I think it’s neat to see how companies are getting together in a consortium, if you will through IBM’s Coremetrics product. Collectively, they allow any client that opts-into the program to view the aggregate averages within their industry. Summary information is now being picked up in the press as an indication of how Black Friday went. Pretty cool if you don’t have to share your information. And that’s where the IBM Acquisition of DemandTek comes into play.
So this type of thinking helps companies competing in the digital marketplace to adapt to changes in consumer demands as they occur. Companies that can quickly and effectively adjust their price points and product mixes in response to ever-shifting customer buying patterns will have a key competitive advantage in the era of mobile and social networks.
That’s why IBM’s acquisition of DemandTec this past Thursday will make the Smarter Commerce initiative even more valuable to retailers and manufacturers of packaged consumer goods. The San Mateo, California based DemandTec develops cloud-based analytics software that allows businesses to examine consumer buying data mined from both online and in-store sales. DemandTec customers can use that information to quickly and accurately identify consumer trends, helping them make better price, promotion, and assortment decisions. And because DemandTec’s software is cloud-based, retailers and manufacturers can collaborate to make time-sensitive business decisions instantaneously.
IBM’s acquisition of DemandTec is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012, pending approval by DemandTec shareholders and government regulators. The relationship will greatly enhance the Smarter Commerce initiative – already a force to be reckoned with in the world of sales and marketing software – while providing DemandTec’s existing customer base of more than 450 companies with the opportunity to take advantage of the larger IBM portfolio. “IBM Smarter Commerce is the perfect fit for DemandTec,” says Dan Fishback, President and CEO of DemandTec. “IBM is the only provider of price and promotion offerings within a rich solution set that supports companies’ buy, market, sell and service processes.”
Coremetrics competes with Omniture, Unica and Webtrends. With acquisitions like this though, they are keeping pace with Omniture and provide a competitive offering for the Software as a Service web analytics model.
IBM Expands Cloud Based Analytics for Smarter Commerce
