Demandware®, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE) en
L2 hebben gezamenlijk een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de relatie tussen de flexibiliteit van het e-commerce platform dat retailers inzetten en het succes van hun e-commerce business. De belangrijkste conclusie is dat gebruikers van een cloud-platform meer succes hebben dan gebruikers van een in-house of on-premise oplossing.
Het onderzoek toont tevens een verband aan tussen het type platform en de mate waarin retailers content aan kunnen bieden die zorgt voor een betere merkervaring. Retailers die beschikken over cloud-platformen kunnen hun content sneller aanpassen aan de behoeften van hun klant, waardoor zij een betere online ervaring hebben.
Het succes van cloud-platformen uit zich met name in de groeicijfers van de business. Demandware en L2 onderzochten ruim 80 bedrijven. Bij gebruikers van cloud-oplossingen steeg de jaaromzet met 12 procent over de laatste vijf jaar. Bij gebruikers van on-premise oplossingen was dit 9 procent en bij gebruikers van in-house oplossingen was dit 6 procent.
Het volledige rapport is hier te downloaden. De belangrijkste conclusies zijn hieronder te vinden in het originele, Engelstalige persbericht:
L2 and Demandware Release New Report on Global eCommerce Agility
~ Independent study examines the critical factors that impact retailers’ ability to be agile in the evolving retail marketplace ~
Burlington, Mass. – Demandware®, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE), the industry-leading provider of enterprise cloud commerce solutions, and
L2, Inc., a member-based business intelligence service that benchmarks the digital competence of brands, today announced the release of a new report that examines the factors that most impact retailers’ ability to be agile with their global ecommerce operations. The
L2 Intelligence Report: eCommerce Agility, developed in partnership with Demandware, analyzed more than 80 brands and concluded that the type of ecommerce platform used is a critical and leading factor that determines a retailer’s level of agility and ability to execute critical business strategies.
“eCommerce is the fastest growing channel in retail today. As such, the ability to adapt quickly is crucial for sustaining competitive advantage,” said Scott Galloway, Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern and Founder of L2.
Defining and Measuring Agility in Commerce
Agility, as defined by L2, Inc., is a retailers’ ability to proactively manage and execute against three critical strategies that can impact the success of their ecommerce business:
- Dynamic content creation -- the frequency with which a brand is able to change site content to keep consumers engaged, impressed and returning on a regular basis. The primary element measured in the study was the number of landing page changes that were detected over a 12-week period, manifested through featured items, promotions and marketing campaigns.
- Integration of new technologies -- an assessment of how well a brand’s site has been kept current and innovative across four dimensions of customer experience capabilities: content & commerce, search & navigation, customer service and omnichannel.
- Ease of new market entry -- the pace of a brand’s year-over-year rollout of retail store locations and country-specific websites in new geographies. Findings are tied back to ecommerce platforms and infrastructure.
After identifying agile firms, the study explores the correlation between platform architecture – across on-premise (i.e. license), in-house (i.e. homegrown), and cloud (i.e. SaaS) -- and financial performance as measured by sales, operating margin and earnings growth. The L2 Intelligence Report draws the following conclusions:
Agility Correlates to Strong Financial Performance
The analysis reveals that retailers with high degrees of agility – based on the three critical strategies described above -- have stronger financial performance. Cloud brands not only had the greatest sales and earnings growth, but also the highest overall site rankings, driven by content, customer service and search. Of the 80+ companies evaluated, cloud solutions saw an average of 12 percent in annual sales growth over the past five years, as compared to 9 percent and 6 percent growth for on-premise and in-house solutions, respectively.
Agility Levels Are Superior and Sustained with Cloud Platforms
The study shows a direct correlation between agility levels and the type of ecommerce platform implemented. Retailers that use cloud commerce platforms exhibited higher degrees of agility; a stronger ability to provide engaging brand experiences; and broader international reach. Cloud-powered sites have remained at the vanguard of ecommerce innovation, outperforming all other site types.
Agility Accelerates New Market Entry and Expansion
International expansion presents a huge growth opportunity for retailers and has become a popular means for boosting returns and driving retailers’ bottom lines. eCommerce is a low-risk way for brands to test new markets or complement existing store footprints. Brands that operate on a cloud platform have a competitive edge because they are able to leverage ready-built infrastructure and integrations to launch new sites more quickly, and are able to strike the perfect balance between brand control and localized merchandising.
The L2 study found that agile retailers are more apt to have online presences in emerging markets as a low-risk way to test new markets or complement an existing store footprint. On average, 60 percent of cloud brands operate sites in the emerging markets, compared with just 45 percent of in-house brands and 40 percent of on- premise brands. Conversely, 86 percent of brands on an in-house platform have physical stores in emerging markets, while only 45 percent have an ecommerce presence in these regions.
“Demandware’s value proposition is grounded in the unique tenets of a cloud model,” said Elana Anderson, SVP, Worldwide Marketing, Demandware. “We believe – and the L2 research provides further evidence – that retail brands must be agile in order to stay ahead of the curve in this ever-evolving retail market. That agility requires a nimble platform that facilitates continuous innovation and empowers the business to focus its efforts on delivering a differentiated experience to the consumer, instead of platform maintenance.”
To learn more about the research, download the full report
here.
