The e-commerce platform industry is an interesting one. The top five players - IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, ATG, and GSI Commerce - have less than 40% of the total addressable U.S. market. Other top-tier platforms - Venda, Demandware, Fry - have another 5% total. And then there are literally 100+ other platforms who remain competitive, even when stacked up against the big guys.
After 10+ years of e-commerce platform, the industry remains relatively fragmented.
Will the industry ever consolidate?
At its base, that answer depends on the retailers who buy the platforms, and retailers come in all shapes and sizes. All have different needs, whether its a flashy interface, or robust merchandising tools, or solid product search functionality. And all sell to different demographics.
It's hard to predict if the industry will consolidate in the long-term, but if I could make one prediction, it would be this: the platforms with the best partnership programs will win the market. Those firms who focus on best practices in bringing on technology vendors which compliment their own technologies will be best positioned to please their customer base.
Because the industry is so diverse, technology platforms need to be prepared to offer everything - and the beauty of technology is that they can - if they make it easy for partners to plug into their systems.
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