Tag: SHOPLINE

London – hedgehog lab, a global digital product consultancy, has announced strategic partnerships with the content management platform Contentful and the e-commerce platform SHOPLINE, to support customers in delivering on their digital experience aspirations.

The partnerships are part of hedgehog lab’s ambitious growth strategy, aimed at empowering enterprises to deliver exceptional digital products and services. By integrating hedgehog lab’s expertise in strategy, design, and engineering with Contentful’s cutting-edge content management capabilities and SHOPLINE’s leading commerce tools, these collaborations promise to enhance the digital experience for customers.

Contentful empowers teams to build digital experiences at scale. hedgehog lab’s recognition as a Silver Partner highlights its best-in-class implementations of the platform, encompassing content modeling, Contentful integration, change management, training, ongoing content services, and technology solution consulting.

hedgehog lab has successfully implemented content strategies and Contentful solutions for various clients, including Cynergy Bank. For Cynergy Bank, hedgehog lab developed a comprehensive strategy to enhance the company’s digital experience, featuring a web redesign and an omnichannel content refresh, along with the integration of Contentful.

Meanwhile, hedgehog lab has also chosen to partner with SHOPLINE, an e-commerce platform currently serving over half a million merchants globally. SHOPLINE provides cutting-edge omnichannel solutions across e-commerce, social media, and point-of-sale (POS), enabling rapid scaling of online and offline operations. The platform also offers top-tier technology integrations through partnerships with Meta, Google, and TikTok.

This partnership grants hedgehog lab full access to SHOPLINE’s cutting-edge tools and resources, enabling the development of applications tailored to the unique needs of eCommerce brands.

Daren Fitzgerald, chief commercial officer of hedgehog lab, said, “hedgehog lab has an impressive track record of leveraging partner relationships to create best-in-class solutions for our clients. Achieving Silver Partner status with Contentful is a recognition of our valued partnership and expertise in creating digital experiences that solve business problems and add value to the end customer. This is complemented by our new strategic partnership with SHOPLINE, which significantly strengthens our ability to deliver innovative and agile applications for our ambitious e-commerce clients.”

Meanwhile, Patrick Finn, global VP of alliances and partnerships at Contentful, shared, “Our partners are the innovation engine for many of the world’s leading brands. Partnering with hedgehog lab brings Contentful’s market-leading content platform to brands that are building demanding, cutting-edge digital experiences.”

Also speaking on the partnership, Deepak Anand, general manager for EMEA at SHOPLINE, said, “This is an exciting time for SHOPLINE as we continue our rapid EMEA expansion. hedgehog lab is a company we have admired for some time, and we’re thrilled to announce this partnership. With its established reputation for designing and building captivating digital experiences for top e-commerce brands, hedgehog lab is the perfect partner to help us grow and enhance our ecosystem.”

Singapore – SHOPLINE, the global smart commerce platform, has announced a regional partnership with buy now pay later platform Atome, allowing online businesses to accept Atome’s buy-now-pay-later function as a payment option.

With the new service, merchants in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan will be able to better cater their younger customers. The payment solution consists of three zero-interest instalments, including the first one at the point of purchase and two over time with no annual fees or service fees. It also translates to a higher conversion rate, order value and customer retention, especially for higher-priced products.

Joshua Qiao, General Manager, SHOPLINE Cross Border, said BNPL has taken off for a new generation of consumers and is expected to grow to US$1.2 Trillion in 2024. In the bid to optimise customer experiences, the partnership with Atome seeks to provide an effective digital experience that revolutionises the way their merchants serve their customers. Connecting payments to specific purchases over a period of time gives the power back to consumers as it changes the perception of debt and enables them to purchase big ticket items without the interest fees.

“The partnership with Atome offers the flexibility, transparency and seamless customer experience that resonates with younger consumers who are increasingly judicious with the debts that they take on, favouring BNPL options over credit card and other forms of payments. This is synonymous with SHOPLINE’s mission to continually offer best in class solutions for our merchants to build autonomous, powerful and thriving omnichannel brands,” Qiao said.

While BNPL is becoming more popular among all age groups, millennials and Gen Z consumers who appreciate the convenience of instalment payment option over traditional bank or credit card options have shown the highest growth in adoption. 

Meanwhile, Atome’s Regional Head of Strategic Partnership Jeremy Wong, commented, “More than ever, young consumers today want flexibility, transparency and a better, more personalised shopping and payment experience.”

Wong added, “Our regional partnership with SHOPLINE will support thousands of merchants across Greater China and Southeast Asia in enabling a superior, secure Buy Now, Pay Later checkout experience for consumers, both in-store and online. This in turn will improve customer conversion, increase average orders and repeat sales.” 

After launching in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, SHOPLINE plans to expand the strategic partnership with Atome later this year to include other Asian markets such as Indonesia. 

Singapore – Smart commerce platform SHOPLINE has announced its global expansion by establishing a headquarters in Singapore. The selection of Singapore as the new global headquarters for SHOPLINE was a unanimous decision among its senior leadership.

The company said that the expansion was strategically based on location and the connectivity of Singapore which makes it ideal for a global hub. Coupled with Singapore’s Government efforts in establishing a reliable and efficient infrastructure, as well as a conducive and pro-business environment.

In the coming months, SHOPLINE is expected to expand its global support and capabilities to bolster its existing 1600-strong R&D team by recruiting more diverse talent in Singapore. This aims to bump up the workforce in Singapore and bring the SHOPLINE solution to address broader e-Commerce verticals in the market, all while continuing to further collaborate with the Singapore Government to digitize the nation.

SHOPLINE’S goal is to build a successful partner ecosystem that merchants can leverage on, SHOPLINE has partnered with key global strategic partners including Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp), Tiktok and Google, and Payments and Fulfilments Partners including Paypal, Atome, Stripe, Ninja Van, HyperSKU and Kakaklo, in the bid to strengthen the platform capabilities of SHOPLINE to one that is truly seamless and omni-channel.

Joshua Qiao, general manager of SHOPLINE 2.0, said that the growing demands of business owners for a centralized e-Commerce system and the need to build their own database fueled SHOPLINE to innovate, differentiate and lead the digital disruption through their platform, unique positioning, deep understanding of what their merchants need and localization efforts.

“The future of e-commerce lies in SHOPLINE’s disruptive approach in offering a full-featured all-in-one retail solutions platform. In collaboration with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), SHOPLINE is humbled to be a pre-approved Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) vendor that enables merchants to enjoy up to 70% of subsidy from their annual subscription costs, sharing and contributing to the actualisation of the Singapore Government’s vision to digitalize the economy and create a smart nation,” Qiao said.

With an overwhelming response from Singaporean merchants and reputable businesses from a wide variety of industries, SHOPLINE is confident and geared for a successful official launch later this year.

Singapore – Due to the pandemic, many merchants have explored the benefits of social commerce features to extend their reach. And with this, the global smart-commerce platform, SHOPLINE, has launched a new month-long campaign that aims to educate and assist SMEs which are considering to enter the emerging social commerce space. 

Titled, ‘Retail Revolution: Three Easy Ways to Succeed in the New Retail’, the campaign will be running from 1 to 30 September 2021. It includes three free webinars for the public on 15, 22, and 29 September 2021 and benefits for both new SHOPLINE merchants and Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) members.

According to SHOPLINE, it has seen a rise in signups of over 46% across Asia and threefold growth in transactions via SHOPLINE Live. As consumer appetite increases for a more immediate, social, and engaging form of shopping, SHOPLINE aims to encourage retailers to integrate new kinds of purchase points such as live streaming into their existing channels. As consumers embrace ‘shoppertainment’ to bridge the omnichannel retail gap, SHOPLINE Live’s latest enhancements will enable merchants to conveniently sell and receive orders while live streaming and interact with consumers through live streaming tools such as live bidding, lucky draws, and concurrently sell their products on Facebook without leaving the stream.

Beyond live streaming, SHOPLINE also seeks to encourage retailers to invest resources in useful technology to help manage their multichannel approach to capture more sales and optimize their operations via logistics and digital marketing tools. For example, the recently upgraded digital marketing tool – Smart Ads System – is also Singapore’s first combination of AI with an e-commerce platform designed to manage Facebook Ads and Google Shopping Ads. Meanwhile, ONESHIP will be providing merchants with a centralized web-based shipping solution that would help them save time, which is a precious commodity for business owners so that they could focus on other aspects of growing their brand.

Jeff Lim, SHOPLINE’s general manager for Singapore, believes that there is no better time than now to introduce social commerce and leverage new solutions and tools to provide satisfying contactless shopping experiences for all.

“It has been a great opportunity to work with SRA, who share our vision — to empower retailers by equipping them with the tools and local ground support they need to succeed in the changing retail landscape,” said Lim.

SHOPLINE said that new merchants who will sign up with the platform this September can get to enjoy the benefit of free delivery for the first 10 orders via ONESHIP and receive cash rebates based on the number of orders they hit in a month. SRA members will also enjoy exclusive benefits including extended subscriptions and SmartAds credits.

Moreover, SHOPLINE’s solutions have been approved by IMDA’s extended Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) to support eligible SMEs looking to improve their productivity and enhance business processes. From 30 September 2021 until 31 March 2022, eligible companies can get up to 80% of their plan fees covered if they fulfill the PSG eligibility criteria.

Singapore – Local commerce platform SHOPLINE is now enabling its online merchants to use Facebook’s Business Extension that allows them to sell on Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping.

The recent announcement comes during the course of the global pandemic, where small-medium enterprises (SMEs) are pushing their businesses online, and in line with Facebook’s launch of Facebook Shops last May this year, which allows brands to showcase their products on their Facebook page and Instagram profile in a way that feels native and tailored to the brand image.

“We are excited to work with Facebook to offer direct access to Facebook Shops. We are committed to helping our merchants grow and leverage omnichannel means to spur their own growth amidst these challenging times. We firmly believe that this partnership will help our merchants to be better attuned to their customers’ needs and ultimately, empower them to grow and scale their businesses,” said Jeff Lim, general manager for SHOPLINE Singapore.

As SHOPLINE is one of the few Facebook partners in APAC that integrate the business extension, SHOPLINE merchants are also enabled connect to customers via Messenger and WhatsApp, increase business’s product visibility, and sync more data fields, such as age group, material, brand, gender, Google and Facebook product category.