Akeneo Partners with ChannelEngine to Drive Multichannel eCommerce Growth

Global marketplace sales surged 29% in 2020 to $2.68 trillion, representing almost two-thirds of all eCommerce spending. Direct to consumer (DTC) brands, omnichannel retailers, and distributors are rushing to capitalize on the opportunity, with six out of ten online retailers now selling on marketplaces, up from less than half in 2017. But the marketplace boom also brings new challenges; brands must manage and syndicate product information — including SKUs, product specs, and variant products — across an ever-expanding global ecosystem. 

To solve that problem, Akeneo and ChannelEngine are joining forces to create a single centralized source of truth capable of aggregating, standardizing, enriching, localizing, and managing product content for experience-optimized syndication. With support for all the world’s most powerful marketplaces — including Amazon, Shopify, eBay and many others — the new partnership empowers brands to deliver consistent but tailored product information wherever they meet their customers.

While giving users native plugins for eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, the partnership enables them to manage all aspects of their multichannel product content with a single connection. The result is a dramatic increase in productivity, enhanced sales conversion rates, and a reduction in product returns due to richer and more accurate product data. 

Helping global brands, retailers, and distributors to rapidly bring products to new markets, the Akeneo and ChannelEngine partnership also facilitates more responsive holiday-season sales strategies. Meanwhile, automated localization workflows streamline the process of launching in international markets and enable teams to easily translate and customize product data for use in new markets and regions. 

“Product information is the lifeblood of eCommerce, and the key to delivering amazing customer experiences,” said Scott Rogers, Akeneo’s Vice President Global Channels & Alliances. “The marketplace boom represents a huge opportunity for global merchants, but only if they can win customers’ loyalty and trust by delivering brand consistency and product content synchronization across all channels. We’re excited to partner with ChannelEngine to provide our clients with peace of mind and scalability, so that wherever customers interact with their products, and however many marketplace channels they operate in, they can provide unbeatable product experiences.” 

"With the eCommerce market rapidly shifting towards global marketplaces and other third-party sales channels, for brands and retailers, selling on and keeping control of these marketplaces is a huge opportunity as well as a complex challenge,” said Niels Floors, Head of Partnerships & Sales at ChannelEngine. “Akeneo and ChannelEngine represent the perfect partnership for helping brands and retailers to control content over all these global sales channels. This results in faster time-to-market, revenue growth and technology alignment."