Online Retail Sector Shakers and Movers
There’s no question that Amazon is the titan in online retail sector the past 20 years but that looks to change in the future. Adobe recently acquired website platform Magento in the hopes of challenging Amazon’s dominance. Other companies such as SAP and Salesforce have also acquired firms in a bid to boost their e-commerce businesses. Indeed, tihis ector will be very competitive in the next decade or so what with the exciting developments that are happening as of late.
Online retail sector shaker #1: Adobe buys Magento
Adobe Systems, Inc., best known fort its Photoshop software, recently announced its acquisition of e-commerce firm Magento for a cool $1.68 billion. The deal is the third-largest acquisition for Adobe, which is looking to diversify from digital media products and cross into the building of e-commerce websites.
Based in California, Magento is an e-commerce platform that builds and runs online stores. It helps hundreds of thousands of online merchants sell their goods through social media. It also competes with Canadian firm Shopify.
The deal follows other recent acquisitions such as Salesforce’s purchase of cloud-based e-commerce services provider Demandware. Salesforce, which is known for its software that helps sales professionals in managing their leads, has bravely made an entry into the sales business.
Online retail sector shaker #2: The rise of the micro brands
While the big companies are merging, the small firms or retailers are also getting their share of the pie. In the United States, consumer preference remains skewed towards smaller firms. One recent study by Gallop revealed that 7 out of 10 Americans are confident when shopping with small firms.
This has also translated to higher income for the smaller merchants. It is projected that the microbrand industry will exceed sales of $140-billion this year. That amount is impressive when compared to the $186-billion sales of Amazon.
Indeed, good times are ahead for the online retail sector.
