PAYPAL? THE NEW - ECOMMERCE SPECIAL - BUSINESSCLOUD
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Edition 16, 2019
the new
PayPal?
eCommerce
special
Retail tech report 100 eCommerce Trailblazers Reaching Gen Z
businesscloud.co.uk
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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
The changing face
of eCommerce
C
hristmas is coming up fast and with Gen Z (p50) while ‘The Explainer’ breaks down
the mad rush to buy presents pentesting – the cyberattack you really need – on p56.
has begun.
One of the big quandaries facing start-ups is how much
The shopping experience is barely to spend on marketing and how to maximise its impact.
recognisable today from that of 20 Our Tech Counsel on p74 features advice from a dozen
or even 10 years ago. Amazon and people on the topic.
eBay dominate the landscape while
clothes are also largely bought online. We also interview two of our worthy regional Tech 50
High street giants have been forced to winners. In Scotland, Intelligent Growth Solutions is
offer next-day delivery and generous plotting the transformation of global food production
returns policies to compete with these with its cutting-edge vertical farming tech (p42), while
marketplaces and fast fashion websites. in the North West, Peak is scaling rapidly as it helps
companies embrace the dawning era of artificial
However there is also a drive to use technology to push intelligence (p46).
people back towards physical stores, marrying together
retailers’ online and offline propositions. This is mirrored Another impressive business leader I’ve spoken with for
in the eclectic mix of retail tech creators in our 100 this edition is Pat O’Connor. A former commander in the
eCommerce Trailblazers ranking (p9). Irish Defence Forces, his start-up VRAI is saving lives in
hazardous environments such as war-torn Somalia and
I recently visited the no.1-ranked company at its offshore wind farms (p25).
headquarters on Teesside. eCommerce platform
Visualsoft is flying under the leadership of CEO Dean In Birmingham Nourished is disrupting the health
Benson, one of the original co-founders two decades ago. market with its custom-built 3D-printed vitamin stacks.
He explains how online retail has changed in that time Several people I know have signed up for these delicious
and says mining the hidden seam of innovation within a innovative gummies since we interviewed Melissa
business is essential to remaining relevant (p21). Snover, including Gadget Gavin!
We recently held the first of our new-look Insights That brings me nicely back to Christmas: our resident
conferences and again eCommerce took centre stage. columnist has revealed the gadgets you should consider
A string of impressive businesses including Visualsoft, giving to your loved ones this holiday with his annual
Shop Direct, Wowcher, Forever Unique, Autorama, Christmas tech wishlist on the final page.
Teespring and Adyen offered insight into improving user Finally, I’d like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas
experience, marketing, customer acquisition and the and Happy New Year. We have plans to ramp up our
various eCommerce platforms available. content and events programme in 2020 so watch this
Full report on p32. space!
Adyen is a hugely impressive business. Worth an Jonathan Symcox
astonishing €19 billion, the FinTech generates unrivalled Editor, BusinessCloud
insights into retail customers and is set to replace PayPal
as eBay’s payments partner (p4). It is a worthy cover star
for our final magazine of 2019.
businesscloud.co.uk
If retail isn’t your (shopping) bag, there is an array of
technology featured elsewhere in the mag. We have @jonsymcox
a four-page report on how companies can resonate @jonathansymcox
CONTACT US
Executive editor Chris Maguire: 0161 215 7144; chris.maguire@businesscloud.co.uk
Editor Jonathan Symcox: 0161 215 7143; jonathan.symcox@businesscloud.co.uk
Multimedia journalist Alistair Hardaker: alistair.hardaker@businesscloud.co.uk
Business development manager Helena Furness: 0161 215 3877; helena.furness@businesscloud.co.uk
Designer: Richard Salisbury | Cover illustration: Grace Hadley | Writer: Jenny Brookfield
Subscriptions: subscriptions@businesscloud.co.uk | businesscloud.co.uk/subscribe
Address: BusinessCloud, UKFast Campus, Birley Fields, Manchester M15 5QJ 1
CONTENTS Q4 2019
21
FEATURES 25 VRAI
Improving safety in hazardous environments
09 eCommerce Trailblazers such as war-torn Somalia and offshore
UK’s leading eCommerce and retail tech wind farms
creators unveiled for 2019
29 Nourished
41 Tech 50 Melissa Snover on reimagining medication
Regional innovation rankings for Yorkshire & and vitamin supplements through 3D
Humberside, Midlands, Scotland and North West printing
56 The Explainer 38 iCabbi
Penetration testing demystified in eight Helping local taxi firms embrace the latest
questions technologies and take the fight to Uber
74 Tech Counsel 42 Intelligent Growth Solutions
Maximise your marketing spend Vertical farming pioneer aims to
revolutionise global food production and
reduce carbon footprints
INTERVIEWS
46 Peak
04 Adyen CEO Richard Potter outlines plans for
€19bn FinTech set to take over from PayPal world domination at ‘UK’s leading
as eBay’s preferred payments platform commercial AI business’
21 Visualsoft
CEO Dean Benson on how eCommerce platform
remains relevant after two decades in business
2
29 60
46 50 56
60 Viddyoze INSIGHT
100 per cent automated video animation
service taking the business world by storm 64 On the Money: Andy Sloane
“It can take 10-20 years to build a ‘Scalebig’
66 Blinder company – but when it is done right, it can
Former New Zealand rugby league press boost the tech ecosystem as a whole”
officer’s start-up works with world’s top
sports teams 55 Neil Lathwood
“We had a product born out of one of the
71 Togee Black Friday years which has since become
Innovative app enabling real-time screen a bit of a de facto standard across the
sharing at the touch of a button industry”
76 Gadget Gavin
REPORTS “My Christmas tech wish-list includes
Polaroid cameras, audio sunglasses,
32 eCommerce fingerprint padlocks and 3D chocolate
Experts offer tips on UX design, choosing printers”
the right platform and customer acquisition
50 Gen Z
How can businesses connect with the world’s
first truly digital generation?
3
COVER STORY
Meet the new
PayPal
ADYEN IS THE BIGGEST
BRAND YOU’VE NEVER
HEARD OF – UNTIL NOW.
WORTH AN ASTONISHING
€19 BILLION, THE
AMSTERDAM-
HEADQUARTERED
UNICORN IS ABOUT
TO BECOME EBAY’S
PREFERRED PAYMENTS
PLATFORM
Words:
Alistair Hardaker
4
COVER STORY
A
dyen has already helped
you hand over cash to
Spotify, Uber, Netflix,
Groupon or Booking.com
– you just didn’t know it.
That you don’t recognise the name is
down to the FinTech’s efforts to remove
what it terms friction in the payment
process. However its days as ‘the biggest
brand you’ve never heard of’ could soon
come to an end.
The Amsterdam-headquartered firm,
sale payments through its single platform. Its
already worth €19 billion, is soon to
goal is simple – to remove friction with every
become the preferred payment method for
payment made.
the majority of eBay’s 182 million users –
earning it the moniker ‘the new PayPal’. “We shop every day. You put things in your
basket, you put your card details in and it
CEO Pieter van der Does (above right) and
gets declined, even though you’ve got money
CTO Arnout Schuijff founded the business
in the bank. That’s friction,” Neil, senior VP
in 2006 to better connect businesses with
for business development at the company,
both international card networks and local
explains to BusinessCloud.
payment methods. The duo, who sold previous
start-up Bibit, a billing platform, to the Royal This is why Adyen is focused not only on
Bank of Scotland, named it Adyen after the making the online world an easier place to
Surinamese word for ‘starting over again’. pay, but on connecting up its technology with
high-street stores. Alongside its headline retail
Colin Neil (below) joined the business in 2017
clients are the likes of O’Neill, Gap and Tiffany
after 10 years as Burberry’s retail director.
& Co.
The move was prompted by his work with
the FinTech and its approach to the future of “If you buy clothes online and they don’t fit,
payments, an increasingly important part of and you try to take them back to a retail store
the shopping process – and often the most which says ‘sorry you can’t return that here’,
frustrating. that’s an example of where the commerce
environment is not unified,” says Neil. “You
Publicly-listed Adyen allows businesses to
need to unify that, because you need to deliver
accept eCommerce, mobile and point-of-
one consistent customer experience.
“Friction in the checkout is a huge risk for
retailers because it stops the conversion of
sales and means customers leave websites
and never go back. Removing friction for us is
about how we make things seamless, so you
don’t see it and you don’t feel it, you just enjoy
the purchase experience.”
An ‘integrated checkout experience’ is one of
the reasons eBay cites in its decision to move
away from PayPal, a firm co-founded by Elon
Musk and which it helped to create.
“eBay is a fantastic opportunity for us because
they are such a forward-thinking business and
everyone knows the brand. We’re going to
5
COVER STORY
and Google Pay. It also supports
Alipay, the most widely-used
third-party online payment service
provider in China, which processes
over 100m daily transactions and has
520m active users.
“Alipay, PayPal and some of the
big retailers that we work with like
Boohoo could be grouped together,
because they think really far
forward,” is Neil’s view. “And because
they think so far forward, it forces us
to always be forward-thinking.”
For all its flagship partnerships, its
underpin that brand,” says Neil. The firm will
relatively small client Vue cinemas might best
be the ‘middleman’ between eBay’s customers
demonstrate the firm’s ambitions to rival not
and the more than 200 methods of payment
only PayPal, but banks themselves – and the
that its global customer base uses to pay and
advanced customer analytics platforms which
receive funds, including Visa and Mastercard.
run alongside them.
PayPal will instead become one of these
“We can give companies insight from data
growing number of payment methods. “We
that tells you about customers. That insight
want to take the challenges that eBay bring us
is something that more and more retailers
and find out how we can evolve our product.
want to work with us on,” says Neil. “A cinema,
How do we evolve the product in a way that
for example, sees lots and lots of customers
not only works for eBay, but can work for
coming into their cinema, and they’ll come
everyone else?
in and make a purchase for popcorn and buy
“Because we’ve built the platform ourselves, it tickets.
means we can evolve and develop the platform
“The cinema has no idea who those customers
really quickly.”
are. If you went into that cinema 10 times they
Adyen recently signed deals with Apple Pay would think you were ten different customers,
PROFILE
£
Founded Employees Market cap Six-month net
2006 900 €19bn revenue €221m
£
HQ Total funding Six-month EBITDA Six-month payment
Amsterdam €266m €125.8M volume €104.6bn
Keep up to date on tech
The latest investment, deals and appointments
6
COVER STORY
they would have no idea that actually you WeChat Pay is now used by more than ADYEN CUSTOMERS
were quite a loyal cinema-goer.” 900m shoppers per month, and the
WeChat application is reportedly the
Its technology logs the card details used fifth most-used app in the world. A
by customers and can build a profile of 2017 survey found that 92 per cent of
what is bought, what has been spent and inhabitants in China’s biggest cities use
when. If a cinema customer then decides either WeChat Pay or Alipay as their
to buy a ticket online in advance, Adyen primary method of payment. Last year
can add this transaction to the existing that usage amounted to $41.51 trillion in
transactions, with the addition of an transactions for WeChat Pay.
email address.
“WeChat is a whole ecosystem in China
The information not only allows brands which consumers never leave: they buy
like Vue to build a more cohesive idea inside of it, talk to each other and decide
of its customer and their individual what they’re doing,” says Neil. “We make
spending habits – without the need sure that we harness the strength of that
for loyalty cards or memberships – but platform to let them reach consumers
it also works retroactively: “Now we outside mainland China.”
can say to that cinema that all of those
purchases that they thought were On the future of the company, Neil
different customers were in fact the says he is excited to see how payment
same.” and transactional tech could further
disrupt the buying process, and in doing
Neil said these types of technological so reveal what a crucial part of the
developments can be built for one client, experience it is.
and then quickly rolled out to its other
clients across the world. “If there’s a “If we think about how technology is
retailer in Australia, for example, and pushing the boundaries, what’s to stop
we developed something because you arriving a petrol station in a car that
there’s a really good user case for that in can automatically fill itself up and you
Australia, as soon as it’s ready, it’s ready just drive away?
for everyone,” he says.
“The key is being able to evolve as
Based in Manchester, Neil is tasked technology evolves. But I think what we SMALL FISH IN
with representing and working with the see today, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
A BIG POND
North of the UK to find more clients, and
therefore uses for the tech, which can
then be rolled out internationally.
ADYEN OFFICES
Adyen’s eye-watering valuation is a
“Manchester is a really good example of drop in the digital payments ocean
London
a city where there are a huge number of
Manchester Adyen
Chinese students and visitors every year.
San Francisco €19bn
When they come to the UK, they have a
preferred method of payment,” he says. New York PayPal
“One of the most popular is WeChat, Paris €108bn
which began as a simple messaging Hong Kong Tencent (owns WeChat)
app. Its WeChat Pay option is now Singapore €363bn
deeply embedded in Chinese commerce Alibaba (owns Alipay)
infrastructure.” €407bn
Reference pages launching in 2020
at businesscloud.co.uk
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FullPageAdvert6.indd 1 06/11/2019 11:21Join the discussion on #100eCommerceTrailblazers
T
he retail sector has Many thanks to the judges, listed 01 Visualsoft
undergone a massive below.
transition to online eCommerce software and digital
platforms, with companies • Nigel Jones, sector specialist: marketing agency which doubled
investing billions into the cloud tech & creative, Department for operating profit to £2.1 million on sales
and data analytics to improve International Trade of £13m last year. Headquartered in
their eCommerce performance. Stockton-on-Tees, Visualsoft works
• Ellie England, sales director, with more than 1,200 clients and more
Technologies such as augmented Microsoft Search Advertising than one per cent of all UK eCommerce
reality and automation are also transactions go through its platforms,
having an impact. • Matthew Evans, director an annual total of £750m.
markets, techUK
Hundreds of our website readers
voted on a shortlist of around 150 • Colin Neil, senior VP business
UK-based eCommerce and retail development, Adyen
tech creators for the one they
believe is the most innovative, • Davina Lines, MD, eCommerce
while a panel of judges also Club and Mixing Digital
selected the businesses which 02 Bidnamic
they feel are displaying the most • Jonathan McNamara, CEO,
innovation. The final ranking was RetroFuzz Leeds-based Bidnamic is a marketing
decided by a combination of technology platform that helps
these. • Patricia Keating, executive retailers unlock the full potential of
director, Tech Manchester Google Shopping. It achieves this by
The 100 businesses profiled in applying machine learning to profile
the 2019 ranking are reinventing • Julian Wells, director, every single product SKU (stock-taking
how we sell, shop, market and Whitecap Consulting unit) in your catalogue, predicting
deliver products. It highlights how its optimal bid value algorithmically.
the UK is blazing a trail with its • Darren Ratcliffe, digital director,
eCommerce and retail technology Six and Flow
creators. 03 GoInStore
• Jonathan Symcox, editor,
To be eligible, businesses had to BusinessCloud Based in London, GoInStore’s live video
be creating disruptive tech for streaming app gives you the in-store
the eCommerce or retail sector. Look out for 100 Industrial Innovators in Q1 shopping experience from the comfort
Pure eCommerce retailers were 2020 and 100 HealthTech Pioneers in Q2 of your home. It matches customers’
not included.
9100 eCommerce Trailblazers
browsing online to the best sales month to help them with their travel to build a fully-functional eCommerce
assistant on the shop floor who can plans including hotels and car hire. store. It has been built to alleviate
then demonstrate a product and talk various challenges such as identification
the customer through their purchase. of manufacturers, the sourcing of
06 Dream Agility products, supply chain, shipping and
logistics. The Manchester firm has since
Dream Agility’s cloud-based Google deployed its technology to a number of
AdTech gives its customers the global enterprises via a bespoke product
equivalent of an army of people information management system.
working on their digital advertising.
The Ramsbottom company’s
proprietary visual AI and machine
learning has earned it Google Premier
and Microsoft Ads Partner status.
07 Fulfilmentcrowd 10 Sorted Group
04 Airtime Rewards
Chorley-based eCommerce Manchester-based software-as-a-
Airtime Rewards, which is based logistics company Fulfilmentcrowd service company Sorted harnesses
in Manchester and has an office in was founded way back in 1984 and the power of tech to transform the
London, helps large organisations today ships millions of items per complex world of parcel deliveries
build customer loyalty by providing year to customers across the globe. into a seamless experience. Its API-
an innovative digital rewards-based first technology runs frictionless
service. Airtime enables shoppers to online checkouts, warehouses and
be rewarded with a unique currency 08 Auto Trader shipping in nine countries around the
that can be converted into monetary world using services from a carrier
credit on their mobile phone account Manchester-headquartered online library of thousands. It has secured
or for additional mobile data. vehicle sales giant Auto Trader listed on more than £35m investment to date.
the London Stock Exchange in 2015 and
is a member of the FTSE 100 Index. It
05 Skyscanner attracts around 50 million monthly cross- 11 Yorkshire Payments
platform visits and recently posted
Edinburgh-based Skyscanner is a half-yearly operating profit of £131.4m. Brighouse-based Yorkshire Payments
flight comparison site with unicorn provides affordable ways to process card
status. Acquired by one of China’s payments to more than 3,500 businesses.
biggest online travel companies Ctrip 09 Mercarto It provides information on everything
in 2016 for £1.4 billion, more than from stock levels to the time that staff
100 million people across the world Mercarto is a marketplace platform which clock in and out. The firm processed
now rely on its app and website each provides the tools for any entrepreneur £496m in transactions in 2018.
10Join the discussion on #100eCommerceTrailblazers
12 IceLolly worldwide from London-based Carwow is a sales
start-ups to platform which sources vehicles from
IceLolly is the UK’s biggest package corporates. local and national dealers. Founded
holiday comparison site. The Leeds Unlike many in 2013, it has facilitated more than
business attracts around one and platforms, £2bn in car sales to dealerships – a
a half million visitors every month. EKM doesn’t five per cent market share – and
take any recently secured £25m investment
transaction from Mercedes-Benz’ parent company
13 Shoptimised fees or a cut of Daimler AG.
online sales.
21 One iota
17 JRNI
Manchester-based One iota helps
An omnichannel customer engagement global retail brands including Hugo
platform, formerly known as Boss, JD Sports and Superdry to
BookingBug, which has secured total continually improve their customers’
funding of $23.2m. London-based shopping experience. The cloud
JRNI enables companies to interact platform allows retailers to run signage,
with customers online and offline social walls and assisted sale services
Shoptimised provides product feed via appointments, events, queuing, across a range of devices from mobiles
optimisation platforms and price call centre and insights applications. to in-store screens, all of which helps
comparison software for eCommerce. bridge the online to offline gap.
Based in South Shields, it has built
up a rapidly-growing following of 18 Aero
major eCommerce retailers and 22 Ocado
digital marketing agencies through Aero Commerce has developed an in-
its creation of a platform designed house eCommerce platform. The Hatfield-headquartered firm Ocado
for pay-per-click professionals. Middlesbrough firm partners is an online supermarket which
with digital marketing, web uses advanced robotics to
design and eCommerce automate fulfilment and
14 Pricesearcher agencies to provide this year announced a
feature-rich websites £750m joint venture with
London-based Pricesearcher is a for online retailers. M&S. Its R&D arm Ocado
free eCommerce search engine Technology develops
which checks prices from more online retail platforms
than 10,000 websites on 150 million 19 BlackCurve featuring AI, machine learning,
products. It recently launched Big Data and cloud technology.
a Chrome browser extension. A SaaS platform for retailers founded
in 2016, London-based BlackCurve
helps its clients find the optimal price 23 Wowcher
15 Increasingly for their goods and services through
sophisticated pricing algorithms and Roland Bryan and Karen Kemble-
AI-powered product bundling and machine learning. Its technology Diaz founded discount eCommerce
cross-selling technology to drive powers more than 250,000 pricing marketplace Wowcher in 2011 and
basket revenue. The London firm suggestions per day and it is actively have overseen its growth to more
works with Samsung and claims it managing more than six million than 19 million subscribers, with 8,000
drove 14 per cent revenue uplift for products on behalf of its clients. deals now available on the platform.
builders merchant Travis Perkins. The London firm is Britain’s second-
largest eCommerce marketplace.
20 Carwow
16 EKM
24 MoneySuperMarket
Established in 2002, EKM was the first
cloud-based eCommerce platform in Listed price comparison website
the UK. The Preston-based company MoneySuperMarket is an established
is the nation’s biggest eCommerce member of the FTSE 250.
platform provider, having helped set Headquartered in Ewloe, the group
up more than 80,000 online shops has an annual turnover of £355.6m.
11100 eCommerce Trailblazers
Finland in 2008, it was bought by its online marketplaces and social media
25 Bizuma existing directors Dominic Allonby through to websites and app stores.
and Darren Naylor in 2012 and has
Bizuma’s core goal is to empower been used by two million shoppers
any business, of any size, to trade in 17 languages and 32 countries. 33 Threads Styling
globally. A private B2B eCommerce
marketplace, it connects companies Fashion tech start-up business Threads
with vetted buyers and sellers in over 29 Localisto Styling uses social media channels
50 countries. The London business including Instagram, WhatsApp,
recently ranked second in the 2019 Based in London and Madrid, Localisto Snapchat and WeChat to help its
Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track combines geo-targeting and analytics customers find luxury products and
100 of the UK’s fastest-growing to understand local customer behaviour. works closely with brands including
companies based on three-year sales. The SaaS marketing platform for Dior, Fendi and Chopard. The London-
bricks-and-mortar retailers can increase based company’s customer base
foot traffic to physical stores and is spread across 100 countries.
26 Deliveroo manage brand interactions on all digital
platforms, from maps to store pages.
London-headquartered online food 34 Formisimo
delivery company Deliveroo this year
raised $575m in a funding round led 30 Proximity Insight Salford analytics start-up Formisimo
by Amazon, taking the total raised to improves checkout conversion
$1.53bn. Founded in 2012, its ‘gig- Based in London, Proximity Insight’s rates for eCommerce companies by
economy’ app allows restaurants to app-based platform is built on Salesforce measuring user behaviour. It recently
offer home delivery via a network of and helps in-store sales staff to organise launched a new platform focused on
drivers and cyclists. their day, interact with customers, enterprise, Zuko, which is designed
access product information and carry to meet advanced requirements
out back-office store management. of data-centric organisations.
31 Depop 35 Yieldify
Fashion marketplace London firm Yieldify predicts behaviour
app Depop is aimed to optimise the customer experience.
primarily at Gen It delivers a combination of website
Z and millennials personalisation and email remarketing
and allows its to help drive conversions and
13m global increase lifetime value and has built a
27 Ecovend users to buy roster of big-name clients including
and sell clothing. Domino’s and Marks & Spencer after
A Waltham Abbey-based provider The London firm securing investment from Google
of ‘reverse vending machines’ secured a £49m funding Ventures and SoftBank Capital.
which offers rewards to those round this year to power global organic
who return plastic bottles and growth, increase its engineering team
drinks cans to it for recycling. Its and invest in product development. 36 Divido
machines are usually in areas of
high footfall as they feature large Founded by former Sky News technology
digital AV screens for organisations 32 Incopro feature writer Christer Holloman, Divido
to advertise their products. lets customers spread the
Incopro uses machine learning cost of any purchase
technology to help brands over a period of time
28 Fruugo.com like Ted Baker and Harley while the merchant
Davidson tackle the threat gets paid in full
Ulverston-based Fruugo.com is of counterfeiting online. right away. The
an online marketplace helping The London company’s platform is aimed
British retailers drive product sales Talisman product monitors at independent
internationally. It holds no stock IP infringements by scouring businesses which
itself but simply connects customers all corners of the web in cannot afford to
with retailers through dropshipping. real-time, pulling in data from offer the finance
Originally launched in Helsinki, major platforms ranging from options of bigger
12Join the discussion on #100eCommerceTrailblazers
companies. More than 1,000 marketplace uses a network of over 4,000
accommodation and travel suppliers to
45 Parcel2Go
customers and partners work with
London-based Divido including create end-to-end experiences and to
Based in Bolton, Parcel2Go is the UK’s
BNP Paribas, BMW and Lastminute. date has served more than two million
biggest parcel delivery comparison site.
travellers from more than 120 countries.
It provides door-to-door collection,
delivery and parcel drop services at
37 PureClarity over 25,000 locations throughout the
41 Captify UK.
Launched in York in 2017, PureClarity
uses artificial intelligence to Consumer search behaviour analysis
analyse customers’ behaviour and provider Captify is the largest holder 46 Poq
deliver a personalised customer of first-party consumer search data
experience through product outside of Google. The London firm’s A SaaS provider for mobile app
recommendations, marketing unique technology understands the commerce, Poq closed a £9.5m Series
campaigns, search and email, helping intent of consumers across all channels, B funding round last year, bringing
retailers to boost online revenue. including voice search, desktop web its total investment to £16.5m. The
search and in-app search. It powers London company’s platform allows
advertising for many of the world’s retailers to build customised native
38 White Label Loyalty largest brands including Apple, Disney, apps with clients including Missguided,
Adidas, American Express and Microsoft. House of Fraser and Holland & Barrett.
Leeds firm White Label Loyalty turns
bank cards into loyalty cards and also
designs mobile apps for restaurant and 42 KhooCommerce 47 TopCashback
bar chains with built-in loyalty systems.
It claims its cloud-based engagement KhooCommerce provides cloud- Based in Stafford, app TopCashback
engine increases customer based eCommerce inventory and is free to join. Users can browse its
retention by 15 per cent or more. order management solutions. The site and choose from thousands
Ashford business’s ERP software of retailers and exclusive cashback
integrates with existing internal offers, with the commission being
39 OnBuy systems and shipping partners. passed straight back to the customer.
Based in Poole, Dorset, OnBuy is
one of the world’s fastest-growing 43 OmniCX 48 UXG
marketplaces and sits somewhere
between the C2C model championed London-based OmniCX’s cloud platform Established in 1983 as Unicam and
by eBay and B2C model of Amazon. for eCommerce businesses includes rebranded in 2017, UXG designs
Cas Paton launched OnBuy in product information management, and manufactures bespoke digital,
November 2016 and has built it up content management, multi-site LED and retail solutions for branded
to host 16 million products in more support, advanced merchandising environments such as sensor-
than 6,000 categories, with plans to and promotions, personalisation based digital mirrors. The Leeds
hit 100m by 2022. More than a million and advanced SEO capabilities. company counts retail group
people a month visit its website. Its API-first approach helps Sports Direct among its clients.
companies to grow revenues quickly.
40 Festicket 49 DigitalBridge
44 Amplience
Manchester-based interior design
Another London company, Amplience’s augmented reality tech firm which
content management software is used enables customers to design
by the likes of retail giants boohoo and and buy their dream
Shop Direct. With more than $47m bathroom or kitchen.
of funding behind it, the firm’s Integrating directly into
solution – which disconnects a a retailer’s website,
website’s front-end design from DigitalBridge guides
back-end processing – allows for customers through
London-based Festicket helps mobile-first shopping experiences. the entire process from
fans to discover and book tickets concept to design to
and travel packages for over 1,200 visualisation and completion.
festivals worldwide. The two-sided
13100 eCommerce Trailblazers
for software companies which solves
50 Autorama Group 52 Trouva every part of the sales process.
Hemel Hempstead business Autorama A curated online marketplace for more
is looking to bring the slick Amazon/ than 600 independent shops, London- 54 Pouch
ASOS experience to vehicle leasing based Trouva gives local bricks-and-
through its brands Vanarama (vans) and mortar retailers the benefits of global A free browser extension which
Motorama (cars). Described as an online reach and allows them to thrive and applies discount codes automatically
concierge service, it is now rolling out compete with eCommerce giants and on checkout, Pouch was acquired
credit check and ID verification which chain retailers. by German publishing technology
can inform someone within 30 seconds platform Global Savings Group.
whether they are eligible to lease Available for Google Chrome, Safari
from a photo of their driving licence. and Firefox, it previously received five
offers of investment on Dragons’ Den.
51 Ometria
55 WeGift
Ometria recently raised $21m in
Series B funding for its predictive
Digital rewards platform WeGift was
eCommerce marketing tech which
established in 2016 by founder and
enables retailers to better understand
CEO Aron Alexander and automates
and communicate with their
incentives and rewards for employees.
customers. Since its $6m Series A 53 Paddle The London-based platform operates in
funding round the firm has expanded
more than 26 countries in 22 languages
its client base to 200 retailers, including
London-based Paddle was named the and in 20 currencies, with more than
Hotel Chocolat, Fred Perry, MADE.
fastest-growing software company 500 brand partners. Its clients include
com and Notonthehighstreet.com.
in the UK in the Deloitte Fast 50 with employee perks platform Perkbox, New
revenue growth of 3,300 per cent in Look, Sodexo Engage and Halfords.
the last three years. It is a platform
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14Join the discussion on #100eCommerceTrailblazers
56 yReceipts 60 Dotdigital 64 NearSt
London business
Dotdigital Group provides email NearSt is a retail technology
which custom
marketing automation services for company driving more people to
designs
digital marketing professionals. The the high street. Based in London,
email
London-based company, founded it does this by connecting the
receipts.
in 1999, is listed on the AIM. live inventory of nearby shops to
Retailers
local shoppers searching online.
around the
world use
61 Adimo
yReceipts’
software
65 Nexus Vehicle Rental
Glasgow-based Adimo’s platform
to identify in-
integrates with marketing channels Online vehicle rental booking and
store customers through their
including display adverts, landing pages, management platform Nexus Vehicle
digital receipts and connect 100 per
websites, social media and video. Rental secured a £142m private equity
cent of in-store transactions into
Shoppers can select products and add investment last year as Phoenix Equity
any platform they use in real-time.
them directly to their online supermarket Partners bought a majority stake in the
basket for later purchase with the rest of business. Each year the Leeds business
57 R.O.EYE their weekly shop. Adimo then analyses manages around 200,000 individual
which products have been viewed, added vehicles on behalf of clients including
Launched in 2004 as a performance to online shopping baskets, and the 66,000 commercial vehicles and 6,000
marketing agency, Manchester- revenue generated, and links that data HGVs following a dedicated HGV rental
based R.O.Eye repositioned as an to specific marketing campaigns. It has booking platform launch in 2017.
eCommerce insight specialist and is worked with consumer goods giants
now driving transformational change including Nestle, P&G and PepsiCo.
for online advertisers. Its media 66 PCMS Group
tracking and optimisation platform
SingleView now utilises machine 62 Veeqo PCMS is a retail technology and
learning for more impactful insights. software group which provides point-
Swansea-based Veeqo allows retailers of-sale software for major retailers
to manage orders, inventory, shipping including the likes of Walgreens,
58 Yoobic and accounting – syncing up their retail John Lewis and Arcadia Group.
store, website, eBay shop and Amazon Led by CEO Tony Houldsworth, the
London-based Yoobic is a SaaS Marketplace – from a single automated Coventry business employs more
company which seeks to help retailers cloud-based platform, allowing them to than 500 staff in the UK, US and
and brands track merchandising focus on increasing sales. Singapore and was acquired in a
and marketing operations. It has management buyout in late 2017.
worked with fashion brands including
Lacoste as well as Aldi and automotive
giants Peugeot and Citroen. 67 Endless Gain
A revolutionary
59 Edited conversion rate
optimisation
Trusted by more than 42,000 retail business,
professionals including John Lewis, Endless
Mango, boohoo and Zara, London firm Gain uses
Edited provides AI-driven analytics to 63 Viddyoze biometrics
ensure its clients get their products to understand
and pricing right. Its data covers every The world’s first and only 100 per cent human emotions
market and segment around the automated video animation service and behaviour and
world with more than two billion SKUs for marketers, Preston firm Viddyoze psychology to optimise them. The
(stock-taking units) available on the generated $500,000 in revenue in its biometric assessments utilised by
platform and 500k+ added every week. first four days and predicts revenue will the Manchester company include
reach $12.9m this year. It believes video eye-tracking, facial expression
content is a more effective engagement recognition, galvanic skin response,
tool than traditional methods, electroencephalography (electric
leading to improved conversion rates. activity in the brain) and pupil dilation.
15100 eCommerce Trailblazers
68 Gousto 72 Cortexica 76 Tebex
UK recipe box company Gousto Cortexica’s Lee McNeil founded Tebex at the age
announced an additional £30m funding technology of 16 and ran it from his bedroom
round in July, taking its total funds enhances after spotting a gap in the market
raised to over £100m. Gousto supplies customer for people wanting to sell in-game
its subscribers with recipe kit boxes experience products. Starting out with Minecraft,
which include ready-measured, fresh through the Nottingham company has now
ingredients and easily followed recipes. real-time branched out to offer its services in 12
The London firm, founded in 2012, video analysis. games including Grand Theft Auto V
has a fully-automated production Developed within and has processed more than 21 million
line powered by data science. the bioengineering department of payments worth more than £300m.
Imperial College London as the result of
research to reverse-engineer the human
69 Market of Mums visual cortex, the company has also used
its tech to protect the safety of workers.
Mum-to-Mum online marketplace
Market of Mums makes it quick and
simple to buy and sell kids’ stuff with 73 Cybertill
other parents. Every sale concluded
on the Leeds/Sheffield company’s Founded back in 2001, Cybertill
platform supports children’s charities developed one of the world’s first
while it is used by celebrities including electronic point-of-sale systems
Ferne McCann and Amy Childs. and is a leading cloud-based retail
management software and services 77 Dropit
provider today. Based in Knowsley, it
70 Henderson Technology provides its tech to charities as well Karin Cabili started bag collection
as retailers and visitor attractions. platform Dropit when, during a visit
Newtownabbey-based Henderson . to New York, she was unable to make
Technology is the largest electronic a purchase as she was on a way to a
point-of-sale system supplier in 74 Brightpearl meeting and didn’t have any way of
Northern Ireland with over 450 sites getting the bags back to her hotel. Dropit
across the province. Its EDGEPoS Founded in Bristol in 2007, Brightpearl users can leave bags at partner retailers
system was designed by retailers, for is an omnichannel retail management – even if they didn’t purchase the items
retailers, and supports businesses system which places orders, inventory, there – or at designated drop-off points.
from 1-100 lanes. It recently embarked financials, point of sale and CRM in A courier will deliver them to their
on a significant sales expansion one location. It serves more than home at a convenient time no matter
with partners and customers in 1,000 brands and has transacted, it where they are in the UK. The London
the United Kingdom and Australia. claims, more than $1.8bn worth of firm works with likes of Karen Millen,
trade across 26 different countries. Molton Brown, Jimmy Choo and Adidas.
71 Kalibrate Technologies
75 CloudSense 78 Farfetch
A Manchester-based fuel and
convenience retail analytics CloudSense is an omnichannel Farfetch is the leading global technology
platform. Kalibrate offers fuel commerce platform which claims platform for the luxury fashion industry.
pricing, location planning, market to improve customer retention Launched in 2008 by Jose Neves, the
data and traffic count data solutions and revenues. The London firm’s marketplace today connects customers
in more than 70 countries with end-to-end platform seamlessly in over 190 countries with items from
clients including oil companies, connects commerce processes more than 50 countries and more
convenience stores and supermarkets. and centralises customer and than 1,200 of the world’s best brands,
commercial data in Salesforce. boutiques and department stores. The
$3bn London firm’s auxiliary businesses
include Farfetch Platform Solutions,
which services enterprise clients with
eCommerce and technology capabilities.
16Cybertill (73)
Cybertill provides complete retail management solutions for service-focused
businesses. Its dedicated cloud platforms, RetailStore and CharityStore, feature a real-
time single view of stock, sales and customers across all customer touchpoints including
branded retail shops, pop-ups, franchises, concessions, online and mobile.
Cybertill pushes boundaries and works with customers to build solutions that suit their
business needs. It serves over 700 businesses globally, helps process over 64 million
transactions a year and helps to securely process over 23,000 transactions every hour.
CloudSense (75)
The CloudSense platform is an end-to-end solution for the full commerce journey
across every sales channel. Whether you are a communications provider, media
business, utilities supplier or high-scale company looking for a comprehensive
commerce solution, CloudSense can help.
CloudSense is 100 per cent built on the scalable, reliable and secure Salesforce platform.
Its platform is designed to transform sales effectiveness from high complexity business-
to-business products to high volume business-to-consumer services.
Dream Agility (6)
Dream Agility’s machine learning and visual AI platform is everything you need to
transform your digital advertising. Whether you advertise on Google, Microsoft
Advertising or eBay, it’s got you covered.
It includes feed management and optimisation to bidding tech delivering machine
learning reports not available in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. It also has the first
visual AI of its kind in the market which, from an image, can generate an attribute-rich
product title and description.
BlackCurve (19)
BlackCurve helps retailers optimise the prices of the items they sell. Its platform
analyses data from different sources including sales history and website page
performance to competitor pricing and stock levels.
BlackCurve currently optimises the prices of more than one million products and
makes more than 15 million price changes per month. It works with retailers in various
industries, including sporting equipment, DIY, consumer electronics and photography,
pet supplies, stationery, automotive parts, beauty and healthcare.
Visualsoft (1)
Visualsoft’s enterprise-level eCommerce platform offers everything a retailer needs
to run their online business, while its growth marketing services help drive sales and
increase customer numbers through SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, affiliate
marketing and conversion rate optimisation.
Its USP is Shared Success. Rather than charging big upfront project fees like other
agencies, it charges a small fee per successful transaction and partners with its retailers
to drive growth.
17100 eCommerce Trailblazers
79 Appear Here allowing brands to make only make
what is actually sold, in support of
86 HERO
sustainability. To date, the London
Appear Here is one of the world’s HERO’s tech has empowered global
company has raised £10m including
largest short-term pop-up retail retailers to transform their shopping
funds from leaders from the fashion
space platforms and has raised $21m experience by making their bricks-
and retail industries including José
of capital across five funding rounds and-mortar stores and eCommerce
Neves, founder and CEO of Farfetch.
from real estate investors. The London work smarter together. Used by
firm plans to launch in a new city each thousands of stores worldwide
month over the next six months, with including Nike, Adidas and Harvey
Miami and Amsterdam launching first 83 Leasing.com Nichols, the company has bases in
and cities like Austin, Portland and London and New York and connects
Stockholm also in the pipeline. Leasing.com is the largest dedicated online shoppers with sales assistants.
marketplace in the UK for new car
contract hire and leasing offers. Based
in Stockport and founded in 2000, it 87 Love the Sales
provides the widest choice of offers
from franchised motor dealerships,
independent brokers, motor
manufacturers and leasing companies.
84 TruRating An AI-powered aggregator for designer
sales items, London-based Love the
TruRating Sales has around half a million sales live
CEO and on any given day from hundreds of
80 Swoopos co-founder retailers. The site’s AI retail
Georgina merchandising tool learns about the
A mobile payments and electronic Nelson set products then classifies them to 99.9 per
point-of-sale start-up which also out to fix cent accuracy, doing work which would
helps merchants take advantage of the broken take humans years.
loyalty rewards and data analytics consumer
software, Birmingham-based Swoopos feedback industry,
has worked with international brands helping merchants boost sales and 88 Esendex
including Subway and Costa Coffee. making consumers feel heard. London-
based TruRating asks one question at Nottingham-based Esendex builds
the point of payment – whether on a mobile messaging solutions for improved
81 Parcelly payments page online or a card terminal business communication and marketing.
in physical locations – which means It works across SMS, email, voice and
Parcelly is looking to solve the consumers are more likely to answer, web channels to increase engagement.
problem of missed deliveries. and to answer accurately in the moment,
The London firm has built up a and ensure feedback is legitimate.
network of more than 2,000 drop- 89 Bizdaq
off locations in 60-plus towns and
cities across the UK ranging from 85 Wevat Leeds-based Bizdaq is an online agent
convenience stores to bars and gyms. helping owners sell their businesses.
Wevat helps tourists get their VAT Its scalable online marketplace gives
refunded on UK shopping by combining confidence to buyers and sellers
82 Unmade all purchases into one simple fee which through transparency and moderation.
is cheaper than getting their refund from The firm, founded in 2014, also
Fashion software every store. An alumnus of Seedcamp, reduces cost, time and effort by
company which is also a pre-seed investor in removing the need for intermediaries.
Unmade was the start-up, the London firm’s tech
founded automatically generates a refund
in 2013 form from photos of the receipts. 90 REDU Group
to disrupt
the fashion Based in Seaham in the North East,
manufacturing REDU Group is a shopping influencer
processes,
18Join the discussion on #100eCommerceTrailblazers
whose brands include discount app buyer platform provides a way for
Reward Me Now. It produces bespoke car-buying firms to buy the best used 97 YR Store
digital content across a multitude car stock direct from consumers
of channels, finding the best deals in hopes of getting a better deal. London-based YR Store delivers live
for its 1.5 million followers and design and printing, embroidery and
connecting retailers to a money- patches for retail and events. It has
conscious consumer base. REDU 94 HoloMe worked with some of the biggest
now sells more than £40m of goods brands in the world including Google,
for UK retailers every year through Nike, Adidas, Toyota, Star Wars,
brands such as Ashleigh Money Saver. Nickelodeon, Levi’s and Oreo. With
offices in London, New York, Los
Angeles, Tokyo and Hong Kong, its
91 Swipii customisation experts provide full
support to projects around the world.
Loyalty app Swipii, founded in
Glasgow in 2015, is the first in the
UK to use ground-breaking card- 98 Floom Ltd
linking technology. Its 1.1m users are
rewarded every time they shop in one HoloMe is a self-serve platform that Floom is a digital marketplace which
of 1,700-plus Swipii-participating puts real humans into augmented connects independent florists with
locations. In return, businesses receive reality for brands to increase conversion customers. The London company
data which they can use to analyse the and engagement. Users can upload allows these florists to create and
spending habits of their customers and typical camera footage into the portal, deliver bouquets to a global network of
run automated, tailored marketing to which loops in with any existing CMS customers in over 125 countries.
increase retention and revenue. to provide a streamlined experience.
It recently helped the London College
of Fashion to host the world’s first
real-time AR fashion show while ASOS
trialled a new ‘virtual catwalk’ feature
that beams a lifelike human hologram
into your bedroom to model clothes.
95 Expandly
Milton Keynes-based Expandly makes
it more accessible for retailers to sell 99 freewebstore
92 Touchretail on different marketplaces such as
eBay, Amazon and Etsy by providing Burnley-based freewebstore develops
Based in Cheadle, Staffordshire, a central platform where they can software which enables clients
Touchretail supplies inventory manage all their product listings and to easily build free eCommerce
management and point-of-sale inventory and process and fulfil orders. stores. Almost 700,000 people
software to retailers. It has worked have created stores on the platform
with football clubs including Stoke City without the need for a credit card.
and Ipswich Town as well as the Welsh 96 Dressipi
Rugby Union and many other sectors.
Dressipi enables retailers to predict 100 GreenJinn
the fashions their customers will buy
93 Motorway and not return, optimising profitability. Free app GreenJinn provides
The London business’ personalised personalised cashback coupons on
Motorway, a comparison site to sell fashion recommendations are everyday groceries. Based in London, it
your car, allows users to compare delivering revenue growth to some connects in-store and online shopping
headline offers, read buyer reviews, of the UK’s biggest retailers including at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
fees and collection options to find John Lewis, Topshop and River Island.
their best deal. As a two-sided
marketplace, the London company’s
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sponsor@businesscloud.co.ukINTERVIEW
Mining The
Hidden Seam
Of Innovation
eCommerce platform
Visualsoft is thriving after
21 years in business and
heads our 100 eCommerce
Trailblazers ranking. CEO
Dean Benson says the key is
creating a company culture
where anyone can step forward
with a game-changing idea
Words: Jonathan Symcox
21INTERVIEW
come from anywhere. “Having so many taken on by Visualsoft is a £20,000
staff within the company that program loan from Barclays to fund the initial
and create and innovate, we’re business – a website hosting training
fortunate we can just keep rewriting courses – and £80,000 from Benson’s
code to the latest technology,” Benson parents. The Middlesbrough-born
adds. “We’re not restricted by having entrepreneur, 44, holds 80 per cent of
a couple of developers. Supporting the business and is the final remaining
old code, rewriting where appropriate, founder after a 2014 management
testing and rolling out new code: it’s buyout.
the circle of life.”
He says a “risky” move towards
Visualsoft doubled operating profit performance-based marketing three
last year. “Most of the profit is used to years ago is now paying dividends.
futureproof for the industry we are in,” Rather than charging a retail client a
explains Benson. “If you stand still, you large fee upfront, the ‘Shared Success’
go backwards. R&D is one of the most model effectively partners Visualsoft
important things for our company: with them to drive sales which benefit
E
without it, you wouldn’t be in business both parties.
very native tech business after 21 years.
It’s a throwback to the company’s first
has workers at the coalface “Constant technology-driven eCommerce site with shoe retailer
developing the technologies innovation, not using profits for the Charles Clinkard. “It was probably our
used by its clients. But are sake of extraction for shareholders but most pivotal moment,” he reveals of
they tapping into the rich seam of using them for driving the company the shift towards monthly recurring
ideas within those employees? forwards, is essential in any tech revenue. “It’s about putting our
One company which has embraced business. Every single year with mindset back to where it was with the
a culture of innovation is Teesside- Visualsoft has been amazing and first eComm site: how do we get more
based Visualsoft. Incorporated many things have happened along the revenue and profits to that website?
back before the rise of Google, the journey that have got us to where we What tools can we write today,
eCommerce agency has evolved its are today.” what code can we deploy, to make a
proprietary platform with millions of difference?
Another example of agile working is
lines of code over the last 21 years. an employee who pitched the idea of “The beauty of it is that we can then
CEO Dean Benson says the key setting up an arm of the business in roll that across every single client
to staying ahead of the game is to Dubai. Visualsoft now counts Coffee on Shared Success. We’re no longer
actively encourage people to step Planet among other big-name clients creating something to try and sell it
forward and pitch. “Ideas can come in the region, according to head of 1,000 times: we’re creating it to give a
from the most unusual places,” he tells brand marketing Vikki Hawkins (top
BusinessCloud at the firm’s Stockton- left).
on-Tees HQ. “It could be the most “A member of staff who was originally
junior person that comes into the from the region saw an opportunity
company with an idea. You must create there and asked whether they could go
a culture of innovation where people and test it,” she says. “We’re starting
can step forward.” to see the results off the back of that
He cites the example of electric now: Coffee Planet is basically the
car maker Tesla. “An apprentice Starbucks of the region and we’ve got
scribbled an idea of how to automate a couple of other big brand names that
a factory line to shave so many days have just signed.
off the factory process. Within 24 “We reckon Dubai is about two years
hours they’d improved it and she behind the UK in terms of their
was credited with that innovation,” development of eCommerce – and
he says. With 300 employees across there is a lot of investment from them
Teesside, Newcastle and Manchester, as a region on that side.”
the nuggets which could shape
Visualsoft’s future business could To date the only external investment
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