Here are in my humble opinion the top eCommerce platforms available today. It’s never been more important to choose a platform which suits you as a company and one that will provide your customer’s with the features that they need to create a successful online shopping experience.

These packages are fairly expensive to implement and operate so I’ll be posting a list of implementation partners , if not provided by the software vendor , that can assist with a new or existing implementation.

Websphere Commerce
WebSphere Commerce provides companies of all sizes with a powerful customer interaction platform for cross-channel and online commerce – supporting all business models. Websphere Commerce Comes in 3 Versions: WebSphere Commerce Enterprise – Sophisticated platform for high-volume B2C and B2B business models and multiple sites WebSphere Commerce Professional – Powerful customer interaction platform to help mid-size companies offer personalized, cross-channel shopping. WebSphere Commerce – Express – Easy to implement customer interaction platform to jump start your online presence.
ATG
ATG Commerce is a comprehensive, highly scalable e-commerce platform and application solution that automates and personalizes the online buying experience to increase conversions and order value, and ensure ongoing customer loyalty. Its flexible, component-based e-commerce software architecture enables you to easily implement best-in-class commerce sites. Advanced features help your customers quickly find desired products, learn about new offerings, comparison shop, register for gifts, pre-order products, redeem coupons, and easily complete their purchases.
GSI Commerce
Companies of all sizes have selected GSI Commerce® to help deliver an exceptional and engaging e-commerce shopping experience to their customers. Take advantage of our leading e-commerce, multichannel retailing and interactive marketing services on a modular basis or engage us to support your end-to-end operations. GSI’s unique business model brings greater speed and efficiency to your online business.
Fry OCP
Clients like Whirlpool, Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, and Goodyear chose Fry’s OCP solution because it is: Flexible. Our framework can be adapted to meet your business needs rather than forcing your business to adapt to technology. Scalable. OCP deployments follow an n-tier architecture so that Web, application, and database server tiers can scale independently as needed. Robust. The feature set provides robust merchandising, account, checkout, search, and catalog management tools. By Fry. Retailers that choose OCP rely on the company behind it. We have over 15 years experience providing strategy, design, development, and managed services expertise to many of the world’s best known brands.
Escalate Retail
Escalate e-Commerce is built on the innovative Blue Martini Customer Interaction Engine and provides an open, scalable and cross-channel application that enables retailers to deliver both an outstanding web shopping environment as well as a highly personalized vehicle for delivering store, merchandise, marketing and service information.
Demandware

Great information coming out of IBM’s IMPACT Conference 2010 on the viability of mobile commerce. Chris McCollum of Sogeti USA moderated the open discussion. Mobile technology which is always an exciting topic and draws large groups, generated great discussion on Websphere Commerce and it’s portability to mobile platforms.

The Answer to the question is a resounding YES.

Today’s demanding customer’s show the following traits:

• Rapidly evolving buyer behavior
• More savvy about technology and  products/services
• More knowledgeable about products, costs, and price
• Active participants openly sharing and seeking consumer driven content
• Proud of being an individual and expects personalization and high customer service in every interaction
• The majority of online consumers are cross-channel shoppers
• 53 % used the Internet to compare product features and prices
• 25 % did so from a mobile device in a store
• 1 in 10 sent text messages to friends and family during shopping trips

What’s Driving the Market?

• According to a survey by PriceGrabber.com, one-third of consumers without a web-enabled phone plan to purchase such a device within the next year.
• ABI Research projected North American sales of physical goods ordered via cell phone would reach $544 million this year, up from $346 million in 2008.
• Mobile Commerce represented 20 percent of all campaign actions in January of this year according to Millennial Media’a Smart report.
• Apple is opening up the iPhone to other carriers
• Mobile Marketer reported that mobile coupons enjoy a 5-15 percent conversion rate, compared to a less than 1 percent for print coupons.
• Carriers are expanding the data capability of their networks.
• WiFi Hot Spots are being created across the country

What Businesses are doing today:

• In mid-2008, Papa John’s International began letting customers order food and drinks on a Web site tailored to a cell phone’s small screen.  By December, orders had exceeded $1 million.
• By the end of 2009, about half of established retailers had mobile web sites.  Up from 20% in 2008.
• Target has launched a nationwide mobile couponing initiative that lets consumers redeem coupons by scanning a barcode on their phone at checkout.
• Grocery store chain A&P has seen 10-12 percent redemption rate on their mobile coupons.
• National car care company AAMCO is offering mobile coupons via a new version of its iGaauge mobile application for Google’s Android phone users.
• Multiple airlines are provide for online check-in and printing/display of boarding pass.
• •Bank of America provides banking application via the iPhone

Mobile Phones and devices like the iPad are ready for business now and will only become stronger in the market place as better technology and software evolves.

Websphere Commerce rocks! – that’s for all you folks out there who don’t know where to find the best platform for online commerce ever designed.

The first post for the E-commerce Dude blog ought to be something I should be able to look back on see how much I improved my writing skills over time. So with that in mind my first post is going to intentionally be bad. I hope to accomplish over time a deep repository of knowledge around building and maintaining enterprise e-Commerce sites. I plan on including information on the various platforms, 3rd party bolt-on’s, social media , SEO, SEM, and all other things e-commerce. How to buy these systems, how to integrate them, what does an enterprise e-commerce system look like, and more.

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