The acquisition of Europe-based Alkemics brings Salsify technology designed to help both B2B and B2C merchants and distributors collaborate with brands to list and launch products in ways that appeal to buyers. Alkemics’s software complements Salsify’s similar technology deployed by brands, Salsify CEO Jason Purcell says.

Salsify, a provider of technology that helps brands share product information with merchants and distributors, is expanding its reach among those three industry groups by acquiring Alkemics. Salsify did not say what it is paying for the Paris-based company.

AntoineDurieux-Alkemics

Antoine Durieux, CEO, Alkemics

Alkemics is known for its Supplier Experience Management, or SupplierXM, technology platform, which is designed to let retailers collaborate with more than 20,000 merchandise brands to present products that win over customers on ecommerce sites. Alkemics brings a customer base that includes such European retailers and distributors as E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarché and Metro, adding to Boston-based Salisfy’s customer lineup of brands including Mars, L’Oreal, Coca-Cola, Bosch and GSK.

“We have already been partners for years with a built-in integration to Salsify for their customers to transmit data to our EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) retailer customers,” says Antoine Durieux, co-founder and CEO of Alkemics, who will continue to head the Alkemics business operations under Salsify. “The acquisition enables us to be even more valuable to customers on their digital transformation journeys by providing them with a platform that is collaborative, open, and interoperable. The result is the ability to constantly adapt to, and even anticipate new commerce trends.”

JasonPurcell-Salsify

Jason Purcell, CEO, Salsify

advertisement

Jason Purcell, CEO of Salsify, says the Alkemics SupplierXM platform complements Salsify’s Commerce Experience Management (CommerceXM) platform, which brands use to collaborate with retailers and distributors to list and manage product information online in ways that appeal to customers and win sales.

“It’s not just a one-time activity, you don’t just list a product and call it a day,” Purcell says.

He notes that large merchants like Amazon and Walmart have invested in costly technology systems integrated with their suppliers to quickly get updates on product information and update the product descriptions on websites. But smaller merchants often use more manual processes.

But such traditional manual methods of updating content to reflect changing customer interest—such as the recent increased demand for sustainable products considered environmentally friendly—have been laborious and time-consuming, Purcell adds.

advertisement

“If merchants wanted to update product content on a website, their merchandise buyers would reach out to sales reps at thousands of suppliers to ask if their products were sustainable, then get back to the merchant’s I.T. team to update the website. It could take months, quarters, or never happen,” Purcell says.

By comparison, he says, Salsify’s technology is designed to automate much of the collaboration among brands, distributors and retailers to update product content in a fraction of the time required in all-manual processes.

With Alkemics under its wing, Salsify now has about 600 employees, offices in Boston, Lisbon and Paris, and it expects to surpass $100 million in annualized revenue by mid-2021, the company says.

In the fall of 2019, Salsify acquired B2B ecommerce consulting firm B2X Partners, which helped distributors and manufacturers manage product data and sell through digital commerce. Justin King, who founded B2X Partners and is now vice president of industry marketing at Salsify, will speak on product content strategies at the June 17 online event Breaking Barriers to B2B Ecommerce, which will be hosted by Digital Commerce 360.

advertisement

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week, covering technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact editor Paul Demery at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @pdemery.

Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content is published.

Favorite