• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 14, 2015

Vector Media Group, an interactive agency that provides publishers with content management, marketing and advertising services, is expanding its e-commerce capabilities with the acquisition of CartThrob, the company announced recently.

Vector is integrating CartThrob’s technology with the ExpressionEngine content management system, allowing publishers to create and manage e-commerce functions on their Web sites using the same dashboard as their editorial operations. The integration, which expands on Vector’s existing e-commerce capabilities, will enable publishing clients to sell products and services including digital publications (like whitepapers), conference registrations, memberships and subscriptions, as well as actual physical products.

According to Vector CEO Matt Weinberg, publishers have struggled with implementing e-commerce because few companies offer both content and commerce capabilities: “You can’t run a content site on Shopify, and meanwhile a service like WordPress is great for content, but only minimal on e-commerce.”

Weinberg noted some additional advantages of the CartThrob integration: “You can organize the e-commerce offerings with the same tags as your content, and when you’re publishing an article you can sell products that are related contextually to the content. There’s also a single membership, so the customer doesn’t have to log in again when they want to buy something.” Weinberg also emphasized that Vector has adopted the latest security measures for credit card encryption and protecting consumer information.