SINGAPORE — Emplifi, a leading unified customer experience platform, today announced the acquisition of Go Instore, a UK-based live streaming video platform. Go Instore enables video-powered retail by connecting online customers with in-store product experts using immersive HD live video. Their leading-edge video technology provides brands with a new channel via which they can engage with and serve their customers, strengthening Emplifi’s omnichannel approach – meeting customers, wherever they are.
With the addition of Go Instore, Emplifi Social Commerce Cloud is leading the way in the commerce market as the platform of choice for customer experience-focused brands. Today more than ever, brands need the ability to deliver livestream shopping experiences, as well as provide stand-alone livestream solutions to enable them to build faster connection-to-conversion experiences for their audiences. Live video can be used to provide customers with a number of personalized services, including sessions virtual stylists, fashion consultants, product experts, or salespeople — or use it to host one-to-many streamed video events from your own website or via social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram for product launches, seasonal campaigns or influencer marketing promotions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Go Instore into the Emplifi family with their outstanding people, platform, culture, and fantastic customers,” said Emplifi CEO Mark Zablan. “This acquisition marks another important milestone on our journey towards being the CX platform of choice for brands who want to give their customers great experiences at every touchpoint on their journey. We’re excited to start helping brands connect and convert consumers more quickly and directly through the power of livestream video and social media.”
“We are incredibly excited to join forces with Emplifi to deliver even more powerful shopping experiences across our client’s websites and social channels,” said André Hordagoda, Co-Founder, Go Instore. “Emplifi’s vision, innovation, and speed-to-market align perfectly with Go Instore. Together we will accelerate retail transformation with social commerce,” added Aman Khurana, Co-Founder, Go Instore.
Social commerce is booming in Asia. According to Euromonitor International, social commerce sales in Asia Pacific are expected to surpass US$4 trillion by 2024, expanding consistently 25% year-on-year. Social commerce accounted for about 44% of Southeast Asia’s US$109 billion e-commerce market last year according, to Bain & Co.
A report by App Annie found that the global social commerce growth is driven by livestreaming features within social apps. According to the report, livestreaming apps increased the market share of consumer spend by 24 percentage points from 2018, accounting for 76.24% of consumer spend. Moreover, social apps that offer livestreaming as a prominent feature accounted for US$3 of every US$4 spent in the top 25 social apps in H1 2021.
Go Instore, a London-based startup, has 60+ employees and more than 100 global clients, including Marks & Spencer, Pandora, Samsung, HP, Microsoft, Porsche, and many more.
With the addition of live commerce technology, Emplifi continues its fast-paced go-to-market strategy. Coming off the recent rebranding and fusion of Astute Solutions and Socialbakers companies, Emplifi’s acquisition of Go Instore helps strengthen its position as a CX leader and provides brands with an end-to-end platform for social marketing, social commerce, and omnichannel service and care.
About Emplifi:
Emplifi is the leading unified CX platform that brings marketing, commerce, and care together to help businesses close the customer experience gap. More than 7,000 brands, including Delta Air Lines, Ford Motor Company, and McDonald’s, rely on Emplifi to provide their customers with outstanding experiences at every touchpoint. For more information, visit www.emplifi.io.
