Following the X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference 2011 last week, we wanted to take a look at what X.commerce will mean for merchants in the future. John Donahoe, the president and CEO of eBay, described X.commerce as the “world’s first open commerce ecosystem. It’s a stack full of tools for developers and merchants to make the new commerce a reality.” This new ecosystem is a place where online, mobile, local, and offline commerce will merge into one. Until now, offline retail and eCommerce have remained very distinct, but now smartphones are other mobile internet devices are blurring the lines between offline and online worlds. In the X.commerce world, eCommerce will not be the buzz word; instead, Donahoe insists that it is just commerce.
X.commerce is an integrated eCommerce platform that combines eBay, PayPal, Magento, Milo, Where, RedLaser, and GSI Commerce into a single set of APIs (Application Program Interfaces). At it’s core, X.commerce is not a single eCommerce platform. It is a pre-packaged integration layer that has all of its components pre-integrated. The important thing to remember about X.commerce is that the whole product is greater than the sum of its parts. Another important point is that the developer communities of eBay, PayPal, and Magento combined exceeds 850,000 developers. Magento already offers a large app store, which will help foster the community of third-party applications and tools for the X.commerce environment.
Here are some of the benefits X.commerce will have for merchants:
Integration with eBay: Magento and GSI have had their eCommerce platforms in place for quite some time, but now they will be even more attractive to merchants. X.commerce’s built-in integration between Magento and GSI with eBay means that if you build your eCommerce store on either platform, you will be able to list products on the eBay marketplace in just a few mouse clicks. X.commerce is also in the market for more eCommerce platforms to integrate, so we expect there to be more options than just Magento and GSI Commerce in the near future.
Third-Party Solutions Pre-Integrated: As we mentioned above, X.commerce already boasts a large library of third-party solutions through the Magento app store, Magento Connect. From the early buzz about eBay’s acquisition of companies to create itself as a software, payment, and marketplace company, there shouldn’t be a lack of developers interested in creating applications for X.commerce. Since the beginning, eBay’s philosophy has been to nurture its community of developers and encourage them to become entrepreneurs. Pre-packaged integration of third-party applications is very important for merchants because it enables them to focus resources on projects that can deliver direct ROI, rather than wasting time, energy, and money on doing the integration yourself.
Integrated Payments: One of the biggest aspects of the X.commerce strategy is to create PayPal as an integral part of the environment, especially with the Magento and GSI Commerce platforms in the short-term. At some point in the near future, PayPal revenues are expected to exceed eBay marketplace revenues for the first time, so the ability to deploy PayPal in the X.commerce environment will be integral for merchants.
After the very successful X.commerce Innovate Developer Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, and the release of X.commerce applications from big players like Adobe, Facebook, and Omniture, it is clear that X.commerce has great potential.
For more information about Orange Collar Media’s expertise with eCommerce, X.commerce, and Magento eCommerce platforms, please email or call us toll free at (866) 262-1517.
Also, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@orangecollar) for the most up-to-date information on Orange Collar Media!
/ms
