Which B2C commerce platform is right for your business?

Jonathan Whiteside
Jonathan Whiteside
Global SVP Technology & Engineering
Length
8 min read
Date
1 April 2021

Episerver commerce cloud

In the B2C commerce market, Episerver stands out as a digital experience-focused offering for mid to large-sized enterprises. Plenty of personalisation features facilitate relevant shopping experiences for each shopper, and the level of custom configuration make it a popular platform for many developers.

There are plenty of API possibilities through Episerver, including the use of headless commerce, putting Episerver users in a strong position for the future of e-commerce and making the expansion of e-commerce options to new services, like voice assistants and smart wearables, a much simpler task.

Commercetools

commercetools pride themselves on their API first principle; more than 300 available APIs unlock hundreds of different functions for businesses to consider, across websites, social media, mobile apps, VR/AR experiences and voice assistants. This naturally builds into a headless approach.

The commercetools approach centres squarely on e-commerce activation, making it a useful fit for companies that are already happily settled with their current CMS system, as shown in DEPT®’s work with Eurail.com. This project integrated Adobe Experience Manager and commercetools to fast track the success of the train ticket site through an out of the box solution.

Shopify

Shopify stands out from the market by targeting small to midsize independent retailers, rather than large enterprises. Shopify’s platform is focused on growth, opening doors for retailers with a limited number of stores to grow online. This is supported by the recently launched Shop app, a marketplace for all stores that use Shopify as a commerce platform, boosting discovery.

The Shopify Plus option provides deeper levels of automation through a number of add-on applications, as well as headless commerce. AR product pages are also an option, allowing smaller businesses to create a shopping experience that rivals the major players in their industry.

Getting started

There is a broad spectrum of platforms to consider, the above examples are just a small cross-section of the various available suites. Manoeuvring through this market requires a clear view of what your business needs and a deeper understanding of how each option fits (and doesn’t fit) the key aims of the company.

Do your own research, read recent reports and material published by each platform, and start conversations with platform vendors and possible partners. This is an evolving process; it can take time to become conversant with the market, but it begins with the first step. If you need any advice, DEPT®’s commerce technology experts would be happy to help you. 

More Insights?

View all Insights

Questions?

Global SVP Technology & Engineering

Jonathan Whiteside