IHL Group Names IBM Order Management as a Leader in Order Management Systems Market for Enabling Unified Commerce in Retail

By STS News Desk On Aug 21, 2019

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IBM announced IHL Group, a global research and advisory firm specializing in technologies for the retail and hospitality industries, has named IBM Order Management as a leader in the order management systems market for enabling unified commerce in retail. IBM was noted for its retail market dominance with three times the market share of the nearest competitor, reduced implementation times by more than 50 percent, and continued investment integrating disruptive technologies such as AI and blockchain. The report also noted the foundation for a successful unified commerce strategy for retail enterprises requires a highly capable and configurable OMS that can manage and fulfill orders across all channels.

The IHL Insight Market View Positioning Map displays vendors using a three-dimensional view of the market, which encompasses evaluating a vendor’s strength based on global reach, size of accounts, growth of revenue and R&D funding, and market share. IHL projects the worldwide OMS market for retail and hospitality will grow 60% from 2018-2023 to $1.16B in annual sales with the majority of growth coming from SaaS implementation, which are expected to grow 182% during the period.

“The retail industry can remedy some of its biggest challenges by having a holistic, unified commerce strategy that uses an order management system to connect the five technology pillars including store systems, e-Commerce, merchandise SCM, BI analytics, and sales & marketing,” said Jerry Sheldon, Vice President – Technology, IHL Group. “By approaching the technology stack this way it provides an architectural construct to overcome the constraints caused by channel evolution, allowing retailers to quickly innovate to capture market share through improved and unique customer experiences.”

The report also called out its bullish view for AI in retail as it noted the embedded AI capabilities in IBM Order Management with Watson Order Optimizer. This helps improve omnichannel profitability and the customer experience using machine learning to optimize the fulfillment path in real-time by factoring carrier rates, network capacity across distribution centers and stores, and seasonal spikes in demand.

“Fulfilling the perfect order is a shared expectation among consumers and retailers alike, but the challenge to realize that vision is overcoming the difficulty of orchestrating and optimizing across many retail technologies to drive higher customer engagement,” said Jeanette Barlow, VP of Offering Management, IBM Watson Supply Chain. “As retailers grapple with introducing new fulfillment capabilities to help differentiate themselves in their respective markets, today’s industry leaders exemplify the use of distributed order management at scale while optimizing margins.”