The digital commerce platform market is expected to grow steadily over the coming years according to research and advisory company Gartner.
Global spending on digital commerce platforms is set to reach US$9.4 billion by 2020 believes Gartner, while annual growth in this space is expected to reach 15% year-on-year from 2015 to 2020.
Retail is the most aggressive adopter of digital commerce according to Gartner, with companies across the sector investing heavily to enhance their profit margins and capabilities.
Companies are targeting revenue from digital sales, as well as looking to boost their digital channels and customer experience levels. But in order to achieve this, they need to select a platform that meet their needs and supports them on their journey towards enhanced digital commerce.
Each year, Gartner analyses the digital commerce industry and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the major players, creating what it calls the ‘Magic Quadrant’. This judges companies on their ability to execute and the completeness of their vision, and separates them into four categories: Niche Players, Challengers, Visionaries and Leaders.
We’re delighted to say that our friends at Magento were selected as a Leader in the digital commerce field due to the strength of both the company’s vision and its ability to execute in this space.
Leading the way
What characteristics does a leading company in the digital commerce space possess?
Gartner states that these leading companies ‘provide depth and breadth of commerce functionality’, ‘deliver commerce capabilities across multiple industries and business models’, and ‘deliver commerce platforms that can scale up to support large transaction volumes and high levels of digital commerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) revenue’.
Additionally, they also ‘provide sales and support services both directly and through an ecosystem of application, services and integration partners’ and ‘deliver additional application functionality that integrates with their core commerce platform’.
Leaders also need to appear on client evaluations of digital commerce vendors, and show financial, technical and organisational viability.
For Magento to be selected as a Leader therefore is indicative of the company meeting these high standards in ways other companies simply cannot. It’s great to see this kind of kudos being sent Magento’s way.
Showing its strength
If you’ve already adopted a platform from Magento, you will be well aware of the kind of benefits that are delivered. But if you’re looking to upgrade your digital commerce platform and considering a Magento offering as your next choice, Gartner has outlined some key reasons as to why this could be the way to go.
The first is Magento’s flexibility. Highly customisable thanks to their open-core and REST APIs, Magento’s platforms are suitable for a spectrum of transactions, even stretching beyond traditional retail or digital sales according to Gartner.
Additionally, the Magento Marketplace app store allows customers to get hold of extensions beyond retail, allowing them to find the right combination of factors for their business’s unique needs.
The flexibility of its pricing model is another key strength of Magento. This is based on tiers of digital commerce GMV revenue and generated through B2C, B2B and B2B sites. Lower license costs compared to competitors also makes the Magento platform a viable, cost-effective option.
Customer feedback on Magento’s products is also overwhelmingly positive according to Gartner’s findings. All customers spoken to by Gartner for its latest Magic Quadrant report indicated extremely high overall satisfaction with Magento as a company and the functionality and flexibility the platform delivers.
Magento’s willingness to enhance its offering is a further strength. Ever since Magento Enterprise v.2.0 was released in November 2015, the company has made performance and architectural enhancements to subsequent versions of the platform. Everything from check-out improvements to more streamlined ways to manage customer data are continually allowing customers to improve their operations using Magento commerce.
All these factors collectively make Magento a Leader in the digital commerce field and highlight why the company’s suite of commerce products are suitable for a wide range of retailers and industry types.
What to look out for
The digital commerce market is a rapidly evolving entity and Gartner has shed some light on the key changes and transitions it expects to see over the coming years.
For example, by 2020, Gartner believes companies that are digitally trustworthy will create 20% more online profit over companies who do not enjoy this kind of trust.
Gartner also predicts that by 2020, a quarter of the leading online sellers will be providing capabilities that allows commerce to ‘come to the customer’.
Personalisation is also set to play an increasing role in the digital commerce space. Gartner predicts that smart personalisation engines will recognise the intent of customers and ultimately help companies boost their profits by as much as 15%.
It is in areas such as this that leading companies such as Magento will likely be focusing their efforts and looking to enhance the capabilities of their offerings.
Making the most of Magento
If you’re an existing Magento customer, it’s great to know you’re in such capable hands. Be sure to stay on top of any updates or opportunities Magento may provide to boost your ecommerce capabilities, as this industry is fast-moving.
Williams Commerce is a Magento Enterprise Partner with vast experience in delivering the Magento solutions to businesses across the retail sector. We can provide advice and support on how to get the best out of Magento’s immense functionality – no matter what size your business is.
Similarly, if you have not yet adopted a leading ecommerce platform, now really is the time. Get in touch with one of our team of Magento experts today and let us help you lay a solid foundation on which to grow a successful (and secure) online business.
Our specialisms are not limited to Magento adoption however. As a full service digital agency, we also offer branding and web design work, UX and conversion optimisation, digital marketing services including PPC and SEO, systems integration and can provide the underlying server infrastructure required to help your website get results.
Join dozens of other businesses who have chosen Williams Commerce as their dedicated full service commerce partner to help them build multi-million pound businesses online. We’d be delighted to hear from you.
Call us on 0116 326 1116 or email [email protected]
