MAM
WPP acquires e-commerce agency Corebiz
Mumbai: WPP has announced that it is acquiring Corebiz, a Latin American e-commerce agency specialising in VTEX implementation. It is one of the largest enterprise digital commerce platforms in the region.
Founded in 2013, Corebiz employs over 600 people across Latin America, with the majority of its headcount based in its São Paulo and Franca offices in Brazil. The Brazilian operations of the company will join the VMLY&R COMMERCE global network, with further regional outposts of the business coming onboard over the course of the coming year.
Corebiz counts companies such as Whirlpool, Casino Group, Walmart, Carrefour, Decathlon and Estée Lauder amongst its clients. It specialises in a range of e-commerce digital solutions covering three key pillars: acquisition, from creating visuals for digital campaigns to driving targeted SEO; conversion, including CRO and full stack development; and loyalty, spanning from CRM system implementation to managing consumer data and running targeted promotional campaigns. As an implementation specialist of VTEX, the agency helps clients reduce time-to-market, reach audiences across multiple channels, and uncover new growth areas in Latin America and beyond.
WPP said that this acquisition reflects its ongoing investment in strengthening its commerce offer for clients as consumer needs continue to change. It is aligned with WPP’s accelerated growth strategy, building on existing capabilities in the areas of commerce and technology. WPP added that it is ranked as a leader in Forrester’s global Commerce Services Wave, and already manages more than $40 billion of direct and $20 billion of marketplace GMV for clients and employs 13,500 commerce specialists across its agencies.
WPP in Brazil country manager Stefano Zunino said, “Companies both in Latin America and around the world are looking to grow their e-commerce capabilities, having seen over the last two and a half years the impact that strong digital commerce strategies can have on business growth. Corebiz’s market-leading knowledge of enterprise commerce platforms such as VTEX will further strengthen our commerce expertise. I look forward to welcoming the Corebiz team as we expand our offer to clients here in Brazil and beyond.”
VMLY&R COMMERCE global CEO Beth Ann Kaminkow said, “Bolstering our creative commerce offering to drive conversion every day for our clients is an essential ingredient to creating connected brands. The team at Corebiz are not only experts in this field, but also share our philosophy for building a thriving company culture alongside business growth. We’re thrilled to get our collaboration underway across our client base.”
Corebiz founders and co-CEOs Felipe Macedo and Renan Mota said, “Over the last few years, we have actively participated in the acceleration of the ecommerce market in Latin America. Now, our goal is to take this expertise to the rest of the world. This will only be enhanced by joining WPP and the VMLY & R COMMERCE network, and we are excited to strengthen ecommerce enablement for VMLY & R COMMERCE’s global clients.”
Brands
Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
