Global brand and customer experience agency, VMLY&R, today announced an exclusive partnership with leading e-commerce platform, Shopmatic.
The agreement involves the creation of a co-branded commerce platform, a one-click, channel-neutral commerce solution for WPP’s client partners, making VMLY&R the only agency or consulting network to deliver an end-to-end commerce solution to clients, from its Commercial Growth Consulting offering to completing actual transaction and last mile logistics.
As part of the agreement, VMLY&R plans to roll out solution stacks on the platform that span from social through to rural commerce, with general trade commerce on-boarding by the end of the year.
Shopmatic Co-founder and CEO, Anurag Avula described the partnership as “game-changing”. He said: “The partnership with VMLY&R gives us access to the world’s largest companies, such as Unilever, Kraft Heinz, Ford and Swaraj Tractors, and more importantly, comes with VMLY&R’s ability to drive volume and value through our co-branded platform.”
The deal, signed through VMLY&R’s Asia headquarters, was described as ‘paradigm-shifting’ by Hari Ramanathan, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer for VMLY&R Asia. He said: “Partnering with Shopmatic allows us to move clients to very margin-friendly Direct-to-Consumer and third-party models. Combined with our existing growth-hacking solution for marketplaces, we can co-own commercial outcomes with brand owners, rather than simply selling our products and services. With Shopmatic, we are entering a new era for commerce partnerships with clients.”
In its seven years of operations, Shopmatic has onboarded one million merchants and clocked USD $400 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). The company is set on its path to cross the five million merchants mark over the next three years with USD $3 billion GMV.
Beth Ann Kaminkow, Global CEO of VMLY&R Commerce and CEO, VMLY&R New York, said: “We work every day to build unifying client strategies around commerce, to drive both brand equity and conversion. With Shopmatic’s diverse commerce platforms, be it Chat, Social, Webstores or Marketplaces, we can now offer our clients solutions in all the places their customers are, not only streamlining the experience but improving every interaction a customer has with our clients’ brands.”
The platform launches in India by the end of the year and will roll out globally shortly after.
