Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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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S y s t e m
"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