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S y s t e m

THE WHITE BOOK OF


ECOMMERCE SOLUTIONS
By Philippe Humeau (CEO and co-founder of NBS System)
& Matthieu Jung (NBS System Marketing Team Manager)
"Grow your business safely"
Relevant keys to choose
an ecommerce framework
Avril 2012 Philippe Humeau & Mathieu Jung NBS System
www.nbs-system.com


Introduction page 2

Purpose of this study 2
Limitatons of this study 2
What is the best eCommerce soluton 3
Market segmentation page 4

ECommerce: Solutons PHP vs Solutons JAVA 5
Overview of the chart 5
Solutions, in detail page 7

Magento: the leader 7
PrestaShop: climbing the ladder 12
Drupal Commerce: back to eCommerce 16
Demandware: a very special positon 20
Intershop: for the biggest 25
OXID eShop: German engineered 28
RBS Change: because experience maters! 32
Hybris: the rising star 37
The time has come to choose page 41
About the authors page 46
Greetings page 47

Copyrights page 48


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CONTENTS
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Introduction
Purpose of this study
The great game of eCommerce solutons is in full swing this year and we wanted to provide all decision makers with
the relevant keys to help them in their choice of eCommerce solutons.
The authors are both working in a leading European managed hostng company named NBS System. We currently
host more than 2000 eCommerce Websites in our private Cloud. Already behind a lot of technical innovatons, NBS
Systems team wanted to share the knowledge around those great eCommerce frameworks.
The goal of this study is not to fnd out which is the best soluton in absolute terms. A specifc soluton will be more
efectve in a customer-specifc context and that is the purpose of our study: to provide people with the key deci-
sions leading to choose the right soluton for their needs.
When eMerchants go in search of the best soluton for their needs, they quickly feel the difculty of obtaining
concrete and transparent answers. Indeed, the sector of eCommerce is more and more specialized and all players
use to have their specifc expertse in a partcular soluton domain, but few of them are able to respond more
broadly, especially to eMerchants wantng to have an overview of the market.
The study also aims to beter understand how solutons get organized with each other and what their long-term
strategies are. Market segmentaton plays a prominent role in this context. For a beter understanding of eCom-
merce solutons, an eMerchant must know who the solutons are targetng, why and how.
Limitatons of this study
This work cannot be complete, perfect or accurate in an ever changing world of ECommerce. It is a mid-2012 picture
of the market, which only refects our thinking and fndings. The frameworks are evolving on a monthly or trimester
basis, so depending on when you read this book, you may fnd outdated informatons.
We had no sponsoring of any kind by any soluton provider. NBS System (an infrastructure hostng and security spe-
cialist in the eCommerce sector) made a point of carrying out this study with the impartality based on its positon.
Indeed, not doing integraton, NBS System doesnt receive any commission on licenses or developments, therefore
putng the company in a positon of neutrality.
Editors may not appreciate our full transparency, our feedbacks or our views, which, once again, are only our own.
On top of that, we are now working with almost all mentoned editors, hostng sites using every technology (except,
of course, Demandware which is a SaaS) and the choice to make is not wishful thinking but a functonal and practcal
choice for the eMerchants.
Every editor wishes to be ranked 5 stars in every KPI, but that would not help eMerchants to adopt the right plat-
form for their needs.
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This study only refects our interviews, tests and benchmark so it is, by design, incomplete. We tried to cover the
broadest spectrum possible along with gathering as much informaton as possible on each soluton, but in some
cases there was no substantal response or no answer even from the editor and sometmes we were not able to test
all the functonality.
We also have not had the opportunity to include the following Frameworks:
Ubercart and osCommerce (that are about to disappear)
Zen Cart, VirtueMart (rare in Europe where the study was started)
IBM WebSphere Commerce and Microsof Commerce server (to which we had no access)
WordPress WP eCommerce (stll marginal in its functonal coverage)
Interspire (not yet well known on the market, nor supported in Europe)
The SaaS platorms: Volusion, Oxats, Power boutque, etc...
On the SaaS point, Magento Go was treated as part of X.commerce and Demandware for its unusual high-
end SaaS positoning
What is the best eCommerce soluton?
Of course, all solutons claim to be optmal for all projects, which in reality is far from accurate. For example, choo-
sing a soluton based on PHP, when 50 people need to connect to the back ofce, is a bad choice for performance
reasons.
Building from our experience in eCommerce on more than 2,000 eCommerce sites, we can say that many eMer-
chants have made choices that do not really match their needs, weighing now on their business.
ECommerce solutons are grouped into four major categories:
The Tier 4 corresponds to small projects (e.g. from 0 to 1 million euros turnover made online)
The Tier 3 includes medium-sized projects (e.g. from 1 to 10 million euros online turnover)
The Tier 2 includes larger projects with brands, with turnover between 10 to 100 million euros
The Tier 1 corresponds to the monsters that can generate online turnover over 100 million euros and up
to several billion
To carry out this study, we spoke directly with customers, partners, and with the editors in order to fnd out concrete
informaton on the size of the projects (turnover, total budget of the project, etc) that are carried out with their so-
luton. First, we have evaluated the solutons, contacted customers as well as end users and development agencies.
Then, NBS System is now working in eCommerce for several years and has been involved in several hundred sup-
ports, hostng or auditng projects, large or small.
We are very pleased to share with you our feedback and hope that this study will satsfy your thirst for eCommerce
knowledge and will allow you fnd out which is the very best soluton for your needs.
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Market segmentation
The positoning of the solutons on the eCommerce market is a very important point to consider. In order to prepare
the groundwork and to beter refer our customers and thus improve their e-business, we have tried to understand
the editors strategy and how their solutons are designed.
The following chart aims to summarize the positoning of the solutons depending on the size of eCommerce pro-
jects and on the turnover. Thanks to our experience in eCommerce, customers feedback, average quotes and state-
ments of the editors, we can now identfy the comfort zones of these frameworks. Each soluton targets one or more
projects depending on its strategy, costs, technical roadmap, performance and functonalites.
All solutons with favors (OXID eShop & Magento) will bear its name in place of the word comfort (for comfort
zone). Magento PE version, having failed to take of and becoming rare in the editor strategy, will not be shown.
Chart of the comfort zones of each soluton
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ECommerce: Solutons PHP vs Solutons JAVA
You will see that Java and PHP are two diferent worlds, this is why we separated them on this chart. Java solutons
mainly focus on bigger websites, which can be easily understood, among others, through three key points:
The speed of the back ofce, especially in case of many concurrent connectons
The license and service costs are much higher (PHP is more accessible)
Massive management of a large number of references (SKU)
Indeed, Hybris or Intershop may also be appropriate for projects with a turnover of less than one million euros. Pres-
taShop could also be suitable, depending the circumstances, for projects over 5 million euros. We are talking about
a usual or normal comfort zone, notced by customers, sometmes announced by editors and ofen observed
on the average quotes of each technology.
Another aspect is a key in this PHP vs Java contest: the open source policy. The Java plateforms are closed source
where the PHP one are open sourced. In the second case, you can review the code, audit it, modify it, contribute by
creatng plugins and extensions, make proposals regarding the evoluton.
Overview of the chart
The frst chart is only a general overview. However, the list of features and the project-specifc requirements will also
carry weight, even more than this only startng point.
PrestaShop is a product that reaches many startng up sites, mainly in France. Technically simple, it is ideal
to get started. However, above a certain level, a meta-framework (eCommerce framework over a Code Fra-
mework) will fast become indispensable, especially for Web Agencies. The Tier 4 core player, evolving to 3!
Drupal Commerce is a suitable soluton for similar-size projects. However, its lower limit is slightly lower
in the end of the Tier 4, thus requiring advanced developers who already know Drupal (the comfort zone was
given to us by the editor).
RBS change is a player positoning its comfort zone from the middle of Tier 3 to the beginning of Tier 2,
according to the own editor.
OXID eShop is a multfaceted soluton. There are Community, Professional and Enterprise licenses, like for
Magento (which seems to have retained the OXID eShop system on this point). The width of the range makes
then possible to cover the middle of the Tier 4 to the beginning of the Tier 2.
Magento ofers the widest range: from Go SaaS in Tier 4 to the beginning of Tier 2 with EE versions (Enter-
prise Editon). Considering even the global X.commerce (see Appendix 1) with Intershop, X.commerce covers
almost the whole spectrum, since eBay wants to advance Magento EE version to the middle of Tier 2 segment.
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Demandware is an atypical case, in many ways. This is a SaaS (Sofware As A Service) which is, according to
the editor, positoned for projects with turnover startng at one million euros, just because its payment model
allows for a variable component based on the site turnover. The model becomes less atractve with a higher
turnover. A mid-Tier 3 to mid-Tier 2 player.
Intershop is a Java soluton specifcally designed for large accounts, due to its technical aspects but also
because Java is less afordable than PHP. Intershop targets massively the mid-Tier 2 to Tier 1, here again, from
the editor point of view.
Hybris is, like Intershop, a Java-based high-end soluton, built around a comprehensive product manager that
makes multchannel operatons possible. Being natve Java and Oracle-based, in additon with the license costs
and the technical nature of the product, make it perfect for Tier 2.
Selecton by targeted turnover: Making a frst round on the basis of the targeted turnover can be a really good
start to select some few eCommerce solutons into which digging deeper will make sense. This requires to analyse
thoroughly the project considering the volume of sales generated in recent years (and if the site does not yet exist,
the forecast for the coming years), as well as the dynamism of the business at tme T and especially developments
needs in the medium and long term, like functonal upgrades.
A few questons to be considered: What do I expect from the project? How many visitors will my site get? What
will be my turnover in the short, medium and long term? How long will I stay on this platorm? What functons or
specialtes do I really need?
When this analysis is done, eCommerce project managers can start benchmarking to select the most appropriate
solutons, considering technical and functonal characteristcs of each soluton we will explain below. We must also
consider that sites have an average lifetme of 24 to 36 months and are usually refreshed every 6 months.
Stll, this study aims to inform you about several aspects, to help you make an analysis using many criteria. Do not
stop at a single page or at a single folder thus selectng an eCommerce soluton is a critcal choice and so much of
your success in the feld will depend on it.
We will now cover every selected solutons with more details.
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Solutions, in detail
Magento: the leader
Record sheet
MAGENTO
Size approx. 300 people
Turnover 2011 not known, estmated at $30m
Business model licenses and support, consultng, applicatons market place
Cost of the licenses $13k per year (EE - Enterprise Editon) per producton server
Technology PHP 5 (object)
Framework Zend
Database MySQL
Version (at the tme of the study) 1.7.2 Community Editon, 1.12 Enterprise Editon (Enterprise)
License Opensource, OSL v3*
Date of frst release 2008
Origin U.S
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 10k / 40k / 150k
History
With now roughly 17% of the total eCommerce market powered by Magento, the two foun-
ders of Magento, Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner, based in Los Angeles, achieved a huge suc-
cess. Afer only four years on the market, their product is not only the leading integraton
framework in the world of eCommerce but their company has also been acquired by eBay
for 180 million dollars (unofcially whispered fgured).
To date, few people or sofware companies boast such a success, and so early. With nearly one in fve sites now
developed around the Magento Ecosystem, this framework is now deeply rooted in eCommerce world. Moreover,
their fantastc career path has inspired and gave new impetus to the eCommerce frameworks sector, giving many
players the desire to start or grow.
Even if the brilliant CTO Yoav Kutner chose recently to walk another path, the latest Imagine 2012 event in Las Vegas
showed everyone that Magentos momentum is tremendously strong!
It must be said that, in 2008, when Magento came out of the shadows, no framework was really ready to take over
the moribund osCommerce. Nowadays, if you use a Magento specifc signature in a Google search (called a dork),
and if you cross this informaton with some web sources, you would approach more than 120,000 sites in produc-
ton using Magento.
This also includes some thousand Enterprise versions. The community that brought Magento (mainly in Europe)
has helped make the Framework a success. Thanks to the thousands of modules, web media (forums, blogs, etc),
events and especially the wisely and unfailing personal involvement and drive of the two founders of the company,
the success spiral quickly got underway.
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Positon in the market
Magento is so far an undisputed leader in mid-market segments (Tiers 3 especially), which positon is strengthened
by the acquisiton by eBay. Although the giant has never been a sofware publisher, it seems that eBay overall stra-
tegy has a vested interest in Magento contnuing to be an independent entty and that the product remains an
open source with free version.
Why Magento has established itself so quickly?
Magento has the most comprehensive back ofce available on the market (or at least has had for a long tme) and
it took two to three years for its compettors to get closer to the list of features an eternity in the Internet world.
Magento has not only marketed a product of rare completeness but it is also constantly evolving.
Most of its compettors, such as PrestaShop, could only follow and those already on the market, like OXID eShop,
have had to adapt to the fast pace imposed by the new leader. With clear views of the market, Magento has rede-
fned the profle of the needs of eMerchants to the point that, since 2009, the word Magento is googled more
than eCommerce!
The unfailing involvement of the leaders Yoav & Roy, who have travelled to atend all events around the world and
have certainly accumulate enough miles for a free tcket to the Moon, has also greatly helped to develop the com-
munity, whose members now support the product, spread its virtues to customers and get the words out trelessly.
Ultmately, customers have come to ask for a Magento rather than for an eCommerce website, leadership was gai-
ned. It is true that the functonal coverage is so successfully completed that it makes dizzy and this, since the early
versions. Since then, as soon as new developments appear or are desired, they are in the product roadmap and
immediately afer on the market! And this is how it became so quickly the new leader.
Range and product
The range of Magento consists of two integraton products, the CE, and EE versions,
for Community Editon and Enterprise Editon. Magento also launched Go, a SaaS
product for general public. The CE & EE versions difer in several aspects, but all are
built on top of the CE.
PE version, which besides has not really found its public, nor even the love of the own editor, is no longer ofered
on the market.
EE version and its larger sibling, the premium version, enable to add a large panel of features. Most of them are in
the community modules but the features made by the editor are more natve and provide contnuity between the
versions. In additon, both versions provide access to the support of the editor.
The support, a pain to be corrected
For years, the support was the big tragedy of Magento Enterprise version. It was sold but was not really available or
reliable. The editor has taken shelter behind its frenzied growth to excuse its lack of responsiveness but eCommerce
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sites cannot wait. An associaton for Magento Enterprise users in France (the Magento Enterprise France User
Group), called CUMEF, was even created to pressure the editor and many complaints were also sent from various
customers around the world, leading the editor to review its policy.
In order to make up for this widely critcized lack, Magento has decided to emphasize this point, investng in a more
efcient process, more staf and a manager with more seniority, so that those dark days be behind the editor as
soon as possible. To date, the results are not considered to be totally satsfactory on this point but Magento is acu-
tely aware that this stll requires improvement and will probably keep up its eforts in this respect.
Another downside to this almost perfect career path is the mobile. Afer having been at the forefront, with a strong
lead on the compettors, Magento made them aware of this mater and compettors set to work. But what actually
happened is that in the meantme, Magento lost its manager of the range, who lef for Google. Although it may be
very fatering that a staf member is poached by Google, it has also been a great problem.
But Magento has not waited long before taking some counter measures and is now back in the game with a very
advanced HTML5 mobile version. In the end, the new mobile product is a CSS skin with enhanced layout and navi-
gaton, so easy for integraton, Magento has tackled the challenge.
The framework
Concerning the Framework itself, this is one of the most rigorous and tough in the market. Magento is based on
Zend, which is partly explained by the close relatonship between Yoav
(Technical Director) and the creators of PHP and Zend founders, Zeev Su-
raski and Andy Gutman.
The advantage of being based on a Framework is that it makes possible
the industrializaton of the code and that the editor doesnt have to do it
all. The abstracton, classes and objects provided by the framework allow to skip to the next step. This is one of the
secrets of the success of Magento, but on the fip side it makes this Meta-Framework accessibility very limited
(Magento is a Framework on top of Zend, so a Meta-Framework in a way).
As a mater of fact, any developer or hostng provider who gave it a try to Magento can explain how Magento is not
designed for the beginners. This is in fact one of the things that can be blamed to the editor. Building a Framework
accessible only to 10 percent of the developers means either closing of the market or being certain that many sites
will not be optmal. Nothing to say on the content, the code is generally clean, the architecture is well designed, but
Yoav and his team are not exactly the developers that we see on the market Magento 2 promises to solve these
issues, at least partly, with a large simplifcaton of some code and a beter documentaton.
In the end, with the wave of enthusiasm, a great number of people have turned to Magento, but barely a dozen
web agencies per country really mastered the intricacies of the product. Everyone pushes up prices, arguing that the
framework is complex, but few of them have real skills. As a mater of fact, many companies that have skimped on
the resources and chosen not to pay experts in this feld, indeed very busy, are now sufering from a bad frst site.
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Magento is very efcient and thorough, but it also requires to be handled by an expert and not a self declared one.
It is impossible to have a good Magento site without a seriously experimented team. Qualifed and methodical
specialists are essental. Avoid so-called experts and people who advertse too much. All web agencies frst sites,
without excepton, have been failures to varying degrees. Experience and reputaton make now a diference, along
with certfcaton. The publisher has also realized that educaton and simplifcaton were both a key to success, two
focuses on which he works.
Besides many innovatons, Magento 2 will also bring simplicity and ratonality. Beyond this improved accessibility,
Magento 2 also gives signs of openness towards large accounts: support for Oracle and Microsof SQL server, ram-
pant development of web service includes a huge number of new methods in SOAP, REST, JSON, XML-RPC, unit
tests, move to jQuery, modular view and many new features. All of this should also improve performance by 10 to
20 percent and fnally provide full documentaton. However, migraton to this totally rewriten version will not be
possible, it is not release-compatble and it will be necessary to redesign many elements of the site and also rewrite
many of the extensions.
2012, a hectc year
In 2012, with the new releases or strategy of PrestaShop, RBS, Drupal Commerce and OXID eShop, it is expected to
be a steady year for King Magento. Ready for batle, Magento has the means to hold its own on the low and middle-
market: it has a reputaton, a community, funds and ideas and it will also release a new version in the frst quarter
of 2013. It will be intrinsically harder on the segment of high and very high-market.
In fact, the products (PHP based) cannot really provide the essental assets to customers that are in the turnover
group from 20 to 100 million euros online sales or more, unlike Java products. The editor is not present in this niche
and even rarely called for refecton. However, Tier 2 is a priority niche for him. Magento 2 will surely atempt to
correct many of the limitatons that prevent the access to this segment and we wish all the best to this editor which
revolutonized the sector.
Strengths and weaknesses of Magento
Pros
+ Sustainable and rapidly evolving product.
+ Mature soluton including natvely a great number of features.
+ Standard in the market, supported by a giant (eBay) and a strong community.
+ Extended capabilites regarding multstores, catalogues and products management.
Cons
Complicated framework, requiring real expertse, with few developers and agencies able to master it.
The Enterprise support has been insufcient in terms of responsiveness and solutons (yet).
The web service is insufcient and slow.
The CMS is not very developped.
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Magentos highlights
(the more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service /API
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
Chart analysis of Magento
(The bigger the area, the best)

Performance &
scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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PrestaShop: climbing the ladder
Record sheet
PRESTASHOP
Size approx. 60 people
Turnover 2011 not known, estmated at 2.5m
Business model support and modules marketplace
Cost of the licenses free
Technology PHP 5 (objet)
Framework no
Database MySQL
Version (at the tme of the study) 1.5
License Opensource, OSL v3
Date of frst release 2005
Origin France
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 3k/15k/40k
PrestaShop, startng small in eCommerce?
PrestaShop is a widely use product in the French market that starts to conquer
United States and Europe. This soluton has radically reviewed its organizaton and
ambitons in 2010 with the arrival of Christopher Cremer at its head and is now led
by Benjamin Teszner.
The growth strategy is stll being defned by the Founder Bruno Lvque and M. Teszner. We will soon know more
about this. Will they go High end, will they turn to SaaS? It is difcult to say but we identfed Prestashop as a
player that could surprise everyone, at any moment, with a really strong customer base.
The soluton itself is easy to get started with, whether for developers or merchants. Due to that simplicity and
accessibility, it has sometmes be considered to target the small sites and this reputaton, although certainly
unjustfed, remains persistent.
The reason for this reputaton is that PrestaShop doesnt bring big budgets to integrators. As the soluton is quick
to integrate and licenses are free, the interest of large integrators has not been generated.
Concerning more objectve parameters, this soluton is not really designed to handle peak-loads or large volumes
of visitors yet, due to the lack of efcient cache system. Some parts of the code may be functonal in terms of qua-
lity even if somewhat inelegant, refectng the speed with which PrestaShop had caught up with the leaders but,
honestly, very few have no grey areas.
The decision not to positon itself as a Meta framework (eCommerce framework built on top of a code fra-
mework, like Zend or Symfony) also raises the difculty to maintain an high-level functon libraries. According to
integrators, this point is important to help factor and streamline the code in order to facilitate and standardize the
development and maintenance process.
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The upside is that the soluton is ofen lighter than its compettors and it is far easier to get
into the PrestaShop code rather than into Magento or OXID eShop ones. The lack of cache sys-
tem can also be explained by this choice. Magentos cache system, for example, is based on the
one provided by Zend while PrestaShop will have to build its own from scratch.
The late arrival of mult-store and faceted navigaton caused some delay to PrestaShop and
reinforced the image of a product for small sites. Of course, PrestaShop works hard to quickly
address all these points, which should be improved within the next 3 to 6 months, if not already
done for some (such as for mult-store).
The policy of the editor to grow along with the demand of its customers makes PrestaShop a highly pragmatc pro-
duct: the editor always closely monitored his pilot customers who helped him improve, which is the wish of the
metculous founder, Bruno Lvque.

Technique is constantly evolving
In terms of technique, the object system in PHP is highly readable and easy-to-access. The web service is one of the
most advanced in the market with a unique and constantly improved number of features. The mobile applicaton is
here again a key to success with so far some of the more convincing result in the market. The product will incorpo-
rate, as of version 1.5, the unit testng system.
The code is lightweight and the list of features is very extensive, including some systems unique to PrestaShop, such
as the shopping carts insurance or catalogue manipulaton with a Classic C applicaton which allows to save a lot of
tme editng the catalogue in ofine mode with a fast applicaton, before synchronizing with web service.
Like all PHP based solutons, PrestaShop cannot reach the very large (with several ten or hundred million euros on-
line sales) because, beyond the technical challenge, only solutons using compiled languages (like Java) are capable
to overcome the overhead of a large number of connectons to the back ofce and a linear improvement in the
performance.
What is the future of PrestaShop?
So, what is lacking then to PrestaShop to take of for Middle-market? (Tier 3)
Some large integrators are adoptng the soluton as an opportunity to meet their deadlines and ensure their project
margins while avoiding slippage in the deadlines, very common in other frameworks. Editor with a view to profta-
bility and a clear business model which can beneft both the company and its partners is also necessary. This may
reassure merchants that adopt the soluton because this is the only way to make it sustainable. Finally, big atractng
big, the references will make the diference.
If PrestaShop manages to sign a frst well-known medium-size site, some other sites will naturally arrive in the wake,
breaking PrestaShop away from its image and launching at the same tme a new stakeholder in the Middle-market.
The recent 3 million euros fundraising shows that the editor has the means to achieve this goal and we wish all the
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best to the French team. Similarly, no longer focusing on Magento strategy but having its own strategy could be
benefcial. The soluton has enough benefts to grow by itself. Being diferent, unique, taking advantage of its own
assets has ofen many more benefts than going afer the leader.
Strengths and weaknesses of PrestaShop
Pros
+ Easy-to learn system, both for users and developers.
+ A comprehensive web service.
+ Very clean and advanced mobile applicaton.
+ A highly-motvated and ambitous team, who keeps in mind that needs come from customers.
Cons
No-cache system (no-block, no FPC).
Backlog (soon cleared) in mult-store and faceted navigaton.
The lack of underlying framework (Zend, Symfony) limits the code reusability.
A business model that is stll fnding its way and litle readable, which does not reassure about the
editor solidity.
PrestaShops highlights
(The more stars, the best)

Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service / API
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
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Chart analysis of PrestaShop
(The bigger the area, the best)
Performance
& scalability
Sustainability of the soluton
Natve functonal coverage Complexity of development
Costs (licenses, development etc)
Availability of skilled resources
154320
Performance
& scalability
Sustainability of the soluton
Natve functonal coverage Complexity of development
Costs (licenses, development etc)
Availability of skilled resources
154320
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Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
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Drupal Commerce: back to eCommerce
Record sheet
DRUPAL COMMERCE
Size 35 people
Turnover 2011 not known
Business model services (consultng, support, training and integraton)
Cost of the licenses 0
Technology PHP
Framework Drupal
Database NoSQL, MySQL, SQL-Server, Oracle, SQLite, PostgreSQL,
MongoDB
Version (at the tme of the study) 1.3
License GPL v2
Date of frst release 2011
Origin France
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 10k / 50k / > 100k
The challenger of eCommerce solutons
Drupal Commerce, the new way of eCommerce: such is the view of the editor.
The competton is so ferce that this ambiton may seem dispro-
portonate, but Drupal Commerce does really have an impressive
potental. Based on Drupal, Commerce Guys framework enters the
market with real benefts. First, Drupal CMS is world famous as it is one the market leaders for over ten years and
brings together a community of 350,000 members, powering ones of the largest sites in the world.
With over one million sites in producton, Drupal pretends to be the most commonly used CMS in the world regar-
ding creatng websites. Open source and easy-to-use, Drupal (the CMS, not the eCommerce part) has already proven
its value: MTV, The Economist, Whitehouse.gov, Sony Music, Zynga, Ikea, Twiter and the Louvre are using Drupal.
If Drupals website statstcs are accurate, a bit more than 15,000 sites would be using the Drupal Commerce exten-
sion now, which seems a lot and also count the preproducton and development environments. It is very hard to
precisely state how many real sites are in producton now, but the product drives atenton.
Drupal Commerce is the youngest eCommerce platorm in this landscape. Version 1.0 was announced at the Dru-
palCon London in 2011 and achieved early success. The Drupal community was eagerly awaitng this release. Dru-
paliens couldnt wait to know whether this framework will supplant Ubercart (old Drupal eCommerce module) and
revolutonize eCommerce on Drupal, as announced by Commerce Guys. According to the editor, thousands of sites
already use Drupal Commerce and the framework has already gained an important reference just afer its release.
Despite a dark period when relatons between Drupal Commerce and Ubercart leaders were not very good, the
soluton is now clean and tensions seem to be history. Everything is now online and the way is free and clear to
make Drupal Commerce one of the leaders of the sector.
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Combining power and experience
The platorm has an integrated CMS and benefts from the simple and efcient back ofce of Drupal, which are
obvious advantages. While others, like Magento, chose not to bet (at least so far) on CMS side of their frameworks,
Drupal takes the opposite view and provides easy-to-modify and easy-to-skin online stores. Thousands of modules
and themes are available and Drupal Commerce is already highly fexible. Small projects can therefore get started
fast. Larger projects are also possible by combining the CMS fexibility and the strengths of Drupal Commerce.
Drupal Commerce is however very dependent on Drupal 7 CMS since it is based on it, leaving litle control over some
aspects of developments to Commerce Guys. What about a fork, for example? Obviously, having one of the Drupal
architects in the Board is to alleviate concern in this respect, but this is important. The advantage, in contrast, is that
Drupal Commerce doesnt have to handle the full and complex mechanical, but just the eCommerce aspect. When
the tme will be to redesign Drupal and upgrade it to V8 (expected in 2013), including Symfony components, what
about the evoluton of Drupal Commerce?
Another original aspect is that Commerce Guys is natvely a French-American company. Unlike PrestaShop, which
extends from France into the United States, or OXID eShop & Hybris which extends from Germany into France,
Drupal Commerce has two bases and actually works without internal limit, ffy-ffy, between the two countries.
In such a way, any breakthrough achieved on either of the countries will speed the market penetraton of the both.
One more very diferentatng aspect is the large number of supported
databases. This choice indicates a strong open source infuence. In addi-
ton to the classic MySQL, there is the rival (built by one of the designers
of MySQL), MongoDB (NoSQL), but also PostgreSQL and SQLite. Very nice,
but ... Drupal Commerce goes further providing support for Oracle and SQL Server, two of the most robust and func-
tonal commercial databases in the market, thus putng the framework in a great positon to be adopted by major
accounts. The main compettor in the segment, Magento, contnues to delay supportng SQL server and Oracle and
stll does not support NoSQL. The diference may seem small but this is far to be the case, mainly for those who
know the limitatons of MySQL.
A wave to ride
Close to the eCommerce ecosystem, the editor really seeks to contribute to the emergence of its framework. Drupal
Commerce France brains atend all fairs, all BarCamps. They have a discreet but long-term policy. Commerce Guys
is already partner with over 20 specialized agencies, a signifcant number considering the youth of the framework.
It is also important to note that the Drupal community is very dynamic and passionate.
Among its members, many developers are able to learn quickly and well the use of Drupal Commerce, suggestng a
rapid expansion of the framework.
However, being based on Drupal does not only have benefts. Highly dependent on the CMS, Drupal Commerce re-
quires an adjustment period and tme-to-discovery longer than classic soluton when startng from scratch. Conver-
sely, the old-tme Drupaliens will early hit it of with Drupal Commerce, but without prior experience, mastering
Drupal Commerce may also be as difcult for developers as mastering Magento.
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Another fipside of the coin, the editor relied too much on the wealth of Drupal modules.
Finally, the functonal layer of Drupal Commerce is stll a litle light compared to those of other
solutons in the market. That said, the 80-20 rule applies here, thus 80 per cent of users use
in general 20 per cent of Framework possibilites. It is also noted that as it is ofen the case
on platorms originally designed to CMS or blog, Drupal Commerce provides a wide range of
possibilites in the Social Networking feld.
One of the issues that have not yet been addressed is the business model. Indeed, the fnancial model of Commerce
Guys requires that the company be involved in a part of the design/architecture process of the project as well as
in selling support. When support is well done, this is an obvious value, but the design is a litle harder to sell to
partners. Indeed, where does design/architecture ends and where does integraton begins, when the web agency
partner is brought into the process or, conversely, when does he call Commerce Guys? Indeed, web agencies and
integrators are the frst developers and vendors of solutons, if they do not feel confdent with the model of Drupal
Commerce or, worse, if they compete with Commerce Guys, this may hinder the market penetraton of the product.
Drupal Commerce is fexible, robust and has a very surprising maturity for a newcomer, which is a guarantee of
quality for anyone who wants to start a web project. Having its eCommerce site based on one of the most popular
frameworks in the world is surely a parameter to consider in selectng a future eCommerce soluton. However, we
have to keep in mind taht this framework is stll young and the services provided are not as mature as others that
have been present for several years in the sector.
Strengths and weaknesses of Drupal Commerce

Pros
+ Rapid acquisiton of frst references and a great fundraising.
+ Architecture is robust, fexible and highly scalable.
+ Very large Drupal community and very open model.
+ Integrated CMS, including natve features for blogging.
Cons
Less natve features as its compettors (so far).
Business model should fnd its feet so as not to antagonize the integrators.
Development learning curve a quite steep for those who do not already master Drupal.
Drupal Commerce is young.
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Drupal Commerces highlights
(The more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service / API
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
Drupal Commerces highlights
(The bigger the area, the best)
Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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Demandware: a very special positon
Record sheet
DEMANDWARE
Size 215 people (end of 2011)
Turnover 2011 Approx. $48m (estmaton - $36,7m in 2010)
Business model percentage of the sales turnover on SaaS platorm
Cost of the licenses No license but a subscripton
Technology Java
Framework not applicable
Database Oracle
Version (at the tme of the study) not known
License not applicable
Date of frst release 2005
Origin U.S.
Website budget range (low/medium/high) not applicable
Demandware : Sofware As A Service
Founded in 2004 by Stephan Schambach, former CEO of Inters-
hop, Demandware was formed with a clear vision that is stll rele-
vant today: bringing to market a soluton focused on power and
innovaton, that would at the same tme remove the technical
costs and complexites of running an eCommerce operaton. The company became recently listed on the NYSE,
American Stock Exchange (Code NYSE: DWRE) with 173 million dollars in foatng shares.
Demandware is the only eCommerce soluton of the environment which is a Sofware As A Service (SaaS). This
term means that sofware is not purchased under a licensing agreement but through a service subscripton. SaaS
also allows to save costs of related actvites because everything is included in the subscripton (server purchase,
hostng, maintenance of machines, etc). Another advantage of this type of sofware is that the customer can
choose the way he uses the features. The sofware is fully customizable to closely responds to customer requests.
In general, SaaS goes hand in hand with small sites because platorms like Magento Go, Oxats or PowerBoutque
may not have enough functonal coverage or fexibility in terms of customizaton to run large websites. However,
Demandware is addressed to websites with sales of several million euros. As SaaS, Demandwares concept can be
summarized by a quote by its president and founder, Stephan Schambach:

What is lef unsaid by companies specializing in the sofware sale is that for every euro spent on license, eight euros
more have to be added for all the related costs: integraton, maintenance, hardware, etc The eCommerce sector is
a large consumer of resources, since industry is constantly innovatng. However, if you can handle it all with a single
subscripton, Demandware will be able to redeploy all your resources optmally to improve your brand image.
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This highly analytcal approach is relatvely accurate. In principle, all costs have to be accounted for and Demand-
ware can easily convince in the U.S. with this kind of discourse. But in Europe, cost accountng is not so much in
mind of leaders and the pure OPEX vs. CAPEX or the calculaton as a percentage of turnover are stll not customary.
Customizaton for more fexibility
Demandware comes up with an original and special concept for the eCommerce solutons market: the on de-
mand. It makes possible to customize everything the customer wants. When a need arises, a request is made and
Demandware processes it in order to meet all customer requirements.
This is an interestng concept for eCommerce solutons thus all these external services are ofen the sinews of war
for merchant websites. Demandware focused on this demand and comes up with an all-inclusive soluton: hostng,
updates, daily operatons, etc...
The customer does not have to worry about all these elements that can take tme. For example, Demandware
includes a cloud service that can absorb peaks-loads. The core target of this soluton is the larger eCommerce web-
sites that have reached such a development that they are unable to fnd a soluton that can keep up with their fast
growth. In general, these sites have a minimum turnover of 10 million euros.
The SaaS approach has also (and especially) the merit of not involving the customers team in complex development
cycles in PHP or Java. Either the selected feature is provided by Demandware, or it is interestng enough so that De-
mandware teams fully integrate it with the platorm. Ultmately, this platorm is constantly enhanced by absorbing
its customers demand. The very well designed and almost fully interfaced architecture of Demandware, especially
through advanced web services provides many possibilites.
With one or two graphic integrators skilled in CSS/JS/HTML and a shop manager, customers meet 80 per cent of
their needs. Graphic integrators will have to learn the workings of Demandware, on the whole simple, but it worth.
Similarly, for a Factory Site, such as delegated eCommerce companies, this tool has strong characteristcs: one
only kingdom to manage all customers, no development cycle, just customizaton.
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The image below (courtesy from Demandware) shows all that can be done with the product:
The technical referental is really powerful and very functonal, easily interfaced both with other products/internal
services of the brand and with an external logistcs system or with an ERP. The soluton is one of the most versatle to
date and if you are looking for interface points between your systems, those of your providers and the Demandware
platorm, no worries, its already planned.
Back ofce is clean and fast, using eclipse for your interactons mapping makes it even more comprehensible and
publishing a website front page with internal CMS is extremely easy. All this increases the number of people able to
work with Demandware, in a more or less advanced manner. In additon, the back ofce was actually thought to be
easily handled by Shop Managers with no knowledge of HTML/CSS or Java code.
The soluton is a bit heavy on front-end and the loading tme is quite short but it varies over tme: the fact that
France had not yet its own POD (part of local infrastructure of the Cloud) can play in these slight variatons. Howe-
ver, the loading tme never exceeded 4.5 seconds, but it also never fell below one second and a half either.
Demandwares approach API/Web service is by far the most enhanced we have seen to date.
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Demandware, a soluton to a specifc group
As previously mentoned, SaaS concept is suitable for medium/high-end accounts seeking THE soluton that meets
all their needs. Demandware also makes possible to easily run multple sites in diferent languages thus atractng
customers based in various countries. An obvious example is the site of the famous brand Crocs. This ability to ma-
nage multple sites at once with integrated-hostng and many other features meets a current demand from major
customers: being scalable. Being able to evolve and grow with a strong growth without trouble is the core beneft
provided by Demandware.
Demandware is a very powerful SaaS with almost unlimited possibilites, but such qualites have a cost. The entry
cost is around 300 thousand dollars and monthly payment is a percentage of turnover (2 to 4 per cent), with at a
minimum 30 thousand dollars per month. The threshold would be therefore for companies that have an annual tur-
nover of 12 million dollars. As everything is on-demand, it requires working hand-in-hand with Demandware. This
is both an advantage and a disadvantage. If a company is not satsfed with some implementaton, it will be difcult
to call on service providers to make any changes and to get away from Demandware. In fact, you will have to start
again from scratch.
This is a typical American concept. Paying a percentage of turnover has not yet become accepted by European in
general. But in the end, for companies with high beneft margin and in a segment from 10 to 50 million euros online
sales, spending 2-4 per cent of sales for the website (including development & hostng), it can be very proftable.
Above, spending over one million euros per year for a site makes less sense. So, Demandware is on a niche but
strong market, at the beginning of the Tier 2.
Demandware must established itself in Europe
Afer a mixed start in France, due to a lead team unaware of the eCommerce sector, company decided to review
its management process to have a more expert contact with customers. This new situaton combined with more
visibility and an excellent pre-sales technical support should give a new boost to Demandware.
In conclusion, basing the actvity on Demandware is a considered decision that makes necessary to think of an eCom-
merce strategy in the long term, considering the large amounts to be invested and the extreme dependence on the
soluton, afer contract is signed. However, for the delegated eCommerce companies or for businesses between 10
to 50 million euros online sales, fexibility, ease of use and the all-inclusive model can be atractve. Afer reaching
the mark where the product becomes less proftable as an integrated framework, customer can always redesign his
site. Demandware is a 3+ years out choice.
Strengths and weaknesses of Demandware
Pros
+ Easy integraton / customizaton / modifcaton of template
+ Fully interfaced, high-capacity API & Web service
+ Scalable and SaaS mode system
+ (almost) All inclusive
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Cons
Expensive soluton (percentage of turnover).
Captve soluton (very complicated to step out).
Designed for large accounts only.
Demandwares highlights
(The more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service / API
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
Chart analysis of Demandware
(The bigger the area, the best)
Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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Intershop: for the biggest
Record sheet
INTERSHOP
Size 460 people
Turnover 2011 35.6M
Business model services, eCommerce and marketng + products
Cost of the licenses License 30k/CPU or SaaS, calculated with the customer
Technology Java
Framework specifc to Intershop
Database Oracle
Version (at the tme of the study) Enfnity 7
License not known
Date of frst release 1992
Origin Germany
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 250k / 1-10m / > 10m
Substantal experience in eCommerce
Oldest eCommerce soluton in this study and maybe in the market,
Intershop is a German company established in 1992 and listed on
the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
One of the few solutons having withstood the burstng of the dot-com bubble, Intershop is now a leader of the ter
1 with its soluton Enfnity. With 18 years of experience, Intershop contnues to show impressive results: customers
with more than 25 online stores with millions of products and a soluton present in over 30 countries and translated
into 20 languages.
Intershop has diversifed its ofer with a wide range of services in additon to its soluton. All the years of experience
have enabled the German company to understand the eMerchant issues and address them in a very realistc way.
Intershop provides, for example, many marketng services associated with the soluton.
Centralized by a single agency partner, SoQuero, quality services such as SEO campaigns, SEM and e-mailing are
available for all eMerchants who have selected Intershop. Selectng a marketng agency is ofen a difcult decision
to take for eMerchants. So, having the choice to trust a single partner, on top of that with 18 years of experience,
can make the diference and help their choice.
Intershop, ensuring scalability
From a technical point of view, Enfnity 7 is a soluton that provides a very good scalability. Capable of handling mil-
lions of products and processing thousands of orders per day, Intershop soluton is designed for eCommerce major
projects that have an internatonal mult-site strategy. Intershop has many large customers thus proving that it is a
technically mature and reliable soluton.
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BestWestern, BMW, HP, T-Mobile, Monster and Swarovski are some references cited by the editor. Another strength
that comes from the maturity of the soluton is the deep experience of the technical support. Throughout decades
of operaton, Intershop has established efectve support available 24/7.
Intershop is not yet widespread in France
Despite all these advantages, there is a major weakness: Intershop Enfnity and its soluton
are rarely used in France. Although there is a distributor in France, Data soluton, repre-
sented by Jean-Claude Nogues, Intershop is stll not very visible. With some research, it is
possible to gather some informaton here and there but its stll far too litle to be considered
by eMerchants in their fnal choice. It is not easy to share experiences, talk and debate about
issues or successes encountered on Intershop in the day-to-day.
There is stll no actve community and network of partners is almost non-existent. Of course, Intershop provides the
services of the agency SoQuero but fnding developers experts on the soluton Enfnity will not be easy. There are
no community groups such as PrestaShop or Bargento Barcamp. In additon, Intershop is a mature soluton that has
proven itself but this experience has a cost. Startng a project with Intershop soluton will cost between 250 thou-
sand euros and a couple millions euros depending on the size, ambiton and goals of the project.
Selectng Intershop soluton for your eCommerce website means also optng to work with highly-skilled professio-
nals, who will assist you throughout your business. This experience is refected in the multtude of available features
and services you can integrate with Enfnity and that suit your project. Unfortunately, the price is very high and
selectng Intershop represents a huge investment and a long-term collaboraton.
Strengths and weaknesses of Intershop

Pros
+ Experience and maturity of the soluton.
+ Marketng and eCommerce services related to the platorm.
+ Scalable: perfect for internatonal and mult-sites projects (and internatonal).
Cons
One of the most expensive soluton in the market.
Not very visible in France.
Litle choice except for SoQuero.
No community.
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Intershops highlights
(The more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
Chart analysis of Intershop
(The bigger the area, the best)
Performance
& scalability
Performance
& scalability
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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OXID eShop: German engineered
Record sheet
OXID eShop
Size 80 people
Turnover 2011 not known
Business model services & products
Cost of the licenses 2,990 excl. Tax for the Professional Editon. Price starts at
14,990 excl. Tax for the Enterprise Editon (this is not an
annual cost). 20 percent per year have to be added for the
support and maintenance contract. OXID eShop Enterprise
Editon license has also an annual fee that starts at 7,990
excl. Tax per year
Technology PHP
Framework MVC framework
Database MySQL
Version (at the tme of the study) 4.6
License GPL V3
Date of frst release 2003
Origin Germany
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 3k / 10-50k / 100k and over
Leader in Germany, new in the French market
German soluton and open source since 2008, OXID eShop has suc
cessfully established itself in a country where eCommerce is already
well developed and where competton is ferce. No doubt that raising
to this success level indicates very good strengths.
It is no small duty to be the leader in the Tier 3 market in Germany, facing strong opponent like Magento, but stll,
the OXID team successfully took the positon and hold it tght!
Also, OXID eSales was ofcially launched in France in September 2011 at the eCommerce fair in Paris. The soluton is
thus making public relatons and trying to develop partnerships only for few months in this territory. Although more
and more experts are beginning to talk about OXID eShop as a potental compettor of Magento and PrestaShop,
there is litle real informaton.
With references such as Neckermann (German Galeries Lafayete) and Medimops, OXID eShop shows that it is a
solid and mature soluton. The frst export movement was made toward France, several months ago, without not-
ceable success yet.
OXID eSales wants to integrate the commercial support of the soluton as well as with a centre of expertse and get
as close as possible to the eCommerce ecosystem. The OXID team has always been very Community Oriented
with the OXID Commons for exemple. Moreover, the website, as well as full documentaton and sofware are alrea-
dy available in French. This frst movement toward internatonalizaton of the soluton shows the will of OXID to
expand over Europe in the upcoming months.
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By marketng its products through a third-party company in their frst export atempt, OXID loses a bit of its lea-
dership in the business and has not brought its German touch in France yet, which could have helped him to give
new impetus to the launch phase.
However, OXID France refocus on the product always more and leave out some of the related actvites. Striking a
balance between what is done by an internal team and what is delegated to an ecosystem in terms of business is
not an easy thing and OXID eShop is not the only one having this problem. Drupal Commerce has the same concern
and RBS Change does its best to stop as soon as possible its integraton actvity and become pure editor. More space
for the others means more support to grow, a method that Magento used successfully.
A leading eCommerce soluton in Germany
Already a leader in Germany, OXID eShop is a soluton that meets the needs of many eMerchants. On the one hand,
OXID eShop has successfully established itself among small eMerchants with its open source community version.
On the other hand, Professional and Enterprise versions are designed for larger projects and aim to develop the
soluton to major players in the eCommerce in Germany. The most obvious example is the site Medimops which
manages over three million products and shows good technical performance in terms of speed.
Those qualites owe nothing to chance. Among the many code factories you can fnd in eCommerce, all experts that
have been looking into OXID Shop have a uniform feedback: The code and models are super clean, among the
most qualitatve on the market.
In additon to all its features, OXID eShop provides a SaaS applicatons marketplace. To date only available in Ger-
many (but soon available in France), OXID eFire makes possible to install third-party modules (payment, SEO, SEM)
with an immediate implementaton thus everything is already integrated in the OXID eFire platorm. This SaaS mar-
ketplace model is a real success and has proven itself in Germany.
A very advanced product
OXID eShop met the challenge to please both small and large sites and even if it was not an easy thing, it achieved it
with success. The product is suitable for shops requiring about ten days for the integraton work to others requiring
several hundred days (which is justfed), so the range is very wide, from Tier 4 to almost Tier 2. Moreover, the leader
of Tier 3 in Germany is not Magento, like in most countries, but OXID eShop!
The framework is developed with Agile methods, which natvely allows teams skilled in these techniques to get fas-
ter to the point. Unlike Magento, that will frst do it in the version 2, OXID eShop integrates unit testng functonality,
with almost the entre surface of the sofware; nothing like German thoroughness!
Philippe Pertn, OXID eSales France Managing Director, has highlighted some signifcant results of the soluton: more
than one million products in base for one customer, with thousands of orders each day. They have every reason to
be proud of: its already a great performance.
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The efort has been made to translate into other languages, that is a nice point, and the modules library has excee-
ded 1,000 visits, which makes easier the macro-assembly, especially with eFire. It is difcult to diferentate OXID
eShop from the other solutons but it worth to be mentoned thus this is a clean, structured and scalable soluton,
suitable for a wide range of needs.
Aspects rather exclusive to the soluton is that OXID eShop provides, in additon to the web agency support, direct
support from the editor. In the case of very special needs, as for example some very specifc module, the team of
the editor can sometmes even handle it directly.
Thomas Lohner (expert at SysEleven), leader in the OXID eShop hostng market in Germany), gave us some addito-
nal informaton. OXID eShop, like many other platorms, supports only one database and therefore does not enable
read-write separaton and natve high availability a.s.o (this will be the case in version 5). Most features of the
natve engine are interchangeable with your own implementatons, which allow keeping compatble with platorm
upgrades, while customizing the product. In additon, the Framework is much easier to master for a developer than
Drupal Commerce and Magento Frameworks.
OXID eShop is much closer to a customizable eCommerce system where Magento is closer to a framework to be
integrated, resultng in shorter project cycles. Cache is also much more efcient than in the majority of Frameworks.
In the end, the Dynamic Content Cache reduces the number of SQL queries to about 1/10 of the original number.
The feeling of efciency is enhanced by the facts: large websites select OXID eShop and are successful with it,
volumes may be really impressive and the soluton is stable. Finally, OXID eShop is a very strong compettor to
Magento in its core target and the story would have been very diferent if the product had focused earlier on get-
tng a Europe-wide visibility.
Strengths and weaknesses of OXID eShop
Pros
+ Soluton leader in its country (already highly-advanced in eCommerce).
+ Willing to get established in France.
+ OXID eFire: SaaS applicatons marketplace.
+ In terms of performance, much faster and lighter on front-end than Magento.
Cons
In terms of performance, much faster and lighter on front-end than Magento.
No notceable ecosystem outside of Germany yet.
As for Magento, single database support.
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OXID eShops highlights
(The bigger the area, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
(Germany = 4)

Web service / API
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community (Germany = 4)
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
Chart analysis of OXID eShop
(The bigger the area, the best)
Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses, deve-
lopment etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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RBS Change: because experience maters!
Record sheet

RBS Change
Size 160 people
Turnover 2011 not known
Business model modules for a fee but free soluton
Cost of the licenses 0. Only some modules are under commercial license. Fee
is to be paid only once
Technology PHP
Framework specifc to the soluton
Database MySQL, Oracle
Version (at the tme of the study) 3.6
License Afero GPL v3
Date of frst release 1997
Origin France
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 10k / 20-40k / from 50k
A company that is reinventng itself
RBS Change is an open source soluton that the editor is bringing forward
more and more. You can easily fnd some of the DNA of Magento in this
story. An editor decided for its own needs, to develop an eCommerce
framework, ten years ago. The story sounds familiar no?
This career path is far from trivial because afer a decade of experience in integraton, it is obvious that for its own
good, the editor has set up robust and easy-to-produce mechanisms.
Some well-known companies in open source integraton, has already taken part to RBS Exchange process, achieving
great result so far. NBS System is keeping a close watch on the soluton. Indeed, RBS Change DNA shows all the
qualites of an excellent compettor.
RBS Change ... A name that you may have not heard of, but that may certainly change.
An integrator turning in an open source editor
Open Source CMS RBS Change is developed by the independent company Ready Business System (RBS) SSII, foun-
ded in 1997 and based in Strasbourg, France. The company has 150 employees, a turnover of 26 million euros,
which is higher than most of the other companies in our study. RBS Change began to develop in 2005 and from
version to version, the tool was improved and became more mature.
A major milestone of the project was reached at the end of 2007 with the ofcial launch of RBS Change 2.0: the
creaton of an eCommerce soluton fully integrated with RBS Change content management soluton. RBS Change
3.0 became an open source project in 2010. The aim was to facilitate and accelerate the disseminaton of CMS while
bringing together a community of users and web enthusiasts, which includes all trades and profles involved in the
life of an Internet project.
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RBS Change has selected open source technology for now one year and a half and that decision is paying of. The
eCommerce ecosystem is increasingly interested in this soluton which is, according to experts, very promising.
Indeed, with over ten years of existence, the many benefts it provides and the energy of RBS Change has selected
open source technology for now one year and a half and that decision is paying of. The eCommerce ecosystem is
increasingly interested in this soluton which is, according to experts, very promising.
Indeed, with over ten years of existence, the many benefts it provides and the energy of the editor, RBS Change
can compete with recognized eCommerce solutons. The company covers all major eCommerce events in Europe
and with its desire to bring together a community, RBS Change afrms litle by litle its status as a real compettor
compared to the giants of the eCommerce.
The natve qualites, the speed of the soluton and especially its strong afect to the cross-Commerce are already
important decisions key for many players. But references as Phox, Rossignol, Best Western, DeDietrich, and much
more have also signifcant repercussions.
Experience and ambiton
With ten years of experience, RBS Change can be considered as one of the eCommerce pioneers and this is refected
in the management of the shif to open source. RBS Change experts have a solid knowledge of the market, they are
aware of the e-retailers needs and expectatons. CMS enhancements are consistent and the soluton is constantly
evolving to meet the needs of customers.
Since the soluton is open source, RBS Change strives to be an actve community.
Jean-Michel Ramseyer, community leader, is very energetc and seeks to make the soluton known to the widest
audience. Impressive booth at the eCommerce events, interviews on the ecosystem blogs, developing partnerships
with agencies, RBS Change is dynamic and it shows. RBS Change also ataches great importance to customers feed-
back in order to improve. The editor is listening to its customers not only for areas of improvement but also for its
technical support.
This point is important because when a project is launched, yet not known or not already addressed bugs can be
submited to the technical support, which can quickly be in great demand. RBS Change is fully aware of the impor-
tance of the community and word of mouth and that is why it seeks to demonstrate its commitment to develop the
soluton with a long-term vision, keeping close to all stakeholders in the sector.
In short, this is a comprehensive and profcient soluton, with references, that puts the media in the foreground and
with a clearly opposite strategy to the Magento one, in the feld.
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RBS Change has stll to establish itself in the eCommerce environment
RBS Change has nothing to be ashamed of its performance and natve great number of functons compared to
the direct compettors. Moreover, the original structure of RBS Change with a single source code (a single version
exists) and free or fee-paying modules are here to improve the soluton. It is therefore very easy to customize the
eCommerce projects using a module or another. RBS Change is a soluton designed for medium-size, Tier 3 and
beginning of the Tier 2 eCommerce projects. It will cost therefore at a minimum 20 to 40 thousand euros to launch
an eCommerce project with RBS change.
RBS Change has stll a hiatus to address. The company is stll both editor and integrator, which complicates its imple-
mentaton on the eCommerce solutons spectrum. In fact, knowing that the editor may be compettor is stressful
for an integrator. However, the company wishes to expand its list of partners and to reassure them, train them and
support them.
Company also separates its editor and integrator businesses in order to establish a clearer border. Finally, it seems
that like many of its compettors, RBS plans to raise funds. Aware that duality editor/integrator is stll not well appre-
ciated by them, RBS ofcially lef the feld, confrming again recently to a renowned integrator that they will not be
compettors anymore at very short term.
To date, RBS Change back ofce does not allow the development of specifc applicaton mobile. It is stll possible
to have a CSS skin adapted for mobile but nothing compared to what PrestaShop currently provides for example.
E-retailers who want to launch a mobile strategy have to take this point into account. In additon, m-commerce is
growing every day and having an iPhone or Android applicaton is increasingly requested.
The awakening of a giant?
RBS Change is stll sufering from the status as a newcomer in the eCommerce environment and few web agencies
are partners with the editor. To date, Alter Way, Smile, Synolia and WaveHub are the only agencies partner with RBS
Change. Startng a project with this soluton will limit the number of potental providers in the short term but that
would not last since the current craze is driving players to this product and the company is rapidly growing.
This is a low-profle soluton for the moment, like its management team and their region of origin: modest but hard-
working. The company stll has to restructure some aspects like splitng of assets and actvites, but all should be
fnalized by the end of the summer, which may also suggests a great fundraising in the wake. But discreton will not
last long and we feel it is our responsibility to highlight that it worth keeping a close watch on this soluton. We may
see the awakening of an eCommerce giant, which already has the qualites of the biggest.
Nevertheless, framework pleasant and afordable development standards should atract developers tred of unfa-
thomable complexity Frameworks. The use of PHPTAL and smarty on the front-end side, XUL and SOLR on the back-
end side to push the search engine, all natvely, should help convince the most sceptcal. This simplicity and the use
of standards will clearly shorten the learning curve for developers wishing to get started.
In terms of functon, mult-stores, mult-warehouse, multchannel management, all natves, should convince, in ad-
diton to one of the widest range of Frameworks feature for that tme, all backed by a really well made web service!
And to give a full picture, the system is one of the lightest load on front-end servers, making it scalable and fast.
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Strengths and weaknesses of RBS Change
Pros
+ Mature soluton.
+ Energy of the editor with a real support.
+ Soluton includes a great number of functons.
+ Efcient templatng.
Cons
Mobile applicaton.
Few partner agencies in France at the tme.
Some adjustments stll required in the business model.
RBS Changes highlights
(The more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service / API
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers
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Chart analysis of RBS Change
(The bigger the area, the best)
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Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
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Hybris: the rising star
Record sheet
HYBRIS
Size approx. 250 people (estmated)
Turnover 2011 about 40m (estmated)
Business model products & services
Cost of the licenses price starts at 40k. Price depends on selected modules
and targeted architecture
Technology Java
Framework Hybris platorm is both a framework and a ready-to-use
soluton with Hybris ACCELERATOR.
Database Oracle, SQLServer, MySQL
Version (at the tme of the study) Hybris 4.6
License not known
Date of frst release depends on products
Origin Germany
Website budget range (low/medium/high) 100-200k / 500k / > 500k
Hybris, an ambitous soluton, with good reason
Hybris, dynamic player in the market for over a decade, has impressive results in terms of growth and performance.
With an unrivalled experience on best practces (through hundreds of projects) involving though catalog and pro-
duct management systems, Hybris has gained ground among the leading European eCommerce solutons. This year,
Hybris has received the award for the best technology at the last eCommerce trade in Paris and the Summit Thought
Leader Award at the last Next Generaton Retail Summit in Lisbon.
Founded in 1997, Hybris is a German soluton (one more!), based in Munich. The company experienced a strong
growth since it caught the eCommerce wave and all these years long, it is mainly since 2008 that the eCommerce
soluton is booming. Moreover, this is not a part of Hybris DNA, which is not an eCommerce soluton, which turned
to multchannel, but a multchannel soluton that has turned to the eCommerce, with as a cornerstone a product
called PCM (Product Content Management). The editor defends the Agile Commerce, a responsive trade!
Success rarely happens by chance. At Hybris, CVs of experienced people are kept up high and low. All leaders have
a big experience in major sofware (Sales force, SAP, etc.), years of practce and a large network. All combined with
expertse, references and a sof that can handle millions of SKUs without finching. This is the assurance of an efec-
tve system for large accounts.
eCommerce Soluton is stll not very visible on the French territory but Hybris has proven its value in other countries.
Indeed, the soluton supports very large accounts and customer references are impressive. Some of the biggest
brands in the world have opted for this soluton and more and more large companies are atracted to migrate.
As examples, Adidas, Lufhansa, Douglas, Reebok, Rexel, Pirelli, Levis, ToysRUs, Conrad, Nespresso, Ericsson and
many others relied on Hybris.
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Their latest big victory to date caused much comment in the eCommerce feld: The Galleries Lafayete.This depart-
ment store is somewhere emblematc of a Hybris client: large volumes, great number of products, pure multchan-
nel, mult-country.
Why does Hybris atract so many famous brands around the world? Just because the business model of this soluton
is designed especially for them! Hybris has concentrated its actvites on product management: the product content
management.
Hybris assists you in your growth
Ofen, when products are becoming more numerous, the site becomes slower on back ofce as on front ofce. This
consequence is well known from eMerchants.
Hybris ofers several products contained in its MultChannel Suite:
With Hybris, product management can be done through diferent channels and all related actvites are associated
with them: print, media, physical store, social networks, etc... True trademark of Hybris, this specializaton is dedi-
cated for the major brands that have millions of products to manage and that are constantly changing over tme.
Hybris meets the strong demand of eMerchants with the ability to support their growth while fexibly managing
their products standard.
Another great strength of Hybris is the ability to provide multchannel solutons for product sales. Whether on mo-
bile, internet or physically, everything is integrated with the soluton to simplify eMerchants multchannel strategy.
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Hybris believes in a future where all sale channels will be dependent on each other and therefore chose from the
beginning to specialize in this sector. Many speakers we have mixed with recently or leaders of major sites say it
very well indeed: the E of eCommerce has to disappear, that fronter physical/online has no real meaning anymore.
Knowing how to estmate the ROI of this investment
Although the ofcial statement of the soluton afrms that Hybris is accessible even for SMEs, the soluton is expen-
sive and requires a signifcant investment. First, Java developers are usually more expensive at a rate per day than
PHP developers. Then, the entry-level cost of 40 thousand euros does not give access to much. For budget below
150 thousand euros, there is litle credibility to embark on a Hybris development. But it would be unfair to compare
only the eCommerce part since, in this case, Hybris PCM will also provide you a much more advanced management
of your products standard. Selectng Hybris means also choosing a PCM and an eCommerce system, which is much
more atractve fnancially.
Selectng Hybris for its eCommerce project is a decision that requires careful consideraton because this is a long-
tme and high-budget project. A java developer is more expensive than a PHP developer and the tme spent on code
is longer. Not being an open source soluton, it will not be possible to fnd add-ons modules to improve the site.
Everything must be thought of and designed internally.
In the end, the whole strategy of the eCommerce site will be built based on Hybris (with multchannel and product
management) and going back to the choice of the soluton will be very complicated. Thus, choosing Hybris means
to plan an eCommerce strategy on a very long term but it is worth the efort since having good control over the
soluton will allow to realize signifcant ROI.
Strengths and weaknesses of Hybris
Pros
+ Natvely Multchannel oriented.
+ Product Content Management (PCM).
+ Hybris scalability.
+ Very complete and segmented soluton.
Cons
Expensive soluton.
Closed platorm, no external contributons.
Not open source and no community approach.
Requires a full project management, on a global scale.
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Summary table of Hybris performance
(The more stars, the best)
Cost
Mobile
Number of developers in the market
Web service / API
Easy-to-use back ofce
Technical maturity
Community
Functonal coverage
Speed of the soluton (website)
Speed of the soluton (back ofce)
Easy-to-get started for developers

Chart analysis of Hybris
(The bigger the area, the best)

Performance
& scalability
Complexity of
development
Costs (licenses,
development etc.)
Sustainability of
the soluton
Natve functonal
coverage
Availability of skilled
resources
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The time has come to choose
Afer this study, one conclusion was inescapable since this work has allowed us to take the pulse of the eCom-
merce solutons market.
The frst obvious highlight is that 2012 will be a pivotal year for all these players. Between newcomers fundraising
(Drupal Commerce, PrestaShop and probably RBS Change) and the actvity of leaders with their share of complexi-
tes, this is by no means a foregone conclusion.
In 2012, the market is defnitely taking the turn of a reorganizaton, taking into account the new balance of forces.
eMerchant is King
With such a rich ofer, eMerchants are the big winners, whatever happens. They never have had before such a wide
choice! This conclusion is therefore to close the loop and help you select your eCommerce soluton, the one that
will probably assist you the next 24 to 36 months or even more!
In this highly dynamic market, everyone will have either to make its mark, keep its place in the segment, or launch
in a new segment to grow. eRetailers in this context have a wide and varied ofer, allowing them certainly to fnd
something that suits them.
On average, eMerchants keep their site two years before a major upgrade is necessary. It is therefore an important
but not defnitve alliance so you should estmate your needs essentally for the next 24 to 36 months.
Choice based on the estmated turnover
Another important fact, although many of the editors say they cover the entre range, we must recognize that it is
not so realistc or accurate in practce. First, to make the right choice, you have to know how to positon yourself in
your Tier.*
Are you in ter 1, 2, 3 or 4?
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If you are in 1-Tier or in upper 2-Tier: Most likely you will have to choose between Hybris and Intershop.
If you are in 2-Tier: You can easily think of Demandware along with Hybris. In the beginning of segment 2 (10 to
30 million euros), Magento Enterprise versions and RBS Change can clearly be thought of as well. The choice is not
trivial, the real diferentaton key being for us in terms of number of people connected simultaneously to the back
ofce. If you need a lot of them, choose a Java rather than a PHP framework. If you are more ppen source oriented
and like PHP for its fair quality/price rato, then Change & Magento are players!
If you are in the 3-Tier: You have access to all PHP frameworks! You will then have to sort by frameworks specialtes,
by budget related to site development and by specifc interests. We have seen OXID eShop, RBS Change and Magen-
to strengths in this segment; we should add that Drupal Commerce provides natvely a very good system Blog/CMS
and that PrestaShop ofers unbeatable prices in general, with shorter start tmes.
If you are in the 4-Tier: You start, you dont have to hesitate: PrestaShop is the best framework for this market
segment in our opinion. Magento CE is also good, but generally more expensive and harder to master, so that
integrators have difculty creatng Magento CE websites of quality with a budget less than 15 thousand euros. In
this segment, you can also clearly consider adoptng a SaaS: Go, Oxats, PowerBoutque, etc... There are dozens of
frameworks to start smoothly in eCommerce, at a very reasonable price.
Choice based on coverage of forces
This turnover segmentaton cannot be the only deciding factor: quality of editor support, progress in terms of
SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile), stability over tme, environment (integrators, developers, community) and capacity
for innovaton or adaptaton, also have to be weighed.
We aimed, with this study, to show you many facets and give you as much points of comparison as possible, to help
your decision-making, but nothing will be beter than testng on your own and gathering additonal informaton
specifc to your project.
We added to each soluton a spider chart (or radar chart) to show the strengths of the product, a summary table
and another table highlightng the strengths and weaknesses. So, read them very carefully to make sure that one of
your key points is not listed in the weaknesses of the sofware in queston.
Here are the diferent solutons considered:
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Among all these solutons, each has its advantages and disadvantages. Each soluton corresponds to a very specifc
type of eMerchants. Some solutons are designed for small projects and other for enormous projects. Before choo-
sing a soluton, several factors have to be taken into account but it is essental to know where we are going.
It is clear that all the solutons have their specifc strengths that should entce you on a given segment:
PHP group
PrestaShop: Tier 4 leader, unbeatable value for money, quick to master, quick to enrich
Magento: Tier 3 leader, very strong functonal coverage, rapidly evolving,
OXID eShop: (Tier 3 leader in Germany) Good support and technically ultra clean soluton
Drupal Commerce: Comprehensive CMS , a must-have if you already have a large Drupal ecosystem
RBS Change : Speedy frontend, complete back-end, a litle-known but brilliant product for big Tier 3
Java group
Intershop : Tier 1 player. For very large sites, experienced, providing Web marketng services
Demandware : mid Tier 2 player. A very complete and successful soluton for segment with turnover ranging
from 5 to 50 million euros per year
Hybris : Big Tier 3 and Tier 2 player, A strong and multchannel products catalogue management, a highly
experienced player
More KPIs that we suggest to help select
To answer the inital queston how to choose the right eCommerce soluton? we recommend you properly ana-
lyse your project needs and goals in the frst place. Take the tme to fnalize the business plan, know what will be the
future development of the actvity, how many people will be hired, how many products does the site has and how
many new products will emerge, what are the key features & fgures of your sector.
All these points are difcult to control but it is imperatve to have, at least, an idea of their evoluton. We must consi-
der the choice of eCommerce soluton like if we were buying a car. Before buying the car of your dreams, you are
bound to ask yourself the following questons: will I need my car in 2, 3 or 5 years? Will I get married, have children?
Do I prefer a sports car or a family car? Can I aford to fll the gas tank every two hundreds kilometers? All of the
above answers lead to the acquisiton of a car that matches your mood & needs.
This is the same reasoning for choosing an eCommerce soluton.
Our 12 KPIs
Our 12 (specifc to eCommerce) KPIs provide a dashboard to help you make your choice, as follow:
Business KPIs
Estmated budget for the 2 upcoming years (for establishment phase(build), then for the maintenance (run))
Turnover of the website
How long is the site expected to last before a global overhaul is made (2,5 years is realistc)
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Human KPIs
Number of people that will be connected to back ofce (has a big impact on some back ofce)
Willingness to delegate additonal functons (web marketng, integraton, hostng etc.)
Availability of technical expertse in-house (and willingness to have)
Technological KPIs
Dynamic updates and platorm improvements (how fast the product is refectng webmarketng trends)
Number of products (SKUs ) managed by the system
Decoraton independence and easy-to-skin site, CRM capabilites
Interfacing with third systems, internal systems (e.g. ERP) or external systems (e.g. Logistcs)
Level of navigaton needed: faceted/mult-stores/multlingual
Checking the soluton level of excellence on technological key points, mainly performance for users
The future of solutons
One last note on future solutons afer this long study, based on what we have read during those months of work.
The PHPs
We see ferce competton in the core market of eCommerce, with challenges, diferent complexites and constraints
depending on each player.
Magento, RBS Change, OXID eShop, Drupal Commerce and PrestaShop will be competng against each other more
and more ofen. PrestaShop wants to move from Tier 4 to Tier 3, Magento from Tier 3 to Tier 2. As for OXID eShop,
RBS Change and Drupal Commerce, they want to establish themselves in Tier 3 and the begining of Tier 2.
Dont be fooled, this is the famous Tier 3 which marks potental worldwide success or failure of PHP-based players
which have not yet reached it.
PrestaShop is stll targetng small eMerchants and decided to go for the American market. With hundreds of thou-
sands of sites to its credit, the soluton, if it gets to monetze some of the services on Tier 4, could have a lucratve
market, which is acquired, with a high potental for internatonalizaton. Finally, there is no stgma atached to deal
with this ter 4 and competton comes from SaaS players, who can provide a level of customizaton and functonality
comparable to that of PrestaShop.
Magento has other issues to deal with. Between the departure of its co-founder and CTO Yoav Kutner, the mer-
ger with eBay that is not so easy, the overhaul with Magento 2.0, the implementaton of a real support for large
accounts, the need to convince in Tier 2 and preserving its positons in Tier 3, it is far from easy to be a leader. But
now Magento also has huge resources with eBay, a team that is growing and stll great momentum. Moreover, the
intrinsic qualites of product and team are stll there: innovaton, leadership, strong community, network of partners
commited to the cause.
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The Javas
Hybris, Intershop and Demandware share the niche market of major brands. These solutons may have fewer cus-
tomers, but the customers are prepared to inject more money in eCommerce projects. This segment is growing
and has real projects cycles that beneft publishers who may place their know-how. However, the fght is ferce also
because there are many other players, but mostly since it is a segment that is highly sought by eCommerce delega-
ted companies. Then, it is clear that each customer is proftable but there are not a lot in the end.
Tier 1 segment 1 is the smallest and the Tier 2 is not huge either, all companies have cycles, so you have to be ready
to get the contract when it comes. Fewer opportunites, a sales cycle a litle longer, more aggressive compettors,
very demanding customers and competton from delegated companies as a bonus, its not so easy to make its mark
in Tier 1 & 2.
But future looks bright in Europe for Intershop and Hybris. Both houses have solid references, mature products and
highly-organized societes, German-style in sum. Intershop may have to reduce its minimum shopping cart to
grow and focus on Tier 2 and Hybris may have to try to upgrade to Tier 1 but overall, a customer interested in Hybris
or Intershop knows what he wants and very few companies can compete with these two editors in their comfort
zones.
The situaton is very diferent for Demandware. Indeed, Demandware economic model is based on paying a fee as
a percentage of the website turnover, in additon to fxed costs. The principle is quite logical for Americans working
with a cost-accountng system but this is not a standard model at all, nor evens an acceptable one, for European
people. Even if the reasoning of Demandware makes sense because in the end it is consistent to recognize all costs
and pay a monthly budget that represents a percentage of the actvity, the economic model may shock and fails to
convince.
Furthermore, by studying this model, we can easily realize that under a certain turnover, it will work out cheaper to
integrate. But afer reaching a certain amount, it also becomes difcult to pay 2-4 per cent of the turnover, which
limits Demandware in a sites market range of turnover from 7 million euros at a minimum to 50 million euros at a
maximum. Indeed, over this amount, paying half a million euros a year seems rather exaggerated to host and main-
tain an eCommerce site. Last but not least Demandware is underperforming in Europe with few success in this very
compettve market.
Demandware European future is thus litle readable with a model which may not arise and a very small customer
target, corresponding to the beginning of Tier 2.
This concludes our white paper on eCommerce solutons; we hope that it has been helpful!
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About the authors
This study was conducted over several months by Philippe Humeau, CEO and co-founder of NBS System, assisted by
Mathieu Jung, Communicaton & Marketng Manager at NBS System.
First, we deeply apologize for the mistakes, typo and other translated or weirdly formed sentences you may have
come across while reading. We are French authors and, beyond the genetc curse regarding language skills, we have
in no way a decent English level. Our translator did her best to save us from complete failure but we added content
afer her revision as well.
NBS System is a company operatng in the world of computer security and managed hostng since 1999. With over
2,000 managed sites to date, NBS System is a leader in eCommerce managed hostng and outsourcing in France and
United Kingdom.
NBS System is atypical in this market because we dont just host, we try to understand. Understand what is deep
inside the framework, what reacton the site has under heavy load, why our customers succeed and how. We like to
test, try, bench, demonstrate, optmize and understand.
We gather knowledge, create some, share them and try to be more than robots doing an assembly line job. This
study probably will convince you that, among companies in the feld of managed hostng, some are customer cen-
tric, trying to bring more value than just raw technical skills.
This study is the culminaton of years of experience in the eCommerce sector and NBS System deeply wants to
convey all its knowledge to professionals in the feld.
NBS System - UK NBS Sytem - France
33 Glasshouse Street 140 boulevard Haussmann
London W1B 5DG 75008 Paris
England France
Mail: contact@nbs-system.co.uk Mail: contact@nbs-system.com
Phone: +44845 527 6098 Phone: +3315 856 6086


www.nbs-system.com
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Greetings
The authors would like to thank all the experts and eCommerce solutons publishers who agreed to partcipate in
this study. In a way or another, and most of them very willingly, they partcipated to this study accuracy by providing
some key informaton.
The authors also issue special greetngs to our translator Bndicte Mutel (bmutel@hotmail.com) who helped us
more than once to translate our contents to Spanish and English and Amlie Hardy (hardy.amelie@gmail.com) who
made this book graphic template.
We also would like to greet our colleagues working at Sysleven (German managed hostng company) who gave us a
lot of interestng feedbacks around the OXID eShop framework, especially Thomas Lohner.
Last but not least, Philippe & Mathieu are willing to deeply thank the NBS System team and leaders, whose pa-
tence and vision allowed us to fnd the tme to lead and publish this book. The R&D we constantly lead to improve
performances and to understand our customers tools and challenges is the DNA of our work.
NBS System is in no way a classical hostng company. We are proud to be a managed hostng and security com-
pany, able to provide our customer with far more than just basic optmized confguratons or level 1 support.
We hope that this book, our blog posts, howtos and various opensource contributons (like the fantastc NAXSI WAF)
will give you the taste to work with us in the future if you have security issues or an eCommerce webiste to run!
If you have feedbacks on this book, or are willing to get in touch with us, do not hesitate to send an email at:
contact@nbs-system.com, we will be glad to reply.
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Copyrights & licensing
RBS Change, Intershop, Demandware, Magento (and Magento Go), Hybris, OXID Eshop (and OXID Esales), Drupal
commerce, Commerce guys, Syseleven, NBS System, Wikigento, Bargento, X.Commerce, Amazon, Ebay, Ubercart,
osCommerce, Zen Cart, VirtueMart, IBM, WebSphere, Microsof (and Microsof Commerce server), WordPress,
Interspire, Volusion, Oxats, Power boutque, Crocs, Medimops, Galeries Lafayete, and their respectve logos are
trademarked and/or copyrighted and belongs to their respectve owners.
Difusion, property and reproducton:
NBS System forbids to use this content in any commercial way without prior formal agreement.
As long as the NBS System and the authors names are visible, NBS system allows:
the reproducton of the graphic page 4, including on a publicly visible media (blog, ...)
educaton & training facilites, schools, colleges and universites to make use of this document as a peda-
gogic content
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"Grow your business safely"
www.nbs-system.com
French ofce
140 Boulevard Haussmann - 75008 PARIS
contact@nbs-system.com | +33 1 58 56 60 80
UK ofce
133 Glasshouse Street - London W1B 5DG
contact@nbs-system.co.uk | 0845 527 6098

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