Poq Expands Operations in U.S. and Launches Major Update to SaaS-based Native App Platform for Retail

After raising more than $21 million in funding, Poq increases investment in the U.S. market and rolls out key platform updates including iOS12 support and AI-powered Visual Search

Four months after closing a Series B funding round, bringing the total raised to more than $21 million, Poq is making a major investment in their U.S. operations, including opening an office in New York City. And today, Poq, the leading SaaS platform that empowers retailers to quickly create highly effective native apps, announced a major update to its platform with an array of features that provide retailers the ability to deliver a better experience to their customers and which support enablement and self-service.

The Poq platform update includes performance enhancements that speed app load times to better accommodate increased demand during the holiday season and Visual Search, an AI-driven image recognition-powered feature that allows shoppers to snap and upload a picture or one from Instagram, Pinterest, etc., and quickly receive matches similar to the item. Visual Search provides brands with a competitive advantage by increasing customer engagement and conversions and is proven to speed time to checkout by 2x.

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Poq’s newest customer Tobi, an international fast fashion retail brand serving consumers in more than 100 countries, is partnering with Poq to relaunch their mobile app before the 2018 holiday season.

“After thorough evaluation, Poq was the standout partner to relaunch the Tobi app. With their feature-rich SaaS platform, deep domain expertise, best of class support and unrivaled reputation working with global retail brands made this a clear decision for us,” said Kenneth Chan, CEO, Tobi.

According to Poq co-founder, Mike Hann, retailers on the Poq platform will reach $300 million in app-generated revenues in 2018 alone, validating Poq’s SaaS-based approach to mobile app commerce.

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“We’ve grown rapidly since we launched and have been well received by American retailers aware that mobile apps are most effective at engaging customers over the long term but do not want to invest the time and money into building apps from scratch or hiring an expensive firm to do so,” said Hann. “Our SaaS platform provides everything retailers need to quickly build and launch an app, including personalization, ecommerce and analytics, and with this update we now offer a better customer experience and eliminate barriers to growth, helping our customers to participate more fully in the global economy.”

New features now available on the Poq platform include:

• Visual Search – An image-recognition powered feature that significantly reduces the number of text-based searches and considerably increases conversion rates, Visual Search enables shoppers to snap a picture or upload an already existing image (e.g. from Instagram) and quickly receive similar matches to their desired item—all on the app.
• Currency Switcher – Retailers can now add multiple currencies allowing consumers to switch between countries and currencies which will allow retailers to target and engage customers beyond their borders.
• iOS12 – This latest update includes features that quicken in-app actions, group notifications, and increase control over app screen time. Poq leverages new iOS12 features and provide retailers with immediate support for the update to provide a smooth transition, decreasing the possibility of performance issues.
• App Performance – A new settings microservice will distribute configurations in a more efficient way that will impact and improve the speed of the app opening. Storing bag and wishlist information locally on the device, and removing API calls, will also improve app performance.

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