The Rise Of Shopping APIs

THE OF RISE SHOPPING APIS An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of standards and instructions that enables software applications to “talk to each other." APIS are commonly used to “mash up" content and services into new experiences by providing developers access to one application's content in order to feed it to another. API GROWTH OVER TIME 7,000 6,000- 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 30,000 APIS BY 2016 100 NEW APIS ADDED EVERY WEEK EXAMPLES OF POPULAR TYPES OF APIS lhootsuite DK KLOUT INTERNET SOCIAL MAPS Rich data visualizations and geo-location features-such as proximity to a store or a competitor-often enhance the customer experience for shoppers on smartphones. More than 1,000 applications and 2,000 Cloud hosting services-such as Google App Engine and Amazon EC2–as well as mashups have been created using APIS dozens of URL shorteners and domain from Twitter and Facebook. name registration APIS. Expose core content and commerce functions-such as customer information, merchandising systems, order history, search tools, and product catalogs-to different customer touchpoints for internal use or third-party development. SHOPPING 250+ DEVELOPERS. SHOPPING AND PAYMENT APIS ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO A SHOPPING API TIMELINE Building on an early version from Kin Lane on ProgrammableWeb, here's a timeline that shows how quickly APIS have made their mark on ecommerce. HERE'S HOW QUICKLY APIS HAVE MADE THEIR MARK ON ECOMMERCE: November July May June 2000 2002 2004 2006 ebY PayPal Go gle amazon.com eBay launches an ecommerce API to help sellers and partners standardize their applications and make it easier to build on top of its platform. Amazon debuts Amazon Associates, exposing product catalog data to enable new and innovative shopping applications and affiliate stores. PayPal allows ecommerce merchants and developers access to a set of APIS that leverages the company's payment infrastructure and provides the ability to create applications that facilitate transactions and retrieve related information. Google opens up its Maps API to developers. To date, over 2,000 mashups have been created with its location-based data. October September August August 2008 2006 2006 2006 The New York Eimes facebook. amazon.com web services The New York Times Developer Network goes live, offering access to movies reviews and political campaign finance data. Largely in response to the unauthorized scraping of its assets by rogue developers, Twitter opens up its API. Facebook unveils an API that allows Amazon introduces Amazon Elastic developers to build apps that enhance the Facebook experience, providing developers access to user data like photos, status updates, friend lists, and other profile information. Compute Cloud (EC2), which delivers scalable, pay-as-you-go compute capacity in the cloud. January March July February 2009 2009 2009 2010 BEST BUY foursquare TESCO sears Best Buy enters the API game, launching Remix (later renamed BBYOpen). Affiliates and developers can tap into the retailer's massive catalog of data, pricing, and images. Tesco launches its own API, similar to Best Buy and Amazon. Sears launches the Sears Developer Network with two APIS that provide access to the retailer's entire catalog and allow users to pick products for the creation of customized widgets. Foursquare releases an API at SXSW in Austin, TX. March November 2012 2011 NIKE Path Spotify Nike releases its API for FuelBand, a digital wristband that tracks activity and syncs with the iOS. Integration with social networks like Path has helped FuelBand become extremely popular in a short amount of time. Spotify announces the launch of a new API that allows other companies to build services and features atop the company's massive music database. APIS OPEN UP THE COMMERCE PLATFORM As more retailers add complexity to their websites-using different solutions such as testing and optimization software, merchandising tools, analytics, and partner integrations-APIS could become as common and necessary to ecommerce businesses as websites themselves. NUMBER OF INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS THAT SUPPORT CURRENT WEBSITE CAPABILITIES: NUMBER OF SOLUTIONS INTEGRATED INTO WEBSITE WITHIN THE NEXT TWO YEARS: 1-4 27% 20+ | 31% 5-9 26% 10-14 20% 10-14 25% 15-19 18% 20+ 11% 5-9 17% 15-19 6% Don't know 7% Don't know 5% 1-4 6% None 0% None 1% 4 KEY BENEFITS OF SHOPPING APIS 1. Easier and cheaper to deliver consistent pricing, offers, features, and content across form factors (screen sizes) without the need to support each system with its own resources. 3. More effective marketing and customer service, reducing the total cost of ownership for development and integration. 2. More efficient integration of multiple touchpoints (mobile, MPOS, kiosks, digital signage, IPTV) into a single commerce engine with existing teams. 4. Enable offline orders to take place in the digital environment. For instance, fulfillment systems can connect through APIS to enable drop shipping direct from both warehouses and retail stores, increasing efficiency and availability of products. By making APIS a priority and integrating them into ecommerce platforms, online retailers will be able to enhance the customer experience across different transactional touchpoints. Website Tablet Smartphone Contact Center POS Kiosk SOURCES: ELASTIC PATH I FORRESTER I PROGRAMMABLEWEB elasticpath" monetate Follow @Elastic Path on twitter Follow @Monetate on twitter