Ad Roundup: Platforms simplify data, ecommerce

In today's advertising roundup, two platform releases that should put brands and merchants in better control of their data as well as their merchant solutions.

by Kristina Knight

First, USForex has launched a new online merchant platform that makes it possible for merchants to more easily process international payments. Called USForex for Online Sellers, the platform allows for the local collection of global revenues without feed or high exchange rates, as well as fast delivery of the funds.

"Exchange rates and associated fees can mean the difference between growth and stagnation for emerging vendors," said David Nicholls, Head of Payment Solutions, North America, USForex. "For companies looking to expand into new markets, the standard 3-5 percent that some marketplaces and banks charge to get that money into a vendor's bank account can make a huge difference over the course of a year. With USForex for Online Sellers, we're providing the means for merchants to reach new customers across country borders."

And, SOASTA has added new analytics to their platform of services. The new options include Session Path Analysis, Predictive Analytics, Third Party Analytics, and Conversion and Activity Impact scores. the new tools should help brands better understand third party data.

"Today, most commercial web and mobile user experiences depend heavily on third-party content to deliver everything from syndicated content to video to advertising to interaction with social media," said SOASTA Executive Chairman and Founder Ken Gardner. "It is quite common for us to discover that customers and prospects don't know how many third-party resources are being used and where, much less the impact of those resources on site performance and, ultimately, user outcomes. In other words, if you're not managing the performance of third parties, you're not managing your company's digital performance."

Tags: advertising, advertising tools, data tools, ecommerce tools, SOASTA, USForex