Webinar Recap: The Ecommerce Platform of the Future

As Senior Analyst for ecommerce technology at Forrester, Brian researches and reports the impact of technology advancements, operational needs, and changing consumer behaviors on online retail. His expertise spans B2B and B2C retail and online travel, with a focus on multichannel strategies, user experience design and technology. Brian holds more than 11 years of experience in eCommerce and online marketing, serving senior roles for retailers such as Amazon.com; Classmates Online, Inc.; Eddie Bauer; Expedia.com; and The Spiegel Group.

What is an eCommerce Platform?

Really the intersection of what you sell, who you sell it to and the business process/model wherewith you sell it. The platform is what supports:

Catalog - products, content, services
Customers - consumers, business partners
Business Process - Business model, business rules, value proposition

The ecommerce platform is an ecosystem or hub of the customer experience and the transaction, bringing all the pieces together such as vendor management, campaign management, customer service and other capabilities or distinct services with the things you need to execute well and optimize your business (analytics, business intelligence etc).

Increasingly we’re seeing that we’re dropping the e - it’s becoming a commerce platform, not an ecommerce platform.

ecommerce