Adobe Summit, Adobe’s largest and most highly-anticipated annual event, launched to a strong, exciting start. Running from April 27th to 29th, things were kicked-off by appearances from this years’ featured keynote speakers; of which included various personas ranging from celebrities to trending enterprise-level executives. Speakers and guests included:
- Serena Williams, Tennis Champion. Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer. Deborah Wahl, Global CMO, General Motors. Rajesh Subramaniam, COO, FedEx.
- Adobe Executives: Shantanu Narayen, President, CEO, Chairman. Anil Chakravarthy, EVP, GM Digital Experience Business.
Each orator played a unique role in setting the tone of this years’ Summit, building toward the ultimate reiteration of Adobe’s core philosophy: the belief that true customer connections will thrive in today and tomorrow’s digital economy.
Year 2020 – Recap
In a highly-anticipated recap of year 2020, we heard a reiteration of Adobe’s laser focus on COVID 19’s impact around the globe: “We’ve gone from a world with digital, to a digital first world. Ecommerce spend from March 2020 to February of 2021 was $844B. This was a 20% YoY increase. We are looking forward to our first trillion-dollar year” (Chantanu Narayen, Adobe). We also heard some exciting tidbits on new technology and updates to come, including: Live Search powered by Adobe Sensei, Magento Payments as well as Adobe Sign.
Ecommerce growth was without doubt the most common topic of interest buzzing throughout Adobe’s 2021 Summit. Here are some notable numbers from the session ‘The New Commerce Imperative,’ led by Jason Woosley (VP of Commerce & Developer Executive, Adobe):
- 2019 recorded 29 $2B+ online shopping days, 2020 recorded 50+ online shopping days.
- A drastic shift to B2B occurred:
- 75% of companies report digital sales are more effective.
- 85% of companies shifted to include digital commerce.
- 70-80% of companies prefer digital to in-person buying experiences.
- 9 of 10 companies intend on sustaining these shifts permanently.
With clear statistics showing massively-impactful trends, Adobe proudly stated to the market and their partners that digital is now, without doubt, the dominant channel for driving business growth.
Chris Hedge (Director of Product Management, Commerce, Adobe) gave roadmap updates concerning the now, as well as the future of Magento (now known as Adobe Commerce). As he noted, COVID accelerated ecommerce adoption across all segments:
- B2C – reported 44% YoY growth in consumer spending, achieving a 21.3% share of all retail sales, up from 16% in 2019.
- B2B – 75% of pros now believe new sales model is just as effective as prior to COVID 19. 89% are very likely to sustain these shifts and 70-80% prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service to in-person.
Magento Payments
Very excitingly, ‘Magento Payments’ was unveiled, offering a projected release timeframe of late 2021. The Magento Payments technology is said to allow for payments to be turned into a revenue driver and not simply a cost of doing business, through the capabilities of a fully integrated payment solution that optimizes acceptance and operational efficiency. Magento Payments will allow for use of local payment methods, all of which are made available through one single integration. The technology is expected to boost security through integrated fraud tools and transparent pricing on every transaction. It will also offer powerful insights with robust, centralized reporting that surrounds the end of a transaction lifecycle.
Adobe Sign
Coming later in 2021, we learned that Magento/Adobe Commerce users can look forward to the full integration capabilities of Adobe’s new cloud-based e-signature solution ‘Adobe Sign’ meeting Adobe Commerce. The exciting innovation will allow users to sign, send, track and manage signature processes while using a basic browser on desktop and/or mobile devices. It will work with all major apps such as Microsoft, Google, etc. and will offer instant notifications, with collection able to be made on any device, anywhere. The technology features capabilities for supporting use within 34 different languages and will make PDF and e-signature processes seamless. Security is guaranteed by Adobe’s industry-standard security practices, of which are deeply ingrained with their internal culture, software development and service operations.
Live Search
‘Live Search’ was also introduced – an AI-powered tool that “combines the power of Adobe Sensei AI with real-time data to return personalized results, all while automating back-end processes” (Adobe). Adobe’s intention with this technology is to allow users the ability to view search results during each keystroke, with more categories than just keywords (such as price, brand and/or ranking). The tool is free for Adobe customers and is available immediately, provided via an extension found in the Magento Marketplace. “The new out-of-the-box ‘Live Search’ feature for Magento Commerce will enable our merchants with ‘searchandising’ capabilities to provide their customers with lightning-fast, search-as-you-type results that become smarter over time based on ongoing AI-driven analysis of shopper behavior. And because Live Search relies on the same analysis of shopper behavior as our Product Recommendations, it’ll be easily implementable for Magento Commerce merchants that are already using that feature” (Jason Woosley, Adobe).
Summit in Summary
As Summit came to a close, it was clear to all that year 2020 was a record-breaker for the entire eCommerce industry. Growth in revenue, traffic and demand consistently observed throughout the past year made a permanent evolutionary imprint on Adobe’s technological solutions, strategy and roadmap. Adobe mirrored permanent life alterations made by consumers, as preferences for commerce turned to favor digital engagement. Adobe quickly pivoted to accommodate those consumer behavior changes accordingly, with lightning-fast progression achieved like never before.
As demand for fresh, striking and engaging customer experiences pushes ecommerce technology to new heights, we at Ziffity Digital are excited to see what’s next with the evolution and innovation of Adobe’s commerce technology portfolio. As Adobe continues its innovation toward emboldening customer connections, we find ourselves increasingly proud to be a trusted Certified Solution Partner, helping Adobe in its mission toward ensuring consumers and organizations thrive in today and tomorrow’s digital economy.
