Bloomreach personalizes the e-commerce experience by unifying real-time customer and product data so businesses understand customers’ wants. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Bloomreach CEO and co-founder Raj De Datta to learn more about the company.
Formation Of Bloomreach
How did the idea for Bloomreach come together? De Datta said:
“It seemed that even though consumers were spending more and more time online, their digital experiences weren’t getting much better. Online shopping wasn’t all that enjoyable. And that’s what all of us ultimately want: a great experience — one that’s personalized to who we are and what we’re seeking. So the idea of Bloomreach stemmed from the question of, what if we could harness data and AI to make every digital experience absolutely amazing and also make it on-point with what people were really seeking?”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? De Datta shared:
“After 15 years, it’s pretty difficult to choose one. But a recent one that comes to mind is the Edge Summit last year, an event where we brought together leaders in AI, e-commerce, and marketing to talk about how generative AI is changing the commerce landscape. Companies like Nvidia and AI thought leaders like Allie Miller shared their thoughts on the changing AI landscape, and it was just a few days filled with great discussions and really fascinating viewpoints.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? De Datta explained:
“As a whole, and put in the most simple terms, Bloomreach helps companies make online shopping personal for their customers. Our products each touch different aspects of the e-commerce customer journey. We have Bloomreach Engagement, our marketing automation platform; Bloomreach Discovery, our e-commerce search and merchandising solution; and Bloomreach Content, our headless content management system. We also recently announced a new product, Bloomreach Clarity, which offers AI-powered, human-like product expertise at scale.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges has De Datta faced in building the company? De Datta acknowledged:
“I don’t know that I’d call it a challenge, but the complete shift in technology that came last year with new innovation in AI and LLMs was something every company had to adjust to so quickly. This wasn’t just a flashy new trend — this was technological advancement on par with the introduction of the internet itself. Understanding how generative AI would impact our industries, our products, our customers, our own jobs… we had to take these into consideration quickly in order to adapt.”
Evolution Of Bloomreach’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? De Datta noted:
“It’s evolved completely… And not at all. At the core of our products, from day one, have been rich data and smart AI, powering better, more personalized e-commerce experiences. That certainly remains true today. But we’ve evolved over the years alongside our customers and technological advancements, too. For instance, our marketing automation platform natively connects to nearly 15 different channels now — channels like TikTok, which didn’t even exist when we launched. And of course with the onset of generative AI we’ve been able to create a product like Bloomreach Clarity, which could not have existed before, and also advance the existing features in our products that are powered by Loomi — our AI built specifically for e-commerce.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? De Datta cited:
“There were early significant milestones, like our first customers going live, and more recent ones, like surpassing $150 million in annual recurring revenue or launching Bloomreach Clarity. All are equally as important to us, and I know there are plenty more ahead of us.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking De Datta about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Plenty — from add-to-cart increases at the Vitamin Shoppe to 20% conversion rate increases across multiple brands for Canadian Tire. But one that we cite often is a German company, baby-walz, which offers everything for mothers and babies. Baby-walz used Bloomreach to collect zero-party data from customers (data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares). It asked expectant mothers to share their due date if they wanted to, and in return, baby-walz sent product recommendations for every stage of their pregnancy at the time when they actually needed it. It’s an incredible example of the value true personalization can deliver.”
Funding
After asking De Datta about the company’s funding, he revealed:
“We received our most recent round of funding in 2022, $175 million from Goldman Sachs, bringing our valuation to $2.2 billion.”
Acquisition Of Radiance Commerce
Earlier this year, Bloomreach acquired Radiance Commerce. After asking De Datta more about the acquisition, he pointed out:
“GenAI has transformed the way we think about e-commerce, and our customers need tech that will allow them to stay ahead of that transformation. That’s why we announced Bloomreach Clarity last year.”
“The Radiance team has deep expertise in conversational AI, and a passion for solving complex, technical problems. Combining that expertise with our scale and e-commerce leadership will allow us to turbocharge the incredible work that’s already been done on Clarity, scaling it to the growing number of businesses eager to implement it. And beyond just Clarity, we know the expertise the Radiance team brings will allow us to further our strength in AI for e-commerce across all of our products.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Bloomreach from its competition? De Datta affirmed:
“It really comes down to three points:
1.) Our data. We combine real-time customer data with decades of product data, meaning we help businesses understand not only their customer, but their customer in the context of what they actually sell.
2.) Our AI. Our AI, Loomi, is the only AI built specifically for e-commerce. It understands the workflows of the marketers and merchandisers using our products, it understands the customer journey, it understands key e-commerce businesses metrics, and so on.
3.) Our ability to seamlessly connect across the entire customer journey. We’re natively connected to every touchpoint on the customer journey — emails, ads, social, the onsite experience, and even the offsite experience. That means as customers move from one channel to the next, we can offer a consistently personalized experience, continuously updating in real-time.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? De Datta concluded:
“Broadly rolling out Bloomreach Clarity this year is a big one. GenAI is wholly changing consumer expectations of what’s possible online, and we’re getting a lot of interest from businesses that want to get ahead of this trend. We think Clarity has the potential to unlock an entirely new avenue of growth for them, so we’re eager to get it into their hands.”
