A Fair Review of the Top .NET eCommerce Platforms - Sitecore

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SITECORE CORPORATION A/S	Overall Rating:
http://www.sitecore.net/en/products/commerce-tools	Platform: ASP.NET
Licence Model: Proprietary	Current Version: Sitecore XP 8.2
Base Price: Starts at $20,000 for perpetual or $1,100/month for consumption. Enterprise-sized licensing with Sitecore’s full experience marketing feature starts at $200,000 for perpetual or $11,000/month. Commerce Pricing Video here.
Founded In: 1999	CEO: Mark Frost (under 1-year)
NA Offices: Ontario, California, New Hampshire	NA Partner Network: 466
Hosting Type: On-Premise and SaaS	Closest Comparison: Episerver
Free Trial Version? No (request a demo only)	Certified Training? Yes

Introduction

Sitecore is a global leader in experience management software that enables context marketing. The Sitecore Experience Platform manages content, supplies contextual intelligence, automates communications, and enables personalized commerce, at scale. It empowers marketers to deliver content in context of how customers have engaged with their brand, across every channel, in real time before, during, and after a sale. More than 4,900 brands, including American Express, Carnival Cruise Lines, easyJet, and L’Oréal, have trusted Sitecore for context marketing to deliver the personalized interactions that delight audiences, build loyalty, and drive revenue.

Performance Rating

Features & Functionality:
Pricing & ROI:
Integration & Deployment:
Service & Support:

Strengths

• Who + SKU.  The ability to provide a personalized and optimized shopping experience for every customer sets Sitecore Commerce apart.  
• Capturing, learning, and applying the customer’s preferences, behavior and context creates a lifetime of personalized engagements for each customer.  
• The combination of the Experience Database within Experience Platform, all rolled into Sitecore Commerce is a unique offering in the market.  
• For the first time, key applications such as automation are included in a commerce system.  This provides out of the box support for abandoned cart recovery automation, automated order confirmation and notification, in addition to A/B testing and optimization of key areas such as checkout, login, and catalogue navigation.

Weaknesses

• In their next release, Sitecore is introducing their new Storefront which is currently being field tested with select partners and customers.  The Storefront delivers many benefits based in two business deliverables.  A faster time to market is the initial realized impact. Then as new features and upgrades are launched, they can quickly be applied.  
• Using a Storefront site accelerates the adoption of critical features such as personalization and optimization.  These now are Phase 1, default configurations rather than being pushed to the inevitable, (and often mythical), Phase 2.

Key Differentiator​

Organizations that establish brand experience as a key differentiator for their products.  Brand manufacturing continues to show interest and embrace the need to lead with experience.  The exciting trend is seeing other industries exploring new shopping experiences such as retail banking in financial services, media and entertainment, and travel.

Recent Industry Recognition

• Forrester Wave Web Content Management 
• Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management 

Vendor Comments

“Ideal for B2C, B2B, and B2X brands selling online, Sitecore Commerce uses everything you know about your customers to deliver shopping experiences that are shaped by their interaction history and context, transforming prospects into lifelong fans. Owning the experience for each unique customer, from awareness to advocacy and from one purchase to the next—that’s how you grow revenue today.”

Spotlight Interview

Select Another Vendor

• commercetools
• Episerver
• iAPPS
• Kentico
• nopCommerce
• Sitecore
• Ucommerce
• Virto Commerce
• Znode

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