companies in 75 countries run professional online shops based on epages products; complete with up to 15 languages, search engine optimisation, individual design and optimised for tablets and smartphones.

7 Thanks to regular updates, epages online shops are always up-to-date with the latest ecommerce trends. The company collaborates with more than 80 technology partners such as online marketplaces, comparison shopping websites, payment providers and ERP vendors. Sales partners are hosting providers as well as logistics, telecommunications, and yellow pages companies who provide best of breed ecommerce solutions to their SMB customer base. Both epages partners and customers benefit from over 20 years of experience. The company headquarters is in Hamburg with additional subsidiaries in London, Barcelona and New York.

8 High-profile speakers join SMB retail event Commerce Summit 2017, Hamburg - Experts from Google, ebay, PayPal, IBM Watson and 1&1 speak at Curio-Haus, Hamburg, 21 & 22 September - epages to unveil next generation software for SMB ecommerce Hamburg, 31 August, 2017 epages ( a leading international provider of online shop software, today revealed further details of the speaker line-up for the Commerce Summit 2017, an event shaping-up to become Europe s leading small business ecommerce conference. On Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd September the conference will deliver attendees strategic insights, as well as actionable, practical advice for SMBs. Commerce Summit 2017 will bring together a community of leading experts and retailers to share the cutting edge and disruptive trends, technologies and innovations in the online retail space. The conference programme (across English and German languages) includes educational tracks for Strategy, Technology and Merchant areas. The event has attracted strategic thinkers from all aspects of the online retail spectrum - exploring the evolving technologies, to shopping trends, marketing and social shifts. The Summit will hear from expert speakers from around the world. Below are extracts from topics which they will explore within the agenda: Retailers have seen a huge increase in mobile traffic, yet conversion rates for many remain low. This means mobile has much untapped potential for retailers, large and small. Learning how and why to capitalize on the m-commerce revolution is now critical even to SMB success, Stephan Schambach, Ecommerce Pioneer & Founder of Intershop, Demandware and NewStore The principle survival of the fittest not only applies in nature but also in the digital environment. SMBs need to rethink their business and constantly adapt it to the high expectations of their customers. To achieve this, they need a strong partner that ensures a suitable technical environment SMBs can thus concentrate on their core business and assert themselves in the competition, Robert Hoffmann, CEO 1&1 Internet Big tech shifts are happening from artificial intelligence, chatbots, voice recognition, big data, micro services etc. But how can small retailers get a piece of the action? Which of these innovations hold the greatest promise for SMBs let s explore the reality of tomorrow, Theo Priestley, renowned Futurist and Technology Evangelist SMB retailers can profit greatly from an understanding of the online behaviour of its customers and potential clients. Every retailer today should think about the connections and

9 emotional transactions they can implement to help achieve their goals, Graham Jones, Internet Psychologist Online identity and visibility are key considerations for retail success. There is clearly nothing worse than having a beautiful online shop that struggles to reach its audience. Let s explore what smaller retailers must do to ensure they stand out confidently in today s crowded Internet, Hiro Tsukahara, CEO of GMO Registry, Japan. For many SMBs, the missing link to success is the pricing strategy for their goods and services. An understanding of the science of pricing can equip entrepreneurs with a confidence and clarity to achieve pricing sweet-spots and increase profit margins in their target markets, David Loschelder, Professor at Leuphana University Further high-profile additions to the Strategy track include Niklaus Waser, Head of IBM s Watson Internet of Things division, Michael Jäschke, Head of Channel Sales DACH at Google Marketing Solutions, and Thennarasu Ponnusamy, Senior Principal Engineer at ebay. epages CEO Wilfried Beeck comments, We received a strong response since announcing Commerce Summit There s clearly a need for an event that delivers a deep dive into the vast possibilities for ambitious SMB retailers. We look forward to a packed agenda of great speakers, top insights and fun interactions. Next generation epages software At the event, epages will unveil the next generation of its popular cloud-driven ecommerce software. Over 140,000 online merchants worldwide are using the epages platform. The company will set out both its technical direction and roadmap for its software and offer hands-on demonstrations to attendees. The Summit s Technology track, to be attended by developers, technicians and product managers, will explore the direction of development for ecommerce, and what impacts and opportunities elements such as micro-services architecture and cloud ecosystems offer. A wealth of merchant advice The Commerce Summit includes a unique workshop series (in German language) tackling key areas for SMB retail success. Speakers on marketplace and price comparison strategies include Torben Schwanke from ebay, and Erik Meierhoff from Idealo. Usability is a key concern, with a session from Johannes Altmann from Shoplupe. Machine learning will be explored by Olaf Brandt from etracker. Best practice payment options will be discussed by Markus Fuchs from PayPal, Marcus Lilienthal from Ingenico and PAYONE founder Jan Kanieß. Opportunities for merchants to leverage apps and integrations will be discussed by industry figures including Bastian Dahm from etrusted, Andreas Krause from Sendcloud, and Daniel Wette from rankingcoach.

10 Sponsors of Commerce Summit include Aruba Cloud, Amazon Pay, Open-Xchange, CM4all, Ingenico epayments, flour.io, PayPal, Shoplupe,.SHOP, SendCloud, etracker, Händlerbund and TrustedShops Furthermore, the event is supported by the media partners OnlineHaendlerNews.de, EcommerceNews.eu, Tamebay.com, Start Your Business Magazine, WHIR.com and imiller PR. Full details of the conference programme can be found at and tickets can be purchased at Press contacts Richard Stevenson Head of Corporate Communications epages Software Ltd. About epages epages ( is an innovation leader for online shop software. 140,000 merchants in 75 countries run professional cloud-driven online shops based on epages solutions; complete with up to 15 languages, search engine optimisation, individual design and full optimisation for mobile devices. Benefiting from software-as-a-service, epages online shops are always up-to-date with the latest ecommerce trends. The company collaborates with 80+ technology partners including the most important online marketplaces, payment and logistics companies, and ERP vendors. Sales partners who resell epages include hosting and cloud providers as well as logistics, telecoms, and yellow pages companies. The company is headquartered in Hamburg with additional subsidiaries in New York, London and Barcelona.

11 epages and CM4all offer solution for easy on-boarding of website customers into ecommerce - Modern website builder and powerful ecommerce combined - Providers can boost ARPU via upgrade options Rust, Germany, 28 March, 2017 epages ( a leading international provider of online shop software, and CM4all ( an innovation leading website builder for the hosting industry, today debuted a new fully integrated solution for both professional web presence and seamless omnichannel ecommerce. This latest version of CM4all Sites will be offered to important web hosting, cloud and telco providers worldwide who seek access to lucrative ecommerce customers. The global ecommerce market continues to surge, with European online retail sales expected to hit 250bn in While some hosting providers still attempt to cover ecommerce requirements with basic plug-ins or lite extentions to web builders, data shows that those that fully enable ambitious SMBs online receive greatly enhanced revenues, retention and customer values in return. Born from a collaboration announced in 2016, CM4all Sites one of the world s most popular web builders and CMS platforms is now offered with a deep native integration of epages shop functionality, with only a single sign-up required. As a result, hosting companies will be better equipped to facilitate the huge demand for rapid and effective omnichannel retail from a small scale website. CM4all expects its OEM partner network to on-board thousands of existing website customers into ecommerce activity in the coming years. epages CEO Wilfried Beeck, said, As SMBs look to digitize their business processes, hosting providers are seeing an increasing demand from existing clients and new retailers for ecommerce solutions. With the CM4all/ePages integration, providers can now offer a seamless portfolio from easy to set up websites to a full-blown ecommerce cockpit. With the co-engineering of CM4all and epages, hosting companies, ISPs and cloud service providers can now offer a complete, robust and future-proof platform for online success. End users benefit from constantly evolving innovations being added across website design and navigation, product search, payments and shipping, online marketing and communications. The integration of epages is the first of its type for CM4all Sites, and results in a perfect feature set for the market attractive sector-specific design templates, floating shopping cart that fits seamlessly into an existing website, and a high performance check-out. Via its partnerships with 80+ tech partners, epages ensures the best shipping and payment options, most important marketplaces, up to 15 languages, App Store and full SEO optimization.

12 The key to successful ecommerce is an attractive and functional website combined with a sophisticated online shop. CM4all and epages are both driven to continually update their products for always state-of-the-art solutions and an optimal user experience, explains CM4all CTO Cornel Schnietz. Recently, CM4all released a revised editor for its core CM4all Sites product with the aim of creating a more intuitive and flexible site building experience. The enhancement comes with a great selection of features for both desktop and mobile editors along with a variety of new design themes. Both CM4all and epages are similarly flexible and experienced in meeting the complex demands of OEMs. Furthermore, CM4all s solutions can be deeply customized to target specific sector audiences. Providers can also boost their ARPU via a range of upgrade options. Both companies are co-presenting the latest features of CM4all Sites for hosting and cloud industry participants during the WHD.global tradeshow in Rust, Germany, (27-31 March, 2017) with CM4all located at booth #A3, and epages located at booth #G36. Press contacts Richard Stevenson Head of Corporate Communications epages Software Ltd (0) press@epages.com Dr. Ben Birkhofer Press Contact Content Management AG 0049 (0) press@cm4all.com About epages epages ( is the largest independent provider of online shop software in Europe based on license revenue. 140,000 companies in 75 countries run professional online shops based on epages products; complete with up to 15 languages, search engine optimisation, individual design and optimised for tablets and smartphones. Thanks to regular updates, epages online shops are always up-to-date with the latest ecommerce trends. The company collaborates with more than 80 technology partners such as online marketplaces, comparison shopping websites, payment providers and ERP vendors. Sales partners are hosting providers as well as logistics, telecommunications, and yellow pages companies who provide best of breed ecommerce solutions to their SMB customer base. Both epages partners and customers benefit from over 20 years of experience. The company headquarters is in Hamburg with additional subsidiaries in London, Barcelona and New York.

13 About CM4all Robert Schovenberg and Cornel Schnietz founded Content Management AG (CM-AG) in Headquartered in Cologne, Germany, CM-AG develops and distributes software and infrastructure solutions based on CM4all s highly scalable technology, which enables the creation, maintenance, and easy updating of fully-responsive SMB and consumer websites. CM4all s highly scalable technology is operated in an ASP model. The company's core products are the website building solutions CM4all Sites and CM4all WebsiteCreator, which are adapted for and licensed to individual OEM partners and are available in 25+ languages. With over three million paying customers worldwide, CM4all is a leading developer of web-based applications for the Internet. CM4all software is currently being distributed worldwide via leading telcos, MSOs, ISPs, and web hosting companies, like 1&1 Internet AG, Arsys Internet S.L., Deutsche Telekom AG, Endurance International Group Inc., Hostpoint AG, Hostway Corporation, NTT Communications, Strato AG, Universo Online S.A., Unitymedia GmbH, and Verio Inc. For more information please visit