FOURTEEN VENDORS INCLUDED, MORE UNDERWAY
For years, I’ve advised retailers who are shopping for ecommerce technology. We’ve all seen companies struggle with the vendor selection process. Sometimes, the process is managed in-house. Other times, merchants hire a consultant with limited subject matter expertise or, worse, a vendor bias. It’s no surprise that so many wrestle with indecision; and switch horses with some frequency.
Recognizing the need for a better way that is objective, complete and fast, B2C Partners developed its own method to help clients measure for fit. It’s called FAST Score™. [click to continue…]
GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC) is buying another competitor. Innotrac (NASDAQ: INOC) will bring GSI 30 new clients and additional capacity for outsourced fulfillment and call center services. GSI is paying $52 million for the deal, after which it will boast nearly 5 million square feet of warehouse space and more than 2,000 seats in its call centers. In a similar deal, GSI acquired Accretive Commerce last year.
Mercado Software may be hanging by a thread. Reports from two separate sources today indicate that the company has run out of cash, and dismissed much of its staff — paring down to a skeleton crew to support existing clients. Mercardo president, Corey Leibow, denied the report, but only before hanging up the phone with a terse response, “It’s not true. That’s all I can say right now. Bye.”
The news gives further support to our assessment that a shakeout of the ecommerce platform market is now underway. [click to continue…]