There’s been a lively discussion in the last couple of days on the German language blog, started by the observation (German post) that several Top 500 German online shops are choosing to custom-develop their own shopping systems rather than go for off-the-shelf standard solutions.
Jochen Krisch and several German readers have compiled a list of prominent online businesses.
Some apparent examples are the live shopping type sites: Guut and Swoopo, and the mass customization type sites Spreadshirt, MyMüsli, and Panemeo (who re-uses the MyMuesli shopping platform), as well as private shopping clubs Brands4Friends and BuyVIP.
Other less obvious examples besides the big name Amazon and eBay are marketplace type sites such as: DaWanda, Gimahhot, Hitmeister, and Trade-a-Game.
Further on the list are Inkpool/Computer-Pool, Notebooksbilliger, StyleOn and Lost Legends.
A peculiar trends seems to be in the pet and animal care industry, where a large number of businesses have gone the custom solution route: Zooplus, Petshop, Tiierisch and Wauzikontor. An open question is what solution the giant pet supplier Fressnapf (1.1 billion Euros revenue) is going to use. They have already announced a (re-)launch of online sales activity for the Fall of 2009.
It would seem that the large shop system manufacturers have simply focussed too long on the requirements of assumed “Big Players” from the multi-channel and mail order industries, rather than on the needs of pure Internet-based players. According to Jochen Krisch (German post):
"Standard shop systems are often only appropriate as solutions for novices to online retail - for small merchants, mail-order companies and brick-and-mortar stores."
Further indicative of this assumption is Jochen's observation that newcomer Magento was the first shop system producer to deliver a solution for private sales clubs.
Related German posts and commentaries:
- Panemeo: MyMüsli ermöglicht eigene Brotmischungen
- Haustierbranche bevorzugt eigenentwickelte Shopsysteme
- Auch Zooplus und StyleOn setzen auf eigene Shopsysteme
- Auch Petshop und Inkpool setzen auf eigene Shoppingsysteme
Originally a number of posts in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
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