For Digital Commerce Providers, Marketplace Operations Are Critical
Whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization, a digital native or an enterprise business, you need a strong eCommerce strategy to lead in today’s economy. More now than ever, that means going beyond traditional first-party eCommerce. To deliver the convenience, pricing, and selection that customers demand, enterprise businesses are launching online marketplaces to connect buyers and sellers.
In Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce_1,_ the world’s leading research and advisory firm Gartner states, “organizations engage in digital commerce for both B2B and B2C transactions, sometimes on the same platform, and to support novel digital business models such as those involving enterprise marketplaces. This report will help application leaders shortlist suitable digital commerce platforms.”
Like Gartner’s _Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce_2, we believe business leaders can turn to Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce for guidance as they plan the next steps of their digital commerce journey. Gartner’s first strategic planning assumption in the report states, “By 2023, 15% of digital commerce organizations of moderate to high gross merchandise value will have deployed their own marketplaces, thus creating a digital ecosystem.”
As Mirakl sees it, this strategic assumption should be a wakeup call to solution providers about the importance of marketplaces. With a few exceptions, most digital commerce software solutions aren’t equipped to handle all of the new requirements needed to operate an online marketplace on their own.
Here’s where we offer our congratulations: Mirakl technology partner SAP was named a Leader in Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, and in the Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce1 (Gartner subscription required), it received the highest use case scores for B2C Digital Commerce Use Case, B2B Digital Commerce Use Case, and B2C and B2B Digital Commerce on Same Platform Use Case.
Considering the strategic planning assumption that 15% of medium- to high-GMV organizations will launch a marketplace by 2023, Mirakl isn’t surprised to see SAP receiving high use case scores. With SAP’s global reseller agreement with Mirakl, and their pre-built connector, SAP customers have a flexible solution that can easily incorporate marketplace operations. They’re able to quickly launch marketplaces, rapidly onboard new sellers, and easily map new products and categories in a way that works for their businesses.
To deliver the full functionality that enterprise businesses need to win in the platform economy, it’s not enough to offer a digital commerce platform with strong first-party functionality. By integrating a marketplace solution, the leading solution providers can offer all of the power of robust eCommerce solutions like SAP or Magento (another Mirakl Partner) – plus the tools that customers need to launch a third-party marketplace that expands their offers, provides more competitive pricing to customers, and delivers brand-new insights into buyer behavior. The pre-built Connectors between Mirakl & SAP and Mirakl & Magento improve speed and quality.
The question that digital commerce solution providers need to ask themselves now: are you offering the solutions that your clients need to lead in the platform economy?
1Gartner, Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce, Mike Lowndes, et al, 29 August 2019. ID: G00398185
2Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, Penny Gillespie, et al, 22 August 2019.Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
