Wunderman Thompson Australia strengthens commerce capability with integration of Wunderman Thompson Commerce

Wunderman Thompson Australia has announced today the formal integration with the Wunderman Thompson Commerce business. Together, the agency now offers clients end-to-end capabilities to inspire and deliver growth, all underpinned by world-class creativity, technology and data expertise.

Wunderman Thompson Commerce has delivered winning commerce capabilities for businesses across online retail, D2C, B2B, social and marketplaces. Led by chief commerce officer Geoff Smeaton (left), the commerce team is made up of technical, project and strategic talent.

Says Lee Leggett (right), CEO of Wunderman Thompson Australia: “Building our commerce capability has been a strategic priority for our business in the past year as we saw rapid change in consumer behaviours accelerated through COVID-19, and subsequently impacting what clients are asking of us.

“The strategic addition of Wunderman Thompson Commerce to our business will bolster our already strong offering in this space. We’re thrilled to have Geoff and his talented team join our business to help our clients grow even more.”

Adds Smeaton: “Bringing the well-established commerce offering formally together with the amazing creative capabilities of Wunderman Thompson is a fantastic win for both our clients and the Wunderman Thompson proposition in Australia and the broader Asia Pacific region.”

The commerce division will add a wide range of capabilities to Wunderman Thompson Australia including eCommerce platform builds and support, system integration with third parties, security assessment and analysis, and business operations and trading support. As well as bolstering existing capabilities such as conversion rate optimisation and testing. The commerce business has over 50 strong technology and software partners including HCL, Adobe/Magento, Salesforce, Shopify, commercetools and more.

Says Annette Male, CEO of Wunderman Thompson APAC: “Bringing the strength of our commerce capabilities closer to the rest of our organisation, will accelerate the fastest growing area of our business that generated $14 billion of online transactions annually for our clients. As the only agency network to be recognised by Forrester as a leader in delivering commerce services, this integration further cements our position as the global omnichannel partner of choice to help our clients navigate and monetise direct-to-consumer platforms, marketplaces, and social commerce.”

Historically Wunderman Thompson Commerce has operated as a standalone business in Australia. With this integration, Wunderman Thompson Commerce will now formally be part of the Australian business, moving into the Melbourne office and reporting to Leggett.

The news comes after the recently appointed managing director of the Melbourne office, Nick Muncaster. Alongside recent leadership promotions of Martin Beecroft as chief technology and Innovation officer and Melanie Wiese as chief partnerships officer.