E-Commerce Evolution: Who is Who in the Business?
The e-commerce industry has done knowing but grow and grow and grow some more for years. Actually, there’s no end in sight as this phenomenal combination of internet technology, shopping, and information sharing. I wouldn’t say EVERYONE is selling and buying online, but we are moving there.
As e-commerce continues to emerge we watch newbies join the ranks and veterans adjust to roll with the flow. Two notable warriors in this spectrum are Yahoo Stores and Magento. You most likely have heard of Yahoo (that’s because they are the veteran at 14 years). This eldest of the e-commerce environment has seen their upswings and downturns and teetered back and forth several times. After, mending from a significant downturn, Yahoo Small Business at 10% of market share, is second only to the rising star Magento.
Magento, only 4 years into its lifespan, has conquered the top spot at 12% of market share in the e-commerce limelight. With their unique software platform, they must be doing something right. However, they have to stay on their toes because veterans like Yahoo don’t tend to take second place as commonplace.
The other 78% of this extremely viable and profitable market is owned by a variety of contenders. Their portions are summarized below in descending order.
Virtuemart 8%
Volusion 8%
Zencart 8%
Oscommerce 7%
Miva Merchant 7%
BigCommerce 5%
WP E-Commerce 3%
Ubercart 3%
Shopify 1%
Rest of the crew carries less than 3% combined
Here are some interesting stats on Growth Rates for a few up-and-comings again in descending order:
+63% WP e-Commerce is running away from the pack with the fastest growth rate. By tapping into the WordPress bloggers phenomenon and making shopping carts and easy-to-do, WP is reaping the rewards.
+57% BigCommerce is unique and successful with its high-end/low-end Interspire shopping cart and cloud hosting.
+37% Magento though third in growth at this time is still the leader. This company’s growth and current status as compared to others shows us all that e-commerce is a dynamic market.
+18% Volusion’s heavy marketing campaigns almost brought it into the limelight for eBay purchase but they were looked over for the brighter Magento.
+15% Ubercart picks up the rear of this list, but that is likely not to be for long. They are similar in concept to WP e-commerce with an open-source e-commerce shopping cart. Uber tends to be popular on sites on Drupal.
Dynamic diversification if also the name of the game when it comes to e-commerce and all internet functionality. Three companies in particular moved from content site to e-commerce expansion and have found broadened success in so doing.
Virtuemart – known well on Joomla, a rather young CMS participant (2005) this leader is their top online-shop download.
Ubercart – geared in to Drupal, the Ubercart e-commerce platform stands out as more unique because of its rapid growth and because it is not after the retail marketing segment
WP E-Commerce - the WordPress lovers best free dream come true in the e-commerce arena. This fast mover will also add more features for a purchased “Gold” upgrade.
