Retailers launch more holiday deals and lean on AI amid a projected rise in returns, according to Capterra’s Holiday Retail Preparations Report.

Retailers are kicking off the holiday season earlier and with more competition than ever before. Capterra's Holiday Retail Preparations Report indicates that a significant 70% of small to midsize (SMB) retailers intend to offer more holiday deals this year compared to just 45% last year—and almost half of them will occur before Halloween, a stark contrast from Black Friday’s pre-pandemic heyday.

Despite steep competition, 75% of retail SMBs expect more holiday profits than last year. However, 57% also expect more returns, which could be detrimental to any potential gains made during the season. To help mitigate return rates, retailers will offer more final-sale items (41%), shorten the window for returns (26%), and charge more for shipping (24%). They’re also exploring AI strategies to promote products and lower the likelihood of returns.

“Facing the challenges of cash-strapped shoppers this holiday season, small retailers are innovating with urgency to avoid lost sales and a surplus of returns,” says Molly Burke, senior retail analyst at Capterra. “Embracing AI as a tool for growth is the natural next step to level the playing field against big box retailers.”

Generative AI is a valuable asset in cutting down returns because it can guide online customers to products that are better suited for their immediate needs. SMB retailers plan to use generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in their holiday strategy for creating marketing content (44%), personalized customer experiences (43%), and improving data analytics (39%). This could include anything from generating a holiday sale strategy to analyzing shopper behavior online to improve user experience.

Burke suggests, “Other use cases for small businesses include using AI-writing tools to produce richer product descriptions to avoid any unwanted surprises at unboxing to full-blown marketing plans complete with omni-channel ad copy.”

Small retailers aren’t just turning to AI tools for the convenience they offer—they’re also looking to gain a foothold in next-generation web search as generative AI transforms how shoppers browse products online. In fact, 73% are concerned that small businesses will be drowned out by large corporations as online product searches migrate from search engines to AI chatbots and search tools.

In a shift toward AI-driven online experiences, small businesses must become early adopters and implement new technologies to grow. Visit Capterra.com to read the full report and learn more about how retailers are preparing for this holiday season.

New Solution Supports Complex Use Cases and Increased Scale for Leading South African Media Provider

Evergent, the customer management and monetization leader for streaming and digital subscription businesses, and e.tv, South Africa’s largest independent and free-to-air television channel, today announced a new partnership to deploy Evergent’s tools for identity and subscriber management for their eVOD offering. The new partnership will enable e.tv’s continued growth in South Africa through flexible and innovative approaches to subscription and service offerings.

According to a 2023 report from Statista, the global market for OTT video is expected to exceed $450 billion by 2027. For regional OTT media providers, the challenge of increasing scale is compounded by the complexity of managing multiple currencies and languages. Evergent’s identity and subscriber management system allows media operators like e.tv to seamlessly integrate different languages and currencies, removing the barriers to international expansion.

“For the past few years, the media and entertainment landscape has been characterized by fragmentation and competition,” said Vijay Sajja, founder and CEO of Evergent. “Media providers are now looking to consolidate their position and increase market share, but the complications of working across multiple countries or regions can limit a company’s ability to scale. Forward-thinking businesses like e.tv demonstrate what’s possible when organizations look beyond their borders and use technology innovation to become regional leaders.”

The new partnership between Evergent and e.tv replaces the company’s existing solutions for identity and subscriber management, consolidating tools in a single, unified platform. Evergent’s suite of customer relationship management tools make it possible for OTT video providers to experiment with new customer strategies, supporting agile business improvements and rapid expansion.

“Our goal at e.tv is to share amazing stories with the largest possible audience, regardless of race, gender, age, or income,” said Khalik Sherrif, group CEO at eMedia. “This new technology- and data-driven approach to subscriber and identity management makes it significantly easier for our company to reach new audiences and expand our presence in South Africa and beyond.”

“Building and maintaining a leading regional OTT provider is a complicated technical challenge, and it requires a great deal of nuance and flexibility to meet the needs of a diverse and growing customer base,” said Junior Qwabe, group CTO at eMedia. “Our relationship with Evergent gives us the confidence needed to pursue new strategies and opportunities.”

93% want a single hub to manage all subscriptions including video, music, gaming, sport, and more

The boom in the subscriptions economy is threatening to overwhelm consumers across India and Southeast Asia, according to a new survey. Well over three quarters (81%) of subscription users believe there are now “too many” subscription services available. As a result, 93% now demand a unified platform to administer all of their subscriptions. Yet, despite many feeling the subscription fatigue, 81% say they would sign up for more subscriptions if they were consolidated through a centralized content hub.

That’s according to new research from Bango, based on a survey of over 6,000+ consumers currently paying for subscription services across India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Subscription overload

According to the data, 86% of consumers have 2+ subscriptions and 15% have more than 6. These include services ranging from streaming to food delivery, music to sport, and everything in between.

With so many subscriptions to manage, each on separate platforms, it’s no surprise that consumers are frustrated by the administrative nightmare.

Many are losing track of their current subscriptions, leading to unnecessary costs. Nearly half (44%) say that they’ve kept paying for subscriptions they forgot were still active, while a third (32%) say they currently pay for a subscription service that they ‘never use’.

Too many subscriptions costs consumers both their money and patience. It also sours their opinions on subscription providers generally.

One hub, seamlessly delivered

Though most do say there are too many subscription services, Bango’s study shows that consumers don’t want fewer choices. They simply want a more seamless experience.

According to the data, a large majority of consumers (93%) want all of their subscriptions to be managed through a ‘Super Bundling’ content hub. As defined by Juniper Research, Super Bundling consists of a single payment to a service aggregator — such as a telco — for multiple subscriptions such as streaming services, which are delivered through a single online subscriptions hub.

For subscribers in Asia, the ideal content hub would provide:

1. Discounts in subscription prices (58%)
2. Access to a wide variety of services in one place (56%)
3. The ability to pay multiple subscriptions at once (51%)

The majority of consumers (89%) would spend more time using their subscription services if a content hub was available. 91% also believe that having all of their subscriptions in one place would help them manage their household expenses.

As Anil Malhotra, Co-founder at Bango explains, “Managing multiple subscriptions is a headache for users. They don’t want less choice – just less admin. We should focus on building all-in-one solutions that can offer consumers flexibility on billing, a wider variety of choices, and a great user experience. That’s what they really want.”

A new frontier of bundling, led by telcos

When it comes to building this solution, the survey reveals that local mobile network operators may be the key to unlocking Super Bundling. For a majority of consumers in Asia (81%), telcos are the most trusted provider for a centralized content hub. They’re the logical go-to, as two thirds (67%) of consumers already have subscription services included in their phone plan.

The data also shows that Super Bundling content hubs would boost consumer loyalty, with 95% saying they would be more loyal to the brands that provided them. 66% would even leave their current telco provider if this service became available elsewhere, creating significant value for any telco able to capture this opportunity.

In the US and Australia, telcos like Verizon and Optus have already launched ‘Super Bundling’ content hubs, offering centralized hubs for streaming, music, gaming, and more through their +play and SubHub platforms, respectively.

Companies like Bango specialize in the technology behind Super Bundling, ensuring a streamlined experience for consumers, content providers and telcos alike. As Malhotra explains, “Bango’s technology can be thought of as a ‘Digital Vending Machine’ for subscriptions. It’s stocked with every subscription you can think of. Telcos, banks, and any other large business can tap into it, and load it with the subscriptions their customers want. Then they can offer the best deals and discounts as part of a regular monthly bill.”

Recognized innovator will contribute to WEF’s Centre for Cybersecurity’s initiative to address systemic challenges and build cyber resilience.

Metabase Q,a leading all-in-one cybersecurity solution, today announced it has joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Innovators Community. The Global Innovators Community is an invitation-only group of the world’s most promising start-ups and scale-ups that are at the forefront of ethical technological and business model innovation.

The World Economic Forum provides the Global Innovators Community with a platform to engage with public- and private-sector leaders. Companies who are invited to become Global Innovators will engage with relevant Forum platforms to help define the global agenda on key issues. By contributing to the Centre for Cybersecurity platform, Metabase Q and other partners are leading the global response to overcome the current crisis and build future resiliency.

“We are pleased to have Metabase Q join the Global Innovators Community, and we look forward to the team’s contributions to the Centre of Cybersecurity,” said Verene Kuhn, Global Innovators Community Head, World Economic Forum. “Metabase Q will be engaging in several workstreams that look to enhance cyber resilience globally.”

“Today's cyber threats know no boundaries; they are global, relentless, and ever-evolving. In the face of such ubiquitous challenges, the defense too must be worldwide,” said Mauricio Benavides, CEO and Co-founder of Metabase Q. “Joining the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators Community underscores our commitment at Metabase Q to fostering a united, global defense against these digital adversaries. Together, we can pave the way for a more secure and resilient digital future for all.”

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. Established in 1971 as a nonprofit foundation and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests.

cPanel, the hosting management platform of choice, has recently introduced Manage Team, a new feature that enables account owners to create sub-accounts and delegate access to specific features and functions. This much-anticipated feature has been highly requested by its user community and is now available to all cPanel users free of charge.

"Team Manager has been our most requested feature," states Jesse Asklund, Chief Experience Officer at cPanel. "With this feature, we're enabling seamless collaboration and administrative task delegation, allowing site owners to give access to associates, developers, and anyone else needing access to a cPanel account without sharing the primary account credentials."

As more small businesses establish their web presences, the need for a secure means of delegating administrative tasks within cPanel has arisen.

Manage Team solves this by allowing license owners to create sub-accounts with access to specific features, such as website development, database management, email administration, and more, without sharing credentials between users. Not only does this lower support costs and increase security, but searchable audit logs track the actions of each sub-user, and these accounts can even be set to auto expire on a specified date.

New Selling Opportunities for Shared Hosting Providers

Shared hosting providers can now market and sell delegated accounts as part of their offerings, which do not count towards the licensing costs for cPanel, adding substantial value. Account owners can create sub-accounts of different team sizes, including 3-member small teams, 5-member standard teams, and 7-member large teams, offering them at various price points.

Additionally, this feature will introduce new users to the cPanel platform as they enter as team members, which can drive future demand for their own cPanel accounts.

Strengthening Control and Security

In terms of security, cPanel has always remained at the forefront of industry standards. With Manage Team, account owners can require Two-factor Authentication for all users, and the root administrator and/or reseller can limit the number of sub-user accounts that a cPanel account can have.

To enable the Manage Team interface for a cPanel account, users must select the Manage Team feature from the menu in WHM's Feature Manager interface (WHM » Home » Packages » Feature Manager).

With the launch of Manage Team, cPanel account owners now have complete control over their accounts, allowing them to easily delegate access to team members and third-party providers while ensuring safety.

A Highly Anticipated Feature

As a direct response to user requests, the release of the Manage Team feature represents a significant milestone for cPanel. The platform now offers the ability to create user accounts for smooth collaboration within teams, eliminating security concerns related to sharing credentials.

Leading Digital Automation Tool Expands its Reach, Empowering Advertisers and Agencies to Streamline Pinterest Campaigns

Shirofune, the leading digital advertising automation management tool, today announced that it has added Pinterest to its roster of platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter). Advertisers and agencies can now manage Pinterest ad spend within one centralized platform, easily manage bidding and budgeting, and reap consolidated performance data.

The popularity of Pinterest, especially among its 76.2% female audience worldwide, continues to rise. According to Statista, the image-based social media platform had 463 million monthly active users by the first quarter of 2023; its annual revenues were $2.8 billion in 2022, up nearly sixfold from $473 million in 2017.

Using human intelligence rather than AI, with algorithms hard coded and audited daily by a team of experts, Shirofune has developed an automated tool to simplify the management of digital advertising. Through performance indicators such as the number of clicks, number of conversions and revenue, Shirofune manages a monthly budget across all desired platforms, including Pinterest. Its system automatically adjusts daily budget and Target CPA/ROAS informed by performance analysis through integration with measurement tools like Google Analytics and ecommerce platforms like Shopify.

The Pinterest launch marks Shirofune’s ninth major advertising platform integration. “With its rising use in the image-sharing community, Pinterest remains a robust platform for advertising,” said Shirofune Founder and CEO Mitsunaga Kikuchi. “We are excited to expand Shirofune as an omnichannel tool that saves significant time and money in reaching targeted audiences.”

Shirofune launched in North America this February after becoming the #1 digital automated advertising management tool in Japan, where it has captured a 91% market share and is used by leading advertisers and agencies including Rakuten and Dentsu, saving them more than 50% of work hours.

Comcast Corporation today announced it has named Rocky Gupta as Executive Vice President and Treasurer of the company. He joins Comcast from General Motors where he recently led its treasury and finance organizations.

As Comcast’s Treasurer, Mr. Gupta will oversee the company’s relationships with financial institutions across its Connectivity & Platforms and Content & Experiences businesses and manage its capital allocation, capital formation, credit-related matters, and investment management activities. He will report to Jason S. Armstrong, Chief Financial Officer of Comcast Corporation, upon his arrival at Comcast later this month.

“Rocky is an outstanding financial executive and I’m excited to have him lead our exceptional treasury team,” said Mr. Armstrong. “He has a strong track record of financial excellence and leadership domestically and globally and I look forward to him bringing his outstanding acumen, talent, and expertise to Comcast.”

During his career at General Motors, Mr. Gupta held several financial leadership positions for the company, including Investor Relations, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of GM Asset Management, CFO and General Manager of Southeast Asian Operations, and multiple corporate development roles through GM Finance where he led many company acquisitions and divestitures. He also worked directly on GM motor vehicles early in his career while serving as an Engineer.

Mr. Gupta earned an M.B.A. in Finance, Management, and Strategy and a M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University.

Former president of BlackRock, former CEO of NHSX, and former Director of GCHQ bring wealth of industry experience from finance, healthcare, and national security

Quantexa, the global leader in Decision Intelligence (DI) solutions for the private and public sectors, announced today that it has appointed three industry luminaries to its Advisory Board. These hires include Ralph Schlosstein, former CEO of Evercore and former President of BlackRock, Matthew Gould, former CEO of NHSX, and Sir Jeremy Fleming, Former Director of GCHQ. These distinguished leaders bring a wealth of expertise in finance, healthcare, and national security to Quantexa.

The expansion of Quantexa’s Advisory Board comes at a pivotal time for the organization, following the completion of a $129 million Series E funding round, led by GIC, where Quantexa joined an elite group of UK tech companies reaching breakout unicorn status. It was also announced this year that Quantexa will invest over $155M in the global AI industry over the next three years to help clients advance the use of AI to protect, optimize, and grow their organizations. By 2027, Quantexa’s total global investment in AI will reach more than $250M.

Ralph Schlosstein, former CEO of Evercore and former President of BlackRock, brings decades of experience in investment banking to Quantexa’s Advisory Board. His distinguished career includes playing a strategic role in helping the world’s largest asset management firm go public. Ralph’s financial acumen will play a pivotal role in shaping corporate strategy initiatives.

Matthew Gould, former CEO of NHSX, joins Quantexa’s Advisory Board, after serving as the British ambassador to Israel between 2010 and 2015, where Gould helped to launch the UK-Israel Technologies Hub – an initiative run in Tel Aviv to forge technology partnerships between UK and Israeli companies. More recently, Matthew leveraged his extensive background in healthcare to play a pivotal role in advising NHS on initiatives throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. At NHSX, Gould has been responsible for harnessing the power of data and technology to improve healthcare delivery. Matthew’s deep expertise will help Quantexa identify the economies and industries for strategic focus and make decisions on commercial strategy.

Sir Jeremy Fleming, Former Director of GCHQ, and former Deputy Head of MI5, joins the Advisory Board with more than 30 years of experience in intelligence and technology. His extensive background includes developing the National Cyber Security Centre, where he strived to make the UK the safest place to live and do business online. With a passion for making technology use in government more transparent, Sir Fleming will enhance Quantexa's capabilities in addressing emerging threats and opportunities.

"We are pleased to welcome Ralph Schlosstein, Matthew Gould, and Sir Jeremy Fleming to our Advisory Board," said Vishal Marria, CEO of Quantexa. "Their collective expertise in finance, healthcare, and national security will be invaluable as we continue to develop cutting-edge decision intelligence solutions that address the evolving needs of the market."

“Quantexa’s AI-enabled technology allows its customers to protect, optimize, and grow their organizations with efficiency and transparency,” said Ralph Schlosstein, former CEO of Evercore and former President of BlackRock. “I believe Quantexa is well-positioned to capture the opportunities ahead and increase its share of the emerging Decision Intelligence category. I am looking forward to supporting the executive team as they work to accelerate their organic and inorganic growth strategy.”

"It’s an exciting time for me to be joining Quantexa’s Advisory Board, at this critical stage of growth for the company," said Matthew Gould. "Quantexa's innovative approach to helping customers in the private and public sectors make data their most valuable utility is revolutionizing decision making across multiple industries. I look forward to working alongside the talented team at Quantexa to connect data and drive better outcomes for organizations.”

Sir Jeremy Fleming, Former Director of GCHQ commented “I’m thrilled to be part of a company at the forefront of AI innovation. I look forward to combining my experience with Quantexa’s impressive capabilities, which will continue to shape how their customers use data to protect businesses and citizens.”