Concept:
Gigya is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology designed to enable retailers to design their social sites to direct consumers to the corporate sites, unifying identity and social providers, including Facebook, Twitter, PayPal and LinkedIn. The software enables online retailers to deepen customer relationships and tap existing friend networks to drive social registrations, word of mouth, and social interaction. In addition, Gigya provides analytics, best practices, consulting and support to optimize every implementation.
Team:
Since its inception in 2006, Gigya has focused on simplifying the connection process between business web sites and social networks, and enhancing the results from the connected experience at every level, to help companies grow their online business.
The Gigya company is comprised of Israeli technologists Patrick Salyer, Rooly Eliezerov, Eran Kutner and Eyal Magen. Gigya CEO Patrick Salyer is responsible for Gigya’s overall business strategy and day-to-day operations. Salyer holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Rooly Eliezerov, Co-founder and President, supervises overall product strategy and development and is a veteran of the Internet advertising and marketing industry, with a focus on product development. Eliezerov holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the Pratt Institute in NYC.
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Market Relevance:
According to Nielsen research, social networks have surpassed email usage and Americans spend 36% of their time online communicating and networking across social networks and other related communication methods. The largest untapped opportunity in social for online retailers is integrating their web sites with the social channel. While investment in Facebook pages and Twitter support remain important strategies, brands have a further opportunity to bring the power of social to their own sites.
Delivery:
Gigya is offered as SaaS. Customers pay a fixed monthly license fee that enables their participation to grow without penalty. Gigya’s integrated solution provides a social commerce platform that delivers a “super API” to connect and manage the social and identity services, plugins for social registration, sharing, and community engagement that enables turnkey social commerce and analytics to ensure clients deliver the best experience to their site users. Platforms in which the SaaS is currently available include ATG and Demandware LINK.
Proof Points:
The Gigya solution has had a positive impact on the social referral traffic and sales for its retail customers, including American Eagle. American Eagle Style Shop users have shared their favorite items with friends on multiple social networks, driving socially-referred shoppers back to AE Style.
Additionally, in a recent TurboTax campaign, Intuit reported that more than 50,000 people shared reviews of TurboTax. The review-sharing worked as a prospecting tool; more than 75% of people who viewed the reviews and clicked through were new TurboTax customers.
