In order to survive in today’s world of rapid-fire commerce, you either need to be an e-commerce business or you need to be working with one. Even after skyrocketing in 2020, e-commerce sales are projected to grow another 18% to 23% year-over-year in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation.
Unsurprisingly, one of the United States’ largest corporations is well aware of this. Google Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alphabet, is partnering with e-commerce-as-a-service (ECaaS) company Cart.com to provide unified analytics to its suite of over 2,500 brands, Cart.com announced. The two companies will also work to streamline development of Cart.com’s machine learning and AI technologies.
“Google Cloud was an obvious choice for us due to their innovation in these spaces,” said Chase Zieman, Cart.com’s chief data science officer. “By working with the best minds at Google we’ll be able to bring innovative products to market even faster. Our commitment to the fluid integration and authentic harmonization of data is one of the most strategic and organic building blocks for a brand. This foundation will unlock unparalleled advancements in the prescriptive automation of commerce everywhere.”
Cart.com’s end-to-end e-commerce solution aggregates data across all of a company’s functions into one simple interface. The service gathers data from commerce, marketing, technology, fulfillment capabilities and other sources and fuses them together, which the company said “empowers brands to drive better decisions and accelerate growth through data automation.”
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Working with Google Cloud, Cart.com said it will give brands the intelligence they need to adjust procurement spending, tweak promotional campaigns or optimize revenue by accelerating the “speed-to-value” of their data. Brands currently on the company’s platform can access unified analytics across functions including warehouse operations, storefront volume and digital campaigns – wrapping all of those data sources into one can help them identify trends in sales, inventory, returns and more.
“Brands have a huge opportunity to provide personalized e-commerce experiences for their customers by better leveraging their data,” said Jim Anderson, managing director at Google Cloud and a member of the GTM (go to market) Advisory Board at CapitalG, Alphabet’s private equity firm. “Together, we’re empowering brands with technologies and services that unlock growth.”
Additionally, Cart.com said in the announcement Friday that the collaboration will help it to overhaul its machine learning and AI capabilities. The companies are aiming to provide better suggestions to shoppers with fluctuating needs. At the same time, they hope to generate better profit-driving recommendations for brands, with near-zero downtime.
Founded in September 2020, Cart.com began ramping up its end-to-end capabilities in July with the acquisition of full-service 3PL provider Sauceda Industries. In just over a year since its inception, the company has raised more than $140 million in funding, including a Series B round of $98 million from investors including PayPal Ventures, Discover Financial, Robinhood and even Uber.
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