E Commerce Platforms

E - COMME RCE
P L ATF ORMS
S P E C I A L R E P ORT 1 1
b r o u g h t t o y o u b y
2 E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS
brought to you by
elcome to Power Retails Special
Report, E-Commerce Platforms.
Beneath the skin of every great e-commerce
business lies a strong heart the e-commerce
platform.
Choosing your e-commerce platform is one
of the most important decisions and invest-
ments a retailer will make into their online
and multichannel future. Consideration of
business requirements and development of a solid strategy are crucial to
the selection of a platform. As many of our experts concur, ensuring that
you nd a solution that ts your business objectives, not the other way
around, is imperative to online retail success.
With the multitude of options, highly technical language, endless
features and benets of each platform, assessing complex solutions can
be an overwhelming task for time poor retailers and online marketers,
that should require guidance and advice from industry experts. Keeping
this in mind we thank all our valued industry contributors and sponsors,
in ensuring that the Power Retail E-Commerce Platforms Special Report
will shed some light on the complex, yet intriguing world of e-commerce
platforms, while providing insights and best practice advice about the
solutions available to online and multichannel retailers.
Nirosha Methananda
Content Creator
Power Retail
CONTENTS
E-Commerce Platforms The Low Down 04
E-Commerce Market Place Overview 10
Connecting the Dots IntegratingYour E-Commerce Platform 18
Future ProongYour Investment 20
Q&A: Peter Domjen, IBM Software Group 21
A Bespoke Experience - The Nile 22
Case Study 23
Solution Providers 24
FOREWORD & EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
W
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We are living on a very different planet from the
one we lived on even a few years ago. The age
of the globally integrated economy and society
has arrived. The world is becoming atter,
which means any size company, from any place
on earth, can now establish a global footprint.
In fact, midsize and small businesses now
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globally and employ over 90% of the worlds
workforce. They have become the engines
driving economic growth and fuelling a smarter
planet. This is an extraordinary moment
in time a time of challenges but of even
greater opportunities. As our planet becomes
smarter, midsize businesses will wield more of
the inuence that once belonged to only the
largest enterprises and in Australia, IBM
and
our Business Partners* are providing the
support and know-how to help turn their vision
into reality and their ideas into results.
Learn more about what IBM and its partners
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ibm.com/businesscentre/au
Midsize businesses are the engines of a smarter planet.
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PUBLISHER
Power Retail is Australias news
and information resource for the
online and multichannel retail
community. The mediumexists
to help bridge the knowledge
gap between what is being
done and what can be done in
e-commerce retailing.
www.powerretail.net
PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
IBMWebSphereCommerce is
apowerful customer interaction
platformfor online andcross-
channel commerce. Designed
todynamically respondto
customers online it acts like a
goodsales personinastore, and
is recognisedas anindustry-
leadinge-commerce solution. IBM
WebSphere
Commerce supports business
toconsumer andbusiness-to-
business models, while providing
arich, diferentiatedcustomer
experience throughasingle
platform.
www.ibm.com.au
SOLUTION SPONSOR
White Labelled are a leading
ecommerce consultancy
providing a full service and
outsourced ofering to
Australias largest
and well known multi channel
and pure play retailers.
The White Labelled teamknow
ecommerce and work with all
leading platforms like Magento,
IBM Websphere, Hybris and
ATG coupled with extensive
experience integrating a myriad
of ERP, POS and back end
systems. A proven process and
methodology will maximise your
ecommerce investment and
generate real results.
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EVENT PARTNER
Online Retailer is a four-
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It's the most comprehensive
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E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS 4 5 E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS
brought to you by brought to you by
E-Commerce Platforms
The Low Down
undamental to any e-commerce website, is the platform
upon which its built. This not only forms the basis of an
online business, allowing online transactions to occur, but in
the rapidly evolving world of multichannel retailing it may
be the solution through which to drive your business into the future.
Though the basic denition of an e-commerce platform is a software
that enables transaction via the internet, these platforms have quickly
developed into comprehensive, all encompassing online retail solutions.
Companies are then able to target, capture, engage and retain customers,
through not just the traditional web store, but also via ofine, mobile and
social media channels.
Apart of the platform functionality is the ability to integrate and talk
to other systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), logistics
and fullment systems. Some functionality which might have been con-
sidered to be outside the platform, for example newsletters, marketing
tactics, have now also been incorporated into the platforms, comments
John Debrincat, CEO, eCorner.
Further to this point Gartner, in its Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce
report, lists the following elements as being what an e-commerce technol-
ogy provider includes as a part of a online retailing solution indicating
that retailers should be looking for a platform that goes beyond simply
providing software to transact online:

Provides all key commodity e-commerce components, such as shopping
cart management, product catalogs and settlement processes required for
business-to-business (B2B) andbusiness-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce.

Provides a Web 2.0 Rich Internet Application (RIA) customer experi-
ence with shopping tools, such as sliders for search and single-page
check-out, and the ability to leverage user-generated content, such as
F
WORDS: Nirosha Methananda CUSTOM/
BESPOKE
SOLUTIONS
These systems are
developed to the
retailers exact
specications.
The platformis
owned by the
retailer and is not
commercially
available for
license to other
retailers. The
retailer or third
party is responsible
for ongoing
maintenance,
enhancements,
and problem
resolution.
LICENSED
SOLUTIONS
Retailers
typically pay a
one-time license
fee and annual
maintenance
fees for these
solutions to
Independent
Software
Vendors (ISV) and
are supported
on hardware
platforms
operated by the
retailer. The fees
cover ongoing
enhancements,
bug xes, and
patches.
MANAGED
SOLUTIONS
Retailers pay a third
party provider, in
most cases the
licensed ISV, to host
their e-commerce
applications. The
provider takes
responsibility for
installing software,
hardware, and
upgrades, working to
achieve a negotiated
Service Level Agreement
(SLA). This arrangement
reduces stress on
the retailers internal
resources and can
support either custom
or licensed applications.
SOFTWARE AS A
SERVICE (SAAS)
SOLUTIONS
SaaS solutions rely on a
multi-instance application
where many clients use
the same technology and
hosting environment.
These solutions typically
cost less to run, ofer
the benets of shared
development and support,
and may be implemented
more efciently for clients.
Downsides in the past have
been a lack of exibility and
control and a sense that
the development needs of
an individual client may be
subject to the needs of the
vendor or its larger clients.
FULL
SERVICE
SOLUTIONS
The service
provider takes full
responsibility for all
e-commerce software/
service requirements,
including hosting,
development of applications,
customisation, loading
of data, generation of
reports and analytics,
and any other
technical or business
management
required to run
the e-commerce
environment.
E-COMMERCE SOLUTION OPTIONS
REFERENCES:
AMR Research, E-Commerce Platforms: A B2CVendor Landscape, September 2009
Forrester Research, The Forrester Wave: B2C ecommerce Platforms, Q4 2010, 21 October 2010
product reviews, wikis, blogs and Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

Leverages external web services (e.g., Google Maps, Google Analytics
and product reviews) and internal web services (such as fulllment sys-
tems, ERP or call-center-based web services) to complete the customer
experience.

Integrates withother points of interaction, especially those that improve
andgrowquickly, suchas mobile smart phones andweb-capable phones.

Supports multiple forms of payment options for B2B and B2C sales.

Provides product/service recommendations in real time.

Enables improvements to site search and external search engine discov-
ery (for example, Google, Bing, MSN and Yahoo).

Enables personalisation of the overall online experience.

Offers appropriate ownership models, such as licensed software, web
hosting services, software as a service (SaaS), outsourcing and open-
source software (OSS).

Has a large, deep set of technology and service partners.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS COMMON PITFALLS AND TRAPS
Investment into an e-commerce platform is usually consummate to the
size and maturity of a business. With the current attention given to the
growth of online retail within the Australian market, more and more
retailers (if they are not already) are undoubtedly feeling the pressure to
transact online.
Yet more often than not this results in unplanned and rushed trans-
actional websites enter the addition to the Australian online retail
landscape of established heavyweight David Jones. The companys e-
commerce site was met with criticism from industry peers and experts,
which had David Jones CEO Paul Zahra recently admitting that the site
is certainly not best practice. However he continued that the company
is working on a strategic solution, commenting We prefer to be the tor-
toise rather than the hare and actually learn from other peoples mistakes
before we go and invest heavily.
While unfortunate for David Jones investing in a solution that was less
than par, this is a goodlearning for other retailers, that there are consider-
ations to make when selecting and implementing e-commerce solutions.
You need to sit down and have a well thought out plan without this,
you are ying by the seat of your pants, advises Luke Hilton, Online
Retail Specialist, Playhouse Digital.
Peter Domjen, Ecommerce Sales Director, IBMSoftware Group, warns,
The top three problems retailers should be aware of include: incomplete
strategies, lack of business requirements and conicting stakeholder
priorities.
So what are the other most common pitfalls and traps to be aware of
andaddress when selecting an e-commerce platform? When speaking to a
number of experts, the most notable of these is the failure to recognise the
resources and skill required after the platform is launched.

The top three problems retailers should be aware
of include: incomplete strategies, lack of business
requirements and conicting stakeholder priorities.

Peter Domjen, Ecommerce Sales Director, IBM
Software Group
E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS 6 7 E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS
THE
PLATFORM
Does itintegratewith third party
applications through web services?
Is thetechnology is scalableforyourbusiness,
continually developed and updated?
Is theplatformis robustand back-end is easy to use?
Is ita globally applicablesolution?
Does theplatformincorporatewebsiteusability features (e.g.
sitesearch)and marketing features (e.g. userreviews, cross-
sell, up-sell, socialmedia plugins, etc)?
Does theplatformperformreliably and provides a secure
environmentforpurchasing?
Is theplatformeasy to useand does itfacilitate
customers to purchase?
Does thesolution provides analytics and data
information, forpersonalisation and
targeting?
AGENCY
CONSIDERATIONS
Do they havea proven reputation with
otherretailers?
Do they understand yourbusiness
requirements and objectives?
Whatlevelof servicewillthey providepreand
post-implementation?
Do they provideongoing training and support?
Whatvisibility willyou haveof theproject?
Do theprovidea reliableproductand
hosted environment?
SYSTEM
INTEGRATION
CONSIDERATIONS
Does theplatformtalkto your
existing business systems? Consider:
ERP, CRM, CMS, PLM
Catalogue Manager
Order Management
Warehouse and Fulflment
Systems
Accounting/Finance
Systems
MULTICHANNEL
CONSIDERATIONS
Willthesystems allowyou to
operatebeyond justyourweb-
based store (e.g. Store/POS,
SocialNetworks, CallCentre,
Mobile, Marketplaces,
Comparison Shopping
Sites, etc).
MARKETING
INTEGRATION
CONSIDERATIONS
Does theplatformprovideyou with
thenecessary marketing capabilities or
integratewith third-party systems that
you havein place? Consider:
Email
Social Networks
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Loyalty Programs
Afliate Programs
INTERNAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Haveyou developed an e-commerce
strategy/plan, including all the business
requirements and objectives?
Whatis thedegreeof skilland resources required
to implementtheplatform(e.g. inputof data, design,
developmentand customisation of theplatform, etc)?
Does theprojecthavethewiderbusiness buy in? Have
you informed and involved allinternalstakeholders?
Whatis theallocated budgetand timeframes forthe
project?
Whatis thetotalcostof operations fortheproject,
including ongoing costs?
Haveyou developed a strategy and allocated
budgetforongoing maintenancepost-
implementation?
E-COMMERCE
PLATFORMS
CONSIDERATIONS
An online store is like any bricks and mortar store. Its not like if you
build it they will come, you need a support structure and someone mak-
ing decisions about the day to day operations, comments Hilton. Also as
an online retailer, ensuring you have a strong support channel across call
centre and logistics is vital.
The most common mistake that we see, is that websites are too com-
plex to maintain and grow the merchant gets frustrated and eventually
the whole thing dies, concurs Debrincat.
Often the platform is too technical and businesses struggle to main-
tain the backend, cannot add products easily, manage stock levels, etc,
he continues. Alot of its to do with user training and knowledge. Weve
found that giving retailers good training capabilities, forums, FAQs,
opportunities to interact with other retailers, guides and videos, makes
their use of the platform much simpler. Training is a vital part of making
the whole process work.
Another common problem is underestimating the actual work
required for enabling the platform. Deciding what products youre
going to sell, why and the pricing model also plays a factor in the
success of your e-commerce business, points out Hilton. Product
information needs to be up to scratch. For example, think about the
amount of information required to sell a digital camera online (e.g.
specs, connections, weight, images, etc). This information must be
collected from suppliers/distributors and put into a format that will
be enticing to the customer.
These sentiments are echoed by Phil Grech, Founder, FourFires Solu-
tions, Rolling out platforms is not that difcult; its all about logistics,
fullment, data and business timings. For example, dening a process
for getting images and data into the platform, in terms of organising
photo shoots, touching up photos and uploading the data requires a
whole workow process.
Retailers needto be mindful of the solutions they are choosing andhow
they t in with the business and also understand the resources and work
required in order to present a competitive online offering. No longer do
the traditional rules apply, information is key and attention spans are
short content needs to be engaging, or the consumer may very well
move on to the next site.
MINDING YOUR BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
A key aspect of evaluating e-commerce solutions is assessing your
internal business requirements and then depending on your process,
formulating a Request for Proposals (discussed by Martin Newman on
page 17).
Retailers need to dene their business goals and objective and this
comes back to doing internal analysis in order to establish and make
these decisions, recommends Paul Wilson, Managing Director, White
Labelled.
Further to this, Domjen advises that retailers should consider the fol-
lowing factors when assessing business requirements:

Readiness of the business for e-commerce

The businesses e-commerce maturity

Management Support

Governance and Control

Expertise and Skills

Maturity of the Vendor

Training and Education
Once complete, retailers can then begin to assess e-commerce platforms
based on how they t within their business requirements.
The key is making sure the strategy is supported business wide and
establishing the budget associated with the project this will often
determine which platforms a retailer is able to implement, says Wilson.
He warns, If working with an agency, make sure the agency has
proven e-commerce experience and can make independent platform
recommendations to meet the business needs, rather than going
with a familiar solution that may not necessarily t the business
requirements.
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM MUST HAVES...
Must have features and functions of a robust e-commerce platform.
PAUL WILSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WHITE LABELLED

Back-End Easy to use administration function and workow
processes to manage the website.

Customisability - The ability to be customisable to meet clients
design and branding requirements.

Usability Provides a good user experience and utilises best
practice design and usability principles.

Performance Reliability Able to cope with large amounts of
trafc, while serving a fast performing interaction.

JOHN DEBRINCAT, CEO, ECORNER

Security - You are basically building a business on this platform, so
you need to know its going to be safe and secure, that you and your
customers are going to be able to trust it.

Multichannel Capabilities - Merchants need to look at eBay,
Facebook, and similar channels. A good online platformtoday will
support multiple channels in some way or another.

Site Search - Having good search capabilities on the website is
really important. 80 percent of all online sales start with search.
Most people think of search as an after thought; however an online
store with a few hundred products without a robust search function
is not going to be that successful.

Automated Marketing Capabilities - Once the store is built, you
have to rely on marketing to get people to the store and purchase.
Therefore your platformneeds to support a wide range of marketing
capabilities, such as cross-sell, up sell, newsletters, ability to hook
into social networks, etc.
LUKE HILTON, ONLINE RETAIL SPECIALIST, PLAYHOUSE DIGITAL

Product Data A robust product information management (PIM)
system, needs to be in place for consistency. Once in place the same
'single source of truth' can be used across channels (e.g. mobile,
kiosks, etc).

Purchase Automation - A strong order-management feature/
function ensures support channels like customer service and
logistics have full insight of customers orders and can fulll them
efciently.

Proven ability to Integrate - Choose a platformthat has a proven
track record of integrating with incumbent systems and leading
point solutions (e.g. email marketing, search, etc).

Scalability Solutions should grow with your business and allow
you to incorporate new brands and cater for internationalisation
(e.g. currencies, languages, etc).
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E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS 8
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EXPLORING THE OPTIONS: OPEN SOURCE, ENTERPRISE AND SAAS
With a plethora of solutions available, our
resident experts go through the diferences,
advantages and disadvantages of open
source, proprietary e-commerce and Software
as a Service (SaaS) solutions.
OPEN SOURCE
Software that has been developed by an
organisation or community of individuals
that is distributed (usually free) using an open
source license.
The issue with open source for all
merchants is that they need the technical
capability to make it work. This is not a simple
solution, you have to manage it yourself and
apply your own xes and patches, advises
John Debrincat, CEO, eCorner.
There is a greater potential for security
issues and security aws with open source,
compared to of the shelf solutions, adds Paul
Wilson, Managing Director, White Labelled.
However these are often closed more quickly,
because it has a community supporting it.
The open source solutions usually have
large community forums which allow
the platformto be extended in quite a
cost efective and are also often quite
customisable.
PROPRIETARY/ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE
More often this is a license scenario and can
be more costly. Often there are limitations
and boundaries (compared to open source),
if you require your own infrastructure
from a hosting perspective. The benefits
of this are that it is supported, forever
evolving and opens you up to the upgrade
and improvements. It is also often scalable
and more of an enterprise level platform,
advises Wilson.
SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS)
Some companies have taken open source
solutions and used them to build a SaaS
platform, meaning that these websites
are in a mass hosted environment sharing
infrastructure with hundreds or thousands
of other companies. You dont have to
install or download anything, because the
underlying software which is hosted on the
SaaS platform is doing everything.
explains Debrincat.
The mass-hosting environment is more
about the speed of deployment, SaaS
platforms are growing rapidly because they
enable people to jump in and get that quick
start, without a high level of technical skills.
However you never really own the site
as such, your always bound to the service
through which youre subscribed, adds
Wilson. In some instances you do get to
retain the data, in others you dont. You can
also be limited by the functionality which the
vendor releases.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Client requirements and budgets are usually
a determining factor. Its really a very case-by-
case scenario and its a matter of understanding
what options are available and which platform
suits your requirements best, advises Wilson.
Phil Grech, Founder, FourFires Solutions
says, Retailers need to examine the maturity
of their organisations and be honest with
themselves in their team's ability to manage
a solution. For example, if a retailer has
limited IT capability and their e-commerce
requirements are stock standard then
considering a SaaS model should denitely be
an option. Alternatively, a retailer who does
have some built in capability may wish to
explore the packaged platformroute and/or
could also consider the open source market.
It really does come down to t with the
individual retailer."
E-Commerce Technology Costs Estimates - SME's
AnnualReccuringCosts Small Medium Large
DomainName(maxcostfor.com.au) $99.00 $99.00 $99.00
Business Email Address $99.00 $198.00 $198.00
SSLCertificate $385.00 $385.00
TotalAnnualRecurring $198.00 $682.00 $682.00
MonthlyRecurringCosts 100SKUs 2000SKUs 10,000SKUs
Website $77.00 $122.00 $220.00
SEO Assistance (estimate) $99.00 $99.00
SEM (estimate) $100.00 $200.00
PaymentProvider Basedonmonthlyandtransactionfeesbypaymentprovider.
ShippingCosts Basedonthenumberandtypesofshipments.
TotalMonthlyRecurring $77.00 $321.00 $519.00
OneTimeCosts(Optional)
Design $600.00 $1,000.00 $4,000.00
Customisation $1,000.00 $5,000.00
TotalOneTimeCosts $600.00 $2,000.00 $9,000.00
Total First Years Cost Estimate (Starting From) $1,900.00 $8,350.00 $16,750.00
E-Commerce Technology Costs Estimates - Enterprise E-Commerce Businesses
CostAreas BusinessandOnlineShopSizeandComplexity
Visitorsperday 1000 10,000+ 50,000+ 100,000+
Products 5000 10,000 15,000 20,000+
IntegrationPoints 2 4 6 6+
OnlineShops 1 1 2 Many
Infrastructure (monthly) - servers, hosting, data,
backup
$500 - $1000 $1000 - $3K $2K - $5K $5K+
Integration(onetimecost) $10K - $20K $15K - $25K $20K - $40K $30K - $50K
E-Commerce Software Licence (annual/monthly
estimates)
$3K - $10K or
$300 - $400 PM
$3K - $10K or
$300 - $400 PM
$20Kor$900PM $100K(POA)
E-Commerce Software (annual maintenance) $600 - $2K $600 - $2K $4K $20K
DevelopmentandDeployment(onetimecost) $5K - $10K $10 - 15K $10K - $20K $20K
Human Resources - Directly related to the online store
managementandmaintenance.
1-Feb 1-Feb 1-Mar 2-May
AnticipatedReturnonInvestment <6Months <6Months <9Months <12Months
Timetodevelopanddeploy 1-3 Months 1-3 Months 3-6 Months 3-9 Months
SuppliedcourtesyofeCorner
BUDGETS AND TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
When budgeting for e-commerce solutions, Debrincat advises that
retailers need to consider the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for the
platform. This includes the amount you will pay for the platform
itself, its implementation, required resources, ongoing maintenance,
marketing and promotion, etc.
Its not just how much you pay each month for the store and
hosting, but how much for SEO, SEM, Adwords, how much
time you have to put in each month to update and maintain
the site, etc. If youve got a $29 solution, requiring ve hours
a month to maintain it, compared to a $50 solution, requiring
only an hour per month for maintenance, what is cheaper solu-
tion?
These are the issues people dont think through. Look at
the total cost of ownership, worked out over a two-year time
window, because thats typically how long it should take to get
your site working uidly, he advises.
E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS 2.0
In its report Welcome To The Era Of Agile Commerce, Forrester
Research introduced the idea of agile commerce which is an
approach to commerce that enables businesses to optimise
their people, processes and technology to serve customers
across all touchpoints, of which a driving factor and the
basis of this metamorphosis is the e-commerce platform (see
The Commerce Ecosystem Evolves to Support a Multitude of
Touchpoints diagram).
Forrester suggests that moving towards this model of
operation will reduce the overall cost of ownership for tech-
nologies, as opposed to investing in and integrating channel-specific
technologies.
With the clear development and agility of current e-commerce
platforms, this trend seems to already be occurring. It is a matter of busi-
nesses identifying their objectives and requirements and then choosing
the most appropriate solution. n
Potential Total Cost of Ownership
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E-Commerce
Market Place Overview
hen examining e-commerce
platforms, there are a
plethora of solutions available
for retailers to consider ranging
from premium enterprise solutions that can
cost anywhere from the tens to hundreds
of thousands of dollars, to solutions that
are free but may require a high level of
technical skills and expertise to implement.
Given this myriad of choices and the fact
that an e-commerce platform is the foundation
of any online retail offering, nding the right
solution to t with your business, integrate
with existing systems and most obviously
meet customers needs can be challenging.
GETTING SOME PERSPECTIVE
When considering and implementing an e-
commerce platform, the number of stakehold-
ers involved (internally and externally) can be
numerous. John Debrincat, CEOof eCorner
takes us through a couple of different perspec-
tives to consider when making your decision:

Retailers Perspective looking for a plat-
form that includes the features they want,
is not too technically difcult to use and
offers decent training and support facilities.

Designers Perspective looking
for a platform that supports their
latest and greatest designs.

Developers Perspective looking for a
platform that will offer them a lot of juicy
work. They will tend to move more towards
an open source and proprietary platform.

Provider/Agency Perspective looking
for a maintainable system, something that
will keep up-to-date with the latest browser
technology, have mobile capability and the
latest anti-hacker and fraud protection. Gen-
erally they are concerned with the underly-
ing maintainability of the entire system.
GETTING UP AND RUNNING
There are a number of factors to consider when
implementing an e-commerce platform. Luke
Hilton, Online Retail Specialist, Playhouse
Digital takes us through some considerations
to keep in mind during this process.
TIMEFRAMES
The timeframes for implementing an
e-commerce platform can vary enormously,
depending on the type of business, what
is being sold, what solution youve
chosen, how much customisation is
required, how much support is offered,
etc. Hilton lists potential timeframes
and the possible activities involved with
implementing a new e-commerce platform.
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM RESOURCES
There are a number of resources on offer
for retailers when considering e-commerce
solutions, including the following reports
which are highly regarded worldwide:

Forrester Wave: B2C ecom-
merce Platforms Report

Gartner Magic Quadrant
for E-Commerce

AMRResearch E-Commerce
Platforms: AB2C Vendor Landscape
Though these reports examine
solutions that are considered at the
premium end of the e-commerce
spectrum, they provide a good guide
for retailers who are looking for
high-level comparisons between
various e-commerce solutions.
They form the basis of the Expert
Opinion sections in the following
e-commerce platform comparisons.
BEYOND IMPLEMENTATION
You are usually talking at least a 2-3 head-
count, when looking at onsite merchandising
decisions. You will need someone to manage
the day-to-day promotions (landing pages,
banner ads, etc) and to ensure youre inline
with the wider businesses marketing calendar,
etc, advises Hilton in relation to required
post-implementation internal resources.
They will need to liaise with buyers,
product managers, the wider marketing
team, external third party agencies, the
call centre its about developing clear
communication with all stakeholders.
W
TIME FRAME ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
2-3 Weeks
Strategy
Development
Includesafullassessmentofthemarket,the
opportunities,thecosts,returnoninvestment,
thekindofbusinessstructurethatyouneed
4 Weeks
Platform
Selection
IncludesafullRequestforProposal(RFP)
process,depenignonyourinternalprocurement
processesyoumayhaveuptoeightoptions
in a long list. A 'short list' can be created once
productdemonstrationsandresponsesare
receivedthrougheachplatformvendor.
8 - 12 Weeks Project Build
Includesthescope,design,information
architecture,systemdevelopment,system
integration,testingphasesandthenlaunch.
WORDS: Nirosha Methananda
OVERVIEW
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
T
here are many areas that need to be
considered when it comes to developing
an e-commerce platformor redesigning
an existing solution, as it will have potential
implications for anyone and any part of
your operation involved in this channel. The
resources you need to consider will include:
IT and systemdevelopment;
Website design;
Buying and merchandising;
Commercial planning and stock
management;
Pricing and promotions management;
Content creation and content management
(including photography and copy);
Product photography and art working;
Online/digital marketing;
Order management;
Loss-prevention fraud-screening;
Customer contact management;
Warehousing facilities: pick, pack, despatch
and returns processing;
Parcel carrier service; and
Reporting and control.
The information gleaned fromthis process
will be fed into theRequest For Proposals
(RFPs) that are usually given to four or ve
suppliers who have been selected to pitch
or respond to the RFP. They are selected
based on a combination of your budget, your
requirements including any specic technical
requirements, their experience of your sector,
culture, size and importance of you to the
supplier. The detail in the RFP should include
the following:
1. REQUIREMENTS FORTHE END USER
FUNCTIONALITYAND EXPERIENCE,
INCLUDING:
The customer proposition;
Site sections;
Navigation;
Browsing;
Personalisation;
Search and merchandising;
Basket and checkout; and
Customer communication.
2. BACK OFFICE
FUNCTIONALITY, INCLUDING:
Category hierarchy/management;
Product maintenance;
Product visibility;
General content management;
Personalisation/Customisation;
Promotions management;
Call centre and customer service
functionality; and
Analytics.
3. MULTI CHANNEL
REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING:
EPOS; and
CRM, etc.
4. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS,
INCLUDING:
Data security/access
Hosting requirements
5. INTEGRATION REQUIREMENTS,
INCLUDING:
Multi channel integration;
ntegration with existing merchandise
systems;
Integration with CRMsystem;
Integration with warehouse/stock system;
Integration with nance and reporting
system;
Integration with couriers/distribution
companies; and
Integration with any other customsystem
(such as, hotel bookings, events, etc).
6. FUTURE REQUIREMENTS,
CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDE:
Internationalisation; and
Adaptablility to newtechnology.
7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS,
INCLUDING:
Trading and performance reports for all KPIs;
Exception reports; and
Financial reports.
You would then reviewand evaluate detailed
proposals against your provided requirements,
begin to score vendors against your agreed
selection criteria and conduct additional due
diligence: including live demos of suppliers
platform. And nally youre ready to make a
recommendation.
Followthis process and youll have the best
opportunity of delivering your newsite on
time, on scope and on budget with a solution
thatst for purpose.
DIY OPTIONS
For those more technically savvy retailers who have a penchant of the do it yourself variety
here are a couple of open source e-commerce platforms for consideration:
osCommerce Online Merchant is an open
source online shop e-commerce solution
that is available for free with an out-of-
the-box online shopping cart functionality
that allows store owners to setup, run, and
maintain online stores at no cost. (www.
oscommerce.com)
Zen Cartis a free, user-friendly, open
source shopping cart software, which can
be installed and set-up by anyone with the
most basic web site building and computer
skills. (www.zen-cart.com)
VirtueMart is an open source e-commerce
solution to be used together with a content
management systemJoomla!. (http://
virtuemart.net/)
Shopify is a free hosted e-commerce
package though it requires very little
technical skills, Shopify takes a 3.75%
commission on all sales. (www.shopify.com)
WORDS: Martin Newman,
CEO, Practicology
12 13 E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS
IBM
WEBSPHERE
COMMERCE
RETAILERS PERSPECTIVE
1800-FLOWERS.COM
To better enable synergies between its 14
gifting brands, create greater business agility,
1-800-FLOWERS.COM,INC. needed to replace
multiple, diverse, siloed e-commerce systems
with a unied technology platform.
The company chose IBM WebSphere
Commerce, in part because of the exible and
efcient way in which it functions behind the
scenes. With WebSphere Commerce, basically
youve got a single website that handles all
of the transactions, said Steve Bozzo, CIO at
1-800-FLOWERS.COM. This central engine
supports as many customer-facing web stores
as you like, and its easy to add new ones or
roll out new features across brands.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM teamed with IBM to
implement IBM WebSphereCommerce
for two of its gift food brands as an initial
proof of concept for the platform. The site,
thepopcornfactory.comhas seen a consistent
rise in conversion since its launch. Using
knowledge gained fromthis rst rollout,
the company will take a greater role in
transitioning most of its other brands to the
new platformover the coming year.
The platformwill enable the individual
brands to do things they would never have
been able to cost-justify before, Bozzo said.
Its going to give us unprecedented agility.
Well be able to re-merchandise our web
stores on the y in response to competitive
ofers. That will make us much more relevant
to the customer, which is critical. Customer
expectations continue to ratchet up, and
this new platformis positioning us to meet
themgoing forward. Well have an immediacy
and responsiveness that will give us a real
competitive advantage.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
FEATURES:
Delivers a seamless, branded shopping
experience across all channels including
digital and physical touch points within
each channel (see Customer Interaction
Platformdiagram);
Integrated social commerce capabilities
enable online stores to support product
ratings and reviews via integration with
vendors like BazaarVoice and blogs,
photo gallery and social proles through
integration with IBM Lotus;
Provides powerful business user tools for
merchandising, catalogue management
and cross-channel precision marketing
campaigns and promotions.
The platform has been extended with
a rich set of open, standards-based
interfaces that integrate the platform
with supply chain solutions like Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) and Distributed
Order Management (DOM)
applications.
Enables smart phones as new customer
touch points for browsing the online
store, conducting side-by-side product
comparisons, receiving marketing
messages, promotion codes, store location
information, inventory availability, and
completing transactions.
Companies can sense trigger events like
abandoned cart, order placement, social
media participation, search term, or
referring URL, and take actions to target
shoppers with ofers such as custom
landing pages, mobile SMS text messages
or targeted product cross-sells and up-sells
through IBMs Precision Marketing engine.
Includes a framework for consistent
integration with third-party web analytics
vendors such as Coremetrics and
Omniture.
DELIVERY MODEL: Licensed model, with
SaaS option also available.
COST: IBMWebsphere Commerce Express
entry-level ofering, whichis designed
for small to mediumbusinesses starts at
around $50,000but canvary depending on
workloads.
CLIENTS: Sears, City Beach, 1800 Flowers,
Ofce Brands, Staples and Sony.
EXPERT OPINION - IBM WEBSPHERE
REPORT STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
The Forrester Wave:
B2C eCommerce Platforms, Q4 2010
(IBM WebSphere Commerce v.7)
Represents a highly exible and scalable
enterprise B2C e-commerce solution.
Combines a rich set of e-commerce
capabilities with a exible service-oriented
architecture (SOA) and integration capability,
enabling the product to be extended and
customised.
IBM have a rich product strategy focused on
core product enhancements.
Flexibility of the IBM product must be
carefully leveraged to avoid the risk of
increased total cost of ownership (TCO).
Gartner Magic Quandrant for
E-Commerce
(IBM WebSphere Commerce v.7)
Provides additional e-commerce capabilities,
such as multichannel enablement, a gift
registry, an inbound call center solution, SEO,
multisite management.
Mobile e-commerce support works via a
storefront starter template optimised for
smart phones and ofers carrier and device
detection. Additionally ofers GPS-based
store location mapping, buy-on-mobile with
distribution order management integration
for inventory visibility, a quick check-out
function.
Some Gartner clients and references
stated that the platformprice was not
competitive, its technical architecture
did not t with their organisations, or
the ownership model did not match their
e-commerce requirements.
AMR Research E-Commerce Platforms:
A B2C Landscape
(WebSphere Commerce V6.0)
Exceptional multi-site capabilities for
deploying multi-brands and micro-sites via
extended site functionality
Robust international capabilities.
When considering the full e-commerce
suite, potential clients need to cautiously
consider IBMs order management and
call center solutions, as they ofer only
very limited functionality and third-party
products will likely be required unless needs
are very basic.
THE SOLUTIONS
IBM WebSphere Commerce Enterprise
is an interactive platformdesigned
to streamline processes across
multiple sales channels and support
multiple sites, complex direct and
indirect business models, contractual
agreements, dynamic negotiations
and role-based member management.
It is built on a single platformand can
run B2C sites across multiple brands,
segments, and countries.
IBMWebSphere Commerce Professional
is a comprehensive cross-channel
platformfor mid-size companies to deliver
personalised, cross-channel shopping
experiences. This versionincorporates
cross-channel precisionmarketing and
merchandising, congurable business
processes, A/Band multivariate testing,
searchengine optimisationand
personalisationfeatures.
IBMWebSphere Commerce Express is
designed for small to mid-size businesses
and ofers a solutionto help growing
companies do business onthe web.
ATG
COMMERCE SUITE
WHAT YOU NEED
TO KNOW
ATGCommerce Suite is a highly scalable
e-commerce platform, which automates and
personalises the online buying experience.
Combining advanced features and out-of-
the-box capabilities, the platformis designed
to help increase conversions and order value,
and ensure ongoing customer loyalty across
channels.

FEATURES:
The platformhas supported over 10
million visits, over 100,000 completed
orders per day, and more than 300,000
concurrent users.
Flexibility to confgure and extend
the platformand applications to suit
your specic requirements, allowing
integration with many back-end and
third-party enterprise systems.
Provides user-friendly applications that
allow close monitoring and reactive
exibility.
Allows tracking throughout the
purchasing cycle and generation of
reports that evaluate site performance
and buyer behavior.
Ability to share resources such as carts,
catalogues, products, and promotions
across sites.
Ability to enter global markets, launch
new brands and sites, the platform
includes appropriate site content for
each country, language, and brand using
dynamic personalisation capabilities.
DELIVERY MODEL: Available through
software licensing, a managed service,
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or as a
partner-hosted, on demand solution.
CLIENTS: Best Buy, Tommy Hilger
and Nike.
EXPERT OPINION - ATG COMMERCE 9.1
The Forrester Wave:
B2C eCommerce
Platforms, Q4 2010
A strong ability to integrate into the enterprise and
provides strong multichannel capabilities.
Combines a strong and well-rounded eCommerce
feature set with an array of targeting, personalisation,
and customer interaction tools.
Has the opportunity to deliver rich multichannel
capabilities to clients but will need to improve
product content management and order
management components of its solutions to
complete that vision.
Gartner Magic
Quandrant for
E-Commerce
Delivers a complete, multichannel e-commerce
solution with strong personalisation, shopping cart
management, product catalog, RIAcapabilities,
multisite, multilanguage and multicurrency capabilities.
Ofers search merchandising, which improves the data
returned in a search based on the users interests.
iPhone application is integrated with core ATG
capabilities, such as search, merchandising and
personalsation.
Ofers an online community (community.atg.com),
where customers, partners andATG personnel can
collaborate.
Challenged on delivering international
implementations in certain countries in which an
organisation plans to operate.
ATG needs to improve systemintegration
partnerships internationally to increase its ability to
execute.
Due toATGs broad and deep ofering, some Gartner
clients and reference accounts have expressed
that ATGs pricing is too high in the market for its
licensed software andATG Commerce On Demand.
AMR Research
E-Commerce
Platforms: A B2C
Landscape
Much more highly functional and usable administrative
and business control centers for site administration
capabilities.
More application server options, including Red Hat
JBoss, allowing greater exibility and potentially lower
total cost of ownership.
Extremely strong customer analysis, targeting, and
segmentation functionality.
Expensive and time-consuming to implement and
maintain
Most implementations are challenging, requiring
third-party professional services Sis.
HYBRIS
B2C PLATFORM
Founded in 1997, hybris provides a multichannel commerce
software solution that integrates product content, commerce
operations, and the extended channel to help retailers create a
unied and seamless cross-channel experience.
FEATURES:
Ability to run multiple online stores, mobile sites for customer
service for diferent countries, segments and brands on a single
platform. The platformis scalable and exible for high-volume
and high-transaction environments.
Consolidates and centralises the management of catalogue
data and unstructured content such as user-generated content,
images and digital assets, on a single platform.
Integrates functions such as payment solutions, customer
loyalty elements, search and navigation options and full
marketing tools.
Consolidates and automates processing to streamline
fulllment and enable guaranteed on-time global delivery.
Centralised product content management to ensure content
consistency across channels and order management enabling
multi-channel fulllment efciency.
Includes features such as personalisation, customer
recommendations and evaluations, interactive customer
elements, credit notes, product comparisons.
DELIVERY MODEL: Licensed (priced per CPU), with SaaS and
managed services options also available.
CLIENTS: Target, H&M, Lufthansa, Douglas, Reebok, and Ericsson.
EXPERT OPINION - HYBRIS
The Forrester Wave:
B2C eCommerce
Platforms, Q4 2010
(hybris Commerce 4.0)
Key diferentiators are in strong product content management tools,
catalog management, enterprise integration, and globalisation/
internationalisation capabilities.
A well-dened ability to extend the product and customise it to
develop diferentiated e-commerce sites across a variety of verticals.
Gartner Magic
Quandrant for
E-Commerce
(hybris Commerce 4.0)
Provides promotions management, which includes coupons,
personalised ofers and online support for gift card redemption.
Provides cross-selling and upselling by analysing the proles of
customers, and can enable real-time behavioral base personalisation.
Supports multisite capabilities andlocalisedproduct content and
assortments; multi-language, multi-currencies, localisedpricingand
promotions, andlocalisedprocesses (tax calculations, regulations, etc).
Hybris is recognszed by Gartner's
European clients, but is not as well-
known in other regions, such as
North America or Asia/Pacic.
AMR Research
E-Commerce
Platforms: A B2C
Landscape
(hybris Commerce
V3.0)
Strong B2C and B2B capabilities, comprises of a solid technical
architecture, all residing on single technology stack.
Easily able to establish multi-country sites in short time frame with
little additional expenditure.
Print management and POS integration provide multi-channel
capabilities.
Some reference accounts report
issues with implementations and
integrations.
ePAGES
E-COMMERCE SOLUTION
FEATURES:
Can be deployed for a small business using a hosted solution and seamlessly upgraded as
the business grows to dedicated solutions.
Hosted version is a fully capable Do It Yourself solution that any retailer with some
fundamental computer skills can use. The dedicated solution requires an understanding of
the hosting and operating environments and more technical skills are needed.
Sites come with over 100 free design templates as a well as some open templates. Every
design template can be customised based on the requirements of the site owner.
Provides per-built and congured navigation gadgets and items that can be added using
the design manager provided in the software.
Highly scalable frommass hosted to multiple server cluster platforms supporting millions
of products and millions of visitors.
ePages supports many models and environments like B2B, B2C, mobile commerce, social
commerce.
Support for EBay, Getprice and Shopping.com, social media andYouTube integration.
Supports integrated payments via eWAY, PayPal, TNSI, DPS, WorldPay and many
international (foreign currency) gateways.
Comes with built in forums, blogs, galleries, ratings and reviews.
User support forumand international user community.
COST: Hosted solutions for small business start at $39.95 per month and go up to $220per
month depending on the package and provider. Dedicated solutions can be rented monthly
starting at $180per month and less than $500per month including a dedicated server (VPS,
management and support). Or licences can be bought on a perpetual licence basis starting at
$3,000for an initial licence with a subsequent 20percent paid annually for updates, upgrades
and support. The licence costs increase based on the number of websites and features required.
DELIVERY MODEL: Supports a Marketplace (multiple merchants) and also a Franchise
(single catalogue multiple merchants) models.
CLIENTS: St George Illawarra Dragons, Weight Watchers and Urban Baby.
RETAILERS
PERSPECTIVE
Chris Highett, Merchandise Manager for
the St. George Illawarra Dragons shares
his recent experience of implementing
the ePages platform:
We required an up to date platform
that would assist in gaining greater
market share. Being the St George
Illawarra brand we have a far reaching
supporter base across the country and
internationally, so what we needed to
implement a new platformthat was
not only user friendly, an enjoyable
experience for the customer, but also
helped with data capture. We were
looking for a more sophisticated
e-commerce platform, which allowed us
the opportunity to enhance our design,
as well as gather customer trafc and
data. We also needed to crawl back a bit
of the market share and want to be the
rst point of contact for sale of Dragons
merchandise, as opposed to other
retailers.
Ultimately, it was about the exibility
in terms of lead-time and pricing the
site was delivered within four weeks
of engaging eCorner, so their ability
to be exible and understand our
requirements was key.
The site was launchedonFriday 11
Marchandwithinthe rst week we had
abasket overviewof 352 baskets. Weve
alsohadpeople fromPapuaNewGuinea,
Indonesiaandthe US visit the site. In
terms of marketing, the datawere actually
capturingits makinglife somucheasier.
Because the processes are nowso
streamlined, its easier for us to deliver on
customers expectations, were ofering
more in terms of product oferings and
can almost generate ideas of what
consumers need to purchase through
the up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
Weve also got the pop-up videos of our
teammembers, which personalises the
online experience to our community.
The whole experience has been a really
good one. I was nervous to begin with
thinking that it was going to be a long
tedious process. But reassurance from
our consultants has made it a fantastic
learning curve. Were really excited about
the opportunities that are available to
us now.
MAGENTO
THE SOLUTIONS
Magento Community is an
unsupported e-commerce platform,
which is designed for use by those
willing to spend the time and resources
needed to solve issues independently. It
is recommended for expert developers
and technical enthusiasts working in non-
mission critical environments.
Magento Professional is supported
by Magento Solution Partners and
recommended for small businesses,
requiring a warranted, scalable product
with additional revenue-generating
features not found in the Magento
Community solution.
Magento Enterprise is fully supported
by the Magento team. It includes
advanced features compared to the
Magento Community and Professional
versions. This version of the platformis
recommended for businesses of all sizes
requiring a production-ready, scalable,
enterprise e-commerce solution.
WHAT YOU NEED
TO KNOW
FEATURES:
Allows control of multiple websites and
stores fromone administration panel
with the ability to share as much or as
little information as needed.
Enables third-party application
integration capability through web
services API and with GoogleWebsite
Optimizer for A/Band multivariate
testing.
Includes data and analytics capabilities
providing various reports including
sales, abandoned shopping carts, low
stock, search terms, product reviews,
totals invoiced and refunded, etc.
Search Engine Optimisation friendly
URLs, auto-generated site map and
Google site map.
Scalable for international markets
allowing for localisation, multiple
currencies and tax rates.
Includes marketing tools including,
multi-tier pricing, bundled product
options, customer group-specic
pricing, up-sells, cross-sells, wish
lists, catalog promotional and exible
coupons functions with the ability to
restrict to stores, etc.
Checkout options include one page
checkout, options for account creation,
saved baskets, multiple shipping
address, and integration with third
party gateways includingAmazon
Payments, PayPal, Google Checkout.
Order Management functionality
includes order creation and fulllment,
invoicing, shipping documentation,
email notications, phone order creation.
DELIVERY MODEL: Open Source,
Licensed and managed services options.
CLIENTS: Teds Cameras, Bing Lee,
Samsung, Lenovo and Nespresso.
RETAILERS
PERSPECTIVE
Teds Cameras recently re-launched its
online store in a move to ramp up its
multichannel strategy and address the
growing online demand for its product
range online. In development since
mid last year and built on a Magento
platform, the newwebsite aims to
create a more efective and user-friendly
shopping experience for Teds customers.
We wanted a platformthat made it
easier to get around the site add things
to the cart, add things to the wish list,
improve navigation, says Grant Tildsley,
Teds Online Sales and Development
Manager.We wanted to streamline the
order process and close the loop.
The newplatformallows Teds point of
sale system, including prices, product
information and stock levels, to be
integrated into the site.
EXPERT OPINION - MAGENTO
The Forrester Wave:
B2C eCommerce
Platforms, Q4 2010
Magento ofers a very cost-efective enterprise license
and has built out a stable of SIs and agencies that
are well positioned to serve midmarket or enterprise
clients.
For clients that want or require a platformthey can
really make their own by customising and adapting to
their needs, Magento will be compelling.
Enterprise-level e-commerce organisations should
have an understanding of the customisation,
additional products, and services that may be
required to support a Magento project over time.
Professional services fees may be signifcant
around integration, scalability, and completion of
the tools required to meet business requirements
minimising the cost advantages of Magentos
business model.
Connecting the Dots
Integrating your
E-Commerce Platform
ith a whizz bang e-
commerce platform, that
has all your products loaded,
smart navigation and a brand
new design, customers are going to be tracking
in droves to your website right? Not exactly...
if you dont ensure that your online marketing
efforts arent working cohesively with your
new system, how will anyone know about your
new site? Furthermore if you dont ensure that
the new platform is integrated with post-pur-
chase systems and processes (e.g. supply chain
and fullment), you may end up with unhappy
customers who do not want to visit again!
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
AND THEY SHALL FIND
The practice of optimising your website
in order for search engine discoverabil-
ity, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
is vital for any online activity.
SEO has been around for long enough
now that e-commerce platform vendors and
providers simply need to factor it in and
include it as a best practice feature of an e-
commerce platform, comments Paul Wilson,
Managing Director, White Labelled. There
are obviously SEO strategies that further
supplement those SEO best practice features,
for internal linking and offsite linking. You
would expect however that the base SEO
best practice is included in the platform.
However, Phil Grech, Director, FourFires
Solutions, has a different take, suggesting,
Its not about your e-commerce platform,
which is only one element in your overall
SEOstrategy. Its about the sum of all the
components working together that denes
how well you do in this space and this is
determined by the person you choose to
manage your e-commerce business.
ANNOUNCING... MY NEW WEBSITE
While e-commerce platforms are becoming
increasingly diverse in their offering of
online marketing activities, without a solid
plan of action post-launch in order to drive
trafc to the site and create awareness, it is
more than likely that all the hard work will
not be leveraged to its maximum extent.
More and more features are being built
into platforms to support marketing efforts,
such as social network and EBay integration,
posting products to price comparison engines,
etc. Most good platforms will have those
features as standard to support those activi-
ties, advises John Debrincat, CEO, eCorner.
However, for tactics such as newsletters,
if there is not a system built in, generally
the integration of third-party systems will
make it easy to create newsletter subscription
lists and put content from the store into
the newsletter campaigns with offers.
For businesses that are only just embarking
on the online journey, Luke Hilton, Online
Retail Specialist, Playhouse Digital warns, A
bricks and mortar business will have an exist-
ing marketing plan - its a matter of ensuring
all of your digital initiatives are tied together.
Make sure you are keeping yourself in line
with the overall business marketing strategy.
THE CONVERSION FACTOR
Conversion, the icing on the cake,
indicates the return on investment (ROI)
of your e-commerce platform and justies
your budgetary spend. However with
consumers becoming increasingly product
savvy, expecting price competitiveness, user
W
reviews, multiple delivery options and a relevant experience,
converting visiting customers is not a straight path. Your
e-commerce platform can become the vehicle through which
to get to know your customer base and encourage conversions.
An e-commerce platform can also contribute to conversion
through the following factors, outlined by Debrincat:

Providing trust and safety in the retailer
through a robust platform and design.

Through the speed of the platform - in the
online retail world there are three seconds to
abandonment and if your pages dont load within
this time customers will not stick around.

Website usability and design inuence
conversions on online stores.

Feature processes such as checkout process, cross-
sell and up sell also assist with conversion.
Some retailers install the Rolls Royce of platforms and just do
not use them to their fullest extent, which is when you see the
greatest results, advises Wilson. You need to push all platform
tools to encourage conversion. An integrated platform, with
the inclusion of third-party systems such as email, search and
analytics comes together to assist in converting customers.
Also understanding the lifecycle of your customer and
communicating to them through every step of this process
and using your e-commerce platform effectively to
assist you, will ultimately lead to conversion.n
FINDING OUT WHOS
WHO IN THE ZOO?
While implementing new technologies, solutions, marketing
activities and post purchase processes all contribute to
the success of an e-commerce business, there is a resource
that is often overlooked that drives the business forward
nonetheless.
Your ecommerce store is like a shop its not going to run
itself. Those retailers that start an online store, that sell
products, but dont manage themthe will eventually fail,
warns John Debrincat, CEO, eCorner. If your online store
is getting 50 orders a day, then you need to have a person
managing the store in real time and making sure that
product is going out to customers and having that personal
and direct contact with customers.
If you think of an e-commerce platformlike a racing car, the
driver and mechanics make the car go, suggests Phil Grech,
Founder, FourFires Solutions.
More than the systems and technology, the most important
thing is getting the right people. Hiring an e-commerce
manager who has actuallybeen there and done that and
understands the ins and outs of e-commerce is crucial.
A person in this role should have retail and marketing
experience, plus a combination of some technology
experience someone who has been there and done it
before. You want someone who has learnt hard lessons and
grown fromthem. This person should also have their 'nger
on the pulse' on where things are going within the industry
and communicate this accordingly, Grech concludes.
ENSURING INTEGRATION
There were denitely no barriers in terms
of ensuring our marketing eforts worked
in unison with our e-commerce platform.
We put our marketing plan forward to
each of the agencies we considered and
asked the question; can your platformdeal
with this?
Chris Highett, Merchandise Manager,
St George Illawarra Dragons
ENSURING SEARCH
ENGINE OPTIMISATION
Our SEO strategy has seen our
consultants (external SEO and
e-commerce platformagency) take a
holistic and knowledge-sharing approach.
Right fromhow we tag terms, to
descriptions of products, to articles on the
site we rely on themfor guidance.
Chris Highett, Merchandise Manager, St
George Illawarra Dragons
1
What are the must-haves for an
e-commerce platform?
An early decision that a retailers needs to make
is: are we happy to present a picture and a price
of our products to the Australian market, so
that all buyers see the same thing or should
we be offering an online customer interaction
capability targeted to our buyers and
prospective buyers. Today personalisation and
contextual selling is available that will increase
trafc ow, conversions and share of wallet.
Modern day requirements would include:
Product Catalogue Management
Order Management
Customer/Account Management
Contextual Interactive Selling
Scalable/Reliable
Business User Tooling
Multichannel Integration
ADened Roadmap
2
How can retailers ensure that their
e-commerce platformis working
together with their search engine
optimisation (SEO) activities?
Retailers should ensure that their
e-commerce platform is exible enough to
adapt to the business evolving search engine
optimisation strategy. IBM WebSphere
Commerce provides leading examples of the
most common SEO techniques such as URL
Mapping and Site Maps in Google Site Map
formats. These should improve the results for
most popular search engines in the market
today.
3
In what ways can retailers integrate
their e-commerce solutions with their
online marketing eforts?
Consumers want access to the most
convenient way to complete their online
transaction. Smart marketers will cater for
these requirements with precise marketing
campaigns tailored to the user.
For example, gone are the days of mass
e-mail, marketers need to enhance the brand
promise online with appropriate and timely
offers and calls to action; this can be achieved
through a platform that enables targeted
promotions and marketing. Additionally, a
platform that enables a retailer to deliver a
consistent, customer-centric experience across
multiple channels and touch points is highly
benecial to marketing and branding.
There is also an opportunity for retailers to
integrate their social media strategies with
their e-commerce initiatives in an intelligent
way. For example remote widgets enable a
buyer to see promotions from the retailer
in Facebook without even leaving their
Facebook page.
4
Howcan an efective e-commerce
platformassist in converting customers?
Converting customers efciently requires
suppliers to provide the right offer at the right
time to the right person in the right context.
Asuccessful transaction whether in store or
online, leaves the buyer feeling satised, even
happy with their buying experience. Earning
the right to a sale through being a destination
site, with a well-thought-out buying process
that can vary based on the user, will provide a
higher conversion rate than a one shoe ts all
approach. An effective e-commerce platform
incorporates and uses analytics to understand
user interactions.
Just as importantly an effective platform
allows retailers to dynamically make changes
based on A/B testing, funnel analysis and
real time user interactions. It should cater for
customer centricity, rather than picture and
price and demonstrate best practice shopping
cart ows such as quick checkout.
5
How should retailers be future-proong
their e-commerce platforms?
Future proong an e-commerce platform
requires that a solid platform roadmap is
documented and available. Integration of
technology means that emerging technologies
like mobile and social are designed, architected
and built into the product.
Aretailer canbe responsive to customers
needs by having users providing feedback on
product requirements. This feedback can be
provided in a number of ways: retailers can
solicit feedback through blogs on their own
site, listening to twitter trafc and Facebook
searches with their brand names. Companies
like Coca Cola and Nike are very big in this
space. Retailers can also solicit wisdom of the
crowds thinking via online analytics tools
like Coremetrics. Merchandising becomes
more relevant and intelligent because buyers
feedback can be used to recommendthis goes
with that (for example) with clothes and this
feedback comes from other customers.
Newtechnologies such as iPhones and
Smartphones, newshopping engines (e.g.
TheFind or Spadout), different methods of
communication (e.g. Twitter and micro-
blogging), mean that buyers are demanding
more value fromthe buying experience. With
a platformthat offers standard features out
of the box, retailers can ensure that products
can be upgraded easily and enhanced with the
latest industry features. n
BIO
As Director of eCommerce, IBMANZ
Software Group, Peter Domjenhas a deep
understanding of Websphere Commerce
and its applications. He has worked with
organisations of all sizes to implement
strategic, targeted online commerce solutions
tailoredtotheir unique business requirements.
Q& A
with
PETER DOMJEN,
ECOMMERCE SALES DIRECTOR, IBM
Future Proong
Your Investment
onsidering that the Australian on-
line retailing industry is forecast
to be worth $33.3 billion by 2015
1
,
future proong is key to good
business practice. With the rapid development
and uptake of technology, it may not be a case
of long term planning for e-commerce plat-
forms, but a matter of keeping your nger on
the pulse in order to learn whats just around
the corner in the evolution of online retail.
THE ROAD IS LONG STRATEGY IS KEY
Future proong your business is not just about
keeping up with technologies and having the
latest and greatest just because its there. For
instance, much of the buzz around social net-
works has seen many retailers jump on board
with no real strategy, planning or idea of how
to successfully leverage this channel. Social
networking strategy is something that is only
now becoming a priority for many businesses.
Dening a strategy and business require-
ments is very important for future proong
your online store, says John Debrincat,
CEOof eCorner. Too often people make
technology decisions away from their strategy
and outside their business objectives, because
they are trends. For example they set up
mobile templates without knowing what
their customer base is doing and whether
there is a genuine need for this technology.
As with selecting a platform, it is key for
retailers to stick to the plan while having
exibility to accommodate any changes in
the business needs and retail landscape.
Debrincat advises, Create a strategy,
create a set of requirements, build objectives
and manage to objectives. When you make
changes do it because youre enhancing the
strategy, not because its a technology thing.
What tends to happen in this market is
that new technologies tend to get pulled into
e-commerce solutions if the platform is built
using good open standards there should be
no inhibitors to enabling any future technolo-
gies that will come about from the web.
Peter Domjen, Director of eCommerce, IBM
ANZ Software Group says, We are doing busi-
ness in a period of new market realities which
are driven by: rapidly evolving consumer
behavior, technology savvy customers and bet-
ter informed, educated and active participants
who demand personalisation and individual-
ism. E-commerce platforms need to be able
to optimise usage of emerging technologies
on a continuous and on-going basis.
Phil Grech, Founder, FourFires Solutions
cautions, When you are assessing a platform
an important question to ask is what the
company has released in the last 18 months
and how many versions of the platform there
have been within this timeframe. If they
havent released anything, thats a good indi-
cation of where they are going in the future.
LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL
FUTURE TRENDS
Mobile is booming within the Australian
market and only set to grow with Frosh
& Sullivans Australian Online General and
Mobile Advertising Marketing 2010 report
forecasting that the mobile market will
reach $76 million by 2015. Although the
uptake of mobile commerce within the local
market has been relatively slow off the mark,
globally the trend towards mobile commerce
(m-commerce) is growing at a rapid rate.
We know that mobile is going to be a
big part of e-commerce, especially when it
comes to helping a customer and promoting
across channels, comments Luke Hilton,
Online Retail Specialist, Playhouse Digital.
For example, imagine if customers stand-
ing in front of a product in-store and can
scan a QRcode to be taken to a website
and see reviews from other customers and
receive additional offers this presents
an enormous opportunity for retailers.
However, Debrincat questions, Is
mobile a make or break for an online
store? I think it comes back to the business
requirements. If you add a mobile template
to your store, you have got to maintain
and need someone to manage it if its not
generating a return, then its a bad call.
Another trend that is quickly establishing
itself within the online retailing space is
social networking. The interaction and
integration of social media initiatives with
e-commerce initiatives can create a rich
community environment by creating a
destination site where buyers actively interact
with each other and ultimately purchase
what is seen as best of breed product
or solutions, comments Domjen.
An emerging trend, which Grech
predicts will be the next big thing within
the online retailing space, is gaming.
This includes features such as the Linked
In complete your profile feature and/or
badges, an activity which engages and
encourages consumers to interact with
the website itself or provide further
information, in order to gain some form
of reward.Its evolving to not just buy-
ing and selling of products, but sharing
and seeing how the product interacts
with other elements, he comments.
Undoubtedly future proong is about
developing a solid strategy and understanding
business needs and objectives while keeping
up with the latest developments within the
industry and choosing a platform exible
enough to allow for these changes. n
C

E-commerce
platforms need to
be able to optimise
usage of emerging
technologies on a
continuous and
on-going basis.

Peter Domjen,
Director of
eCommerce, IBM
ANZ Software Group

1 ForresterResearch,AustralianOnlineRetailForecast,2010To2015,28January2011
BACKGROUND
City Beach was established over 30 years ago
in Brisbane by two friends who still operate
the company today. With 60 stores nationwide
and growing, the retailer predominantly
caters to the 13 to 24 year age bracket.
Recently, City Beach decided to get serious
about implementing its online sales channel.
Having never previously undertaken a
project of this kind, the business was keen
to select a technology partner who could
advise them on every stage of the project.
The company also aimed to broaden its
reach and stay competitive during the holiday
trade period and with Christmas rapidly
approaching,they had only four months
to establish an online trading presence.
STRATEGY
Alot of the companies we initially spoke
to specialised in website building, not
e-commerce, says City Beach CIOPaul
Downs. So when we started discussing what
we should do in our warehouse, whats best
practice, should we outsource photography
they couldnt really answer those questions.
Another major factor in choosing the right
partner was City Beachs key requirement
of having the site up by Christmas. For this
reason, City Beach chose to work with IBM
Business Partner Salmon, who specialise in
retail implementations of IBMs WebSphere
Commerce platform and could guarantee
deployment within the required timeframe.
Salmons Curtis Johnson explains: Our
framework for WebSphere Commerce
allows us to provide 80 percent of a cli-
ents requirements out of the box. So for
a project that can take over six months,
we can get down to around about 90 to
100 days. Which is great for retail.
EXECUTION/SOLUTION
IBMWebSphere Commerce has provided a
powerful platform for City Beachs online sales
and content management. The integrated
management tools have enabled the business
to take care of the day-to-day running of its
site, updating products, prices and stock
levels as per the business requirements.
The site incorporates social networking
such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace to
cater to Citys Beachs teenage customer base.
Another vital factor in keeping the retailers
audience engaged is the ability to offer a
wide range of products and promotions,
with constantly updated stock. WebSpheres
exibility allows City Beach to easily meet
these diverse business requirements.
Also by allowing City Beach to collect feed-
back and customer information, the site equips
the business to better understand its cus-
tomer base and present promotions tailored
to insights gained. This means that City Beach
can present promotions and images based on
who is exploring the site, which signicant
impacts both revenue and market share.
OUTCOMES
In just 100 days, City Beach implemented
an online platform to meet both its present
and future needs. The new site has allowed
City Beach to become a multichannel retailer
with information integrated across each
channel so that, for instance, a product
sold online can be collected in store.
Websphere Commerce has also
broadened the companys reachby
attracting older demographics which
may have beenpreviously deterred by its
teen-focused bricks and mortar stores.
Since its implementation, the website
has contributed to a revenue lift of over
200 percent, an e-marketing ROI lift of
800 percent and a 200 percent increase
in City Beachs customer database.
The exibility of the e-commerce platform
will allow City Beach to expand its mobile
and social commerce footprint in the future.
One of the things we liked about Web-
sphere Commerce was that its future proof,
says Downs. We wanted to get something
strategic up front so we wouldnt have to do a
complete rethink if the site really took off. n
O
RIGINALLY LAUNCHED IN 2006,
Australian online bookstore The
Nile has successfully expanded its
customer base and established its reputation
within the local market. The company, which
thrives on a foundation of friendly customer
service, a clear and easy-to-use website and a
range of low-priced titles, recently redesigned
and relaunched a bespoke platform for its
e-commerce business. Though many other
e-commerce platform options are available,
The Nile chose to continue with its bespoke
solution and company Co-Founder Jethro
Marks, talks us through this experience.
TELL US ABOUT THE NILES BESPOKE
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM.
When we launched The Nile in 2006, it
went onto its own private platform. Weve
taken a more technically incremental
approach; we re-develop as and when
business requirements change. There are
constant rewrites going on, but these are
small modules of the system, rather than a
re-build of the entire system from scratch.
One of the major benets of having a
bespoke e-commerce platform is if we want
to implement new features and functions
(e.g. Facebook Connect), it is not a major
undertaking and is something we can manage
internally, without having to invest an
enormous amount of money paying other
peoples programmers. However, the negative
side is that were not getting best of breed
immediately; we have to build it from scratch.
Also when we have been able to automate
a function within the business we have
seen growth. If there is a repetitive task
that can be removed through an electronic
data interchange (EDI) implementation or
writing a script to automate processes, we see
growth. This is a necessity for e-commerce
businesses, especially where you need to keep
costs down and keep momentum going.
WHAT IS THE INVESTMENT REQUIRED FOR
A BESPOKE E-COMMERCE PLATFORM?
Weve got an in-house group of people, who
work on the front and back-end of the system
this is an ongoing task and its a growing team.
The functioning of the platform also takes a
lot of management and development time.
HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT YOUR
E-COMMERCE PLATFORM IS UP TO DATE
WITH NEW FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS?
It is a possibility that you run the risk of being
left behind with new technologies, especially
those that are investing in improvements on
a constant basis. At the end of the day youve
got to do what works best for both your
customer and business. If its functionality
that we need well go out and buy it, if
we cant buy it well build it and then go
get it later if it doesnt work correctly!
We also lean heavily on analytics and data to
gauge what our consumers are doing, whats
working and whats not. I dont think you
could run an e-commerce system without an
analytics package; its like driving blind.
Where our business needs change, we adapt.
Sometimes its pre-emptive and at times its re-
active. Sometimes we see a change in the mar-
ket that we might need to adapt to or a process
that might not work as well as before. The
fact of the matter is, that its a never-ending
project weve never got to the point where
we can hang up our hats and say thats it!
DO YOU UTILISE THIRD-PARTY
SOFTWARE FOR ANY PART OF YOUR
ONLINE BUSINESS?
Part of the problem we had when we rst
started was that a lot of the technology that we
wanted wasnt available at the time. Since then
software has come out that is commercially
available at reasonable prices, so in some cases
weve stopped using our software and integrat-
ed with third parties for things such as EDI.
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED MOVING
AWAY FROM A BESPOKE E-COMMERCE
PLATFORM?
We built the system ve years ago and at
times it no longer supports a business that
is now ve times the size it was when it was
originally developed. We seriously looked at
moving the platform to a third party solution
three to four years ago and shopped around
locally and internationally for a solution.
However weve gone around our business a
different way to other businesses and model
our systems around our business and not the
other way around. Though we looked at a lot
of systems that were robust, while they would
have solved half of our problems, they would
have also created another set of problems, by
us having to adjust the way we do things. This
wouldnt have served our customers better.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR OTHER
RETAILERS WITH REGARD TO
E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS?
Starting out now, going the bespoke option
would not be the preferential way to go.
There are a lot of other options on the table,
which didnt exist when we started out,
werent cost effective and/or didnt offer
the level of support we required.
There are a lot of specialist services and
softwares that do one specic thing and
if you look hard enough, often its about
nding a good robust platform to begin
with and then thinking carefully about
what your needs would be. n
CASE
STUDY
FROM BRICKS TO
CLICKS: BUILDING
AN ONLINE STORE
IN 100 DAYS
A BESPOKE E-COMMERCE PLATFORM EXPERIENCE THE NILE

One of the things we liked about
Websphere Commerce was that its future
proof. We wanted to get something strategic
up front so we wouldnt have to do a
complete rethink if the site really took off.

Paul Downs, City Beach
E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS 24
brought to you by
Solution
Providers
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With powerful out-of the-box capabilities and easy-to-use business
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WebSphere Commerce delivers a smarter e-Commerce solution
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CONTACT:
PaulWilson
ManagingDirector
paulw@whitelabelled.com.au
p:+613)98326655
m:0414555977
812,9YarraStreet
SouthYarraVIC3141

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