Ecommerce Consulting and Technology Research

On Monday, Art Technology Group of Cambridge, Mass. officially released LiveStore™ for Commerce On Demand — a new and improved version of their on-demand ecommerce platform. How is it improved? Well, ATG fully retooled its out-of-the-box design. LiveStore is a starter-kit on steroids in a purely hosted model. With it, ATG promises to launch new clients in as few as four months.
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B2C Partners estimates the total U.S. market size for online retail software in 2009 is $415 million. We factor this based on the following:

  1. Total U.S. online retail revenue was $166 billion in 2008
    (Source: Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide)
  2. U.S. ecommerce growth was flat year-to-year in Q1-2009
    (Source: comScore)
  3. Online retailers last surveyed spent 3-5% of revenue on development and technology in 2005 and 2006.*
    (Source: SORO Report 2007, Forrester Research & Shop.org)
  4. Half of development and technology spend on ecommerce is for new features and site improvements (versus support and maintenance)
    (Source: SORO Report 2007, ibid.)
  5. Half of the merchants surveyed report they still use an in-house, homegrown ecommerce platform — not a third party system
    (Source: Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide)
  6. Typically a third of Year 1 costs for enterprise software are for software procurement (versus custom implementation)

Given these factors and assumptions, here are the calculations:

$ 166 billion online revenue
x 3% of revenue for development & technology
x 50% of dev/tech for site improvement (v. support)
x 50% of ecommerce platforms third party (v. in-house)
x 33.3% of Year 1 costs on software (v. services to deploy)
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$415 million market size for U.S. ecommerce software, 2009

   

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In its recent annual merchant survey, E-Tailing Group reported that 36% of retailers expect to invest in ecommerce technology this year. Last Fall, the 2008 Cross Channel Tech Trends Study produced by AMR Research and RIS News indicated that two-thirds plan to upgrade their platform by the end of 2009.

Together, this data suggests most online retailers upgrade their ecommerce platform once every 3 years. They may not change vendors. But it’s still a good bet that they are planning a major ecommerce upgrade now or very soon. Why so frequently? There are seven conditions that trigger a new look around the market. [click to continue…]

   

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Leading up to Holiday 2008, firms were predicting double digit growth online — despite the economy. Now we’re on the other side of holiday, and actual results are pointing in all directions. Why the confusion? Which numbers can we trust? Let’s examine the findings. [click to continue…]

   

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There is a suit in my wardrobe I’ve had awhile now. I picked it up before attending an event, when I was a few pounds lighter and a few inches leaner. The suit was tailored for a more svelte me. Today, it no longer flatters my form. It’s not about the suit’s design. It’s a size thing. Such is the case with some prominent ecommerce sites this holiday season. [click to continue…]

   

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