E-Commerce: A Systems Overview
In part 1 of this two-part series from our August issue, we classified e-commerce systems into four essential groups: bundled suites, enterprise leaders, niche players and experienced multichannel partners.
These groups serve as a convenient way to organize a list of the major systems you should be considering. Last month we covered bundled suites. In this issue we cover the remaining three (in alphabetical order within each category):
Enterprise Leaders
These systems support the largest multi-
channel e-commerce sites. They've typically been around the longest and have the greatest experience. In most cases, this equals a substantial price tag. But for large integrated enterprises, these solutions can be priceless. (Note: This doesn't include full-service agencies such as GSI Commerce, because they offer a lot more than website design or hosting.)
ATG Commerce Suite: used by more than 600 of the largest retailers
BroadVision: used by five of the top 10 Fortune 500 retailers, including Wal-Mart and Sears, to power their online stores
Demandware: Patricia Seybold Group says this is the only enterprise-class on-demand e-commerce platform
Fry Inc.: cited as an e-commerce "leader" in a recent Forrester Wave report; Fry is a hotbed of creativity
Intershop: the Enfinity Suite 6 supports major retailers worldwide, plus supply chain and affiliate connectivity
MarketLive: used by more than 100 multichannel retailers, plus catalogers and brand manufacturers
Truition: the CMS eCommerce Platform has 125-plus users in 10 countries, including Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NFL, Pelikan and ShopNBC.com
Venda: a "visionary" in Gartner's Magic Quadrant, users include Crabtree & Evelyn, the British Museum, Laura Ashley, Panasonic, Sharp and Urban Outfitters.
Niche Players
While smaller companies are in this group, there are also very large ones that are only niche in that their users don't represent the same substantial base of large e-commerce websites as "enterprise" vendors.
