Elastic Path

Adobe Will Buy Ecom Platform Magento For $1.68B

Adobe announced it will acquire Magento, the ecommerce platform, for $1.68 billion, with the deal expected to close by the end of August 2018. Magento generated about $150 million in revenue in 2017. Magento had been owned by eBay since 2011 and was divested from eBay’s marketing tech in 2015. The move positions Adobe to plug commerce capabilities into its Experience Cloud, creating a fourth pillar alongside Advertising Cloud, Analytics Cloud and Marketing Cloud, and enabling both B2B and B2C customers to embed shopping features across marketing touchpoints. Magento CEO Mark Lavelle will continue to run the Magento business inside Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe has highlighted its existing integrations with Demandware, hybris and Magento, and suggests the combined platform can close the loop from ad view to purchase. The deal follows similar acquisitions by Salesforce and SAP to bolster ecommerce capabilities.

MRM//McCann’s CEO On Mapping The Customer Journey

MRM//McCann CEO Michael McLaren describes a data-driven approach to mapping the customer journey by stitching together first- and third-party data across channels. The interview references Wells Fargo’s use of Google and Waze to deliver geotargeted, contextually relevant messages to customers within five miles of a branch, inviting them to obtain a free credit score and feeding insights into the bank’s enterprise systems. The agency positions data as the glue for understanding behaviors, emotions, and moments that matter along awareness, activation, usage, conversation, and advocacy. McLaren notes ongoing work to deploy commerce experiences across platforms such as hybris, DemandWare, Magento and Elastic Path, and mentions its acquisition of ecommerce company Optaros. The discussion also touches GM’s telemetry-driven data flow and the balance of earned, owned, and paid media in driving reach and brand advocacy.

How SapientNitro Connects The Marketing Ecosystem

Publicis-owned SapientNitro has reinforced its ability to connect marketing ecosystems by expanding ecommerce capabilities through the acquisition of Expicient, an omni-channel services firm with inventory and order management expertise. Led by VP of technology Scott Petry, SapientNitro sits under Publicis.Sapient alongside Razorfish Global and DigitasLBi. The move follows discussions at Adobe Summit and aligns with SapientNitro’s emphasis on technology-driven platforms for clients such as Coca-Cola and The Home Depot. The company describes an architecture that bridges Adobe Experience Manager with ecommerce platforms like hybris and Elastic Path, using the CMS as a control layer while routing heavy transactions to the commerce system when needed. The approach, dubbed “storyscaping,” maps a system of touch points from owned experiences to broader acquisition connections. Coca-Cola notably maintains a large Starcom relationship, highlighting the agency’s position within the Publicis ecosystem.