SolutionsConcierge® API

Concierge® API

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A foundation for effective retailer/consumer communication.

Consumers increasingly demand personalized interaction with the retailers they buy from. As a retailer, you want to meet that demand and deliver targeted offers to customers over multiple channels. The Mercatus API ensures your message is consistent whether in an email, on a website, or via a mobile device.

Industry-standard SOA architecture

Based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) technology, and using web services for straightforward integration with other enterprise systems, the Mercatus API helps to remove the technology and systemic barriers between you, your customers, and your data.

Coordinated communication

The Mercatus API provides a coherent, mutually beneficial conversation between you and your consumers.

The result is a vibrant dialog—a conversation between retailer and consumer that benefits both and builds lasting relationships and customer loyalty.

Mercatus API benefits

Better, more coherent information for the retailer and the consumer.

By ensuring integrated, coherent communication, the Mercatus API provides benefits to developers, retailers, and consumers.

Developers

  • Easy web services development
    Industry-standard RESTful technology provides comprehensive support for building web services.
  • Choice of response format
    Both XML and JSON responses available.
  • Clear instructions
    Fully documented specifications and examples make development straightforward.
  • Sample library
    Available for most common languages, including .NET 3.5 and PHP.
  • High availability
    Geographically redundant services ensure up-time.

Retailers

  • Security
    Provides a unique and secure platform for retail partners to consolidate and leverage data.
  • Multichannel insight
    Gain insight on customer engagement across multiple channels and platforms.
  • Actionable information
    Provides near-real-time statistics on channel promotions.
  • Consistent communication
    Keeps store, promotion, and product data consistent across channels.
  • Easy sharing
    Share the same API with your internal IT department, media partners, and device developers.
  • A single source of data
    Consolidate your many data sources into a single clearinghouse.
  • Access and cost control
    Issue API keys to different groups to control access to features and costs.

Consumers

  • Single sign-on
    Logon with the same credentials to access all communications channels.
  • Any device, same message
    Receive consistent messages and data across devices, from mobile to personal computers.

Mercatus API features

Flexible architecture

The flexible, SOA architecture of the Mercatus API meets immediate requirements and allows continuous innovation designed to build and strengthen relationships with customers. A single interface reduces the ongoing costs of building and maintaining new interfaces and data communication lines.

Consistent experience

The Mercatus API helps you present a consistent face to your customers, across all channels and in every conversation. It means you can manage the customer experience seamlessly across existing and emerging communications channels.

Centralized cross-channel customer insight

Faster, easier feedback of customer behavior allows you make better, more profitable decisions. Cross-channel customer interactions can be centrally monitored and measured, providing insight into customer behavior that can be used to deliver targeted, relevant content.

The Mercatus API is available to customers via standard RESTful web services. Developers can access these services for the web, mobile, and any other devices connected to the Internet. The platform offers services such as but is not limited to:

  • User authentication
  • User profile services
  • Store location
  • Digital flyer/special information
  • Recipes and personalized recipe box service
  • Shopping list
  • Product look-up via PLU or GTIN codes (retailer dependent)

These services can be customized based on the retailer needs.

Flexibility and consistency in a centralized solution.

The Mercatus API provides the foundation for a flexible, consistent, centrally managed multichannel infrastructure that supports strategic retail goals.

Mercatus API technical information

Scalable, bandwidth-efficient, and developer friendly.

Hosting

  • Scalable API platform, hosted on a cloud infrastructure to handle traffic spikes without performance impact to the end user.
  • High availability, with the API serviced from multiple geographical areas. This ensures access to the Mercatus API will be up even if there are power failures or traffic issues from one geographical zone.
  • Always on, 24-hour monitoring 7 days-a-week all year long by our operations center.
  • Performance and availability, audited by a third party independent service.

RESTful web services

  • RESTful web services makes it easy to integrate to any programming language.
  • Written as a web service from the ground up. This ensures the calls are logical, simple and deliver just the right amount of information.
  • Bandwidth efficient responses in XML and JSON formats to accomodate rich clients and mobile devices alike.
  • Cache friendly to encourage standard HTTP caching when possible.
  • Version controlled to ensure compatibility is preserved for at least 1 major revision.

Development friendliness

  • Easy testing, with a sandbox to test developer's implementation against production-level API code.
  • A quick start, using the available sample library.

Related Links

Concierge® API brochure {PDF}