When Richard Sears drafted a jewelry catalog in 1888, it was the first time anyone had successfully separated product information from the product itself. While the early days of online commerce served up little more than digital catalogs, eCommerce – arguably the greatest field-leveling change agent in retail’s history – now stands on the precipice of becoming something much more.

Our annual eCommerce data has just published, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the resulting report, The Great Leveler: eCommerce’s Next Move. Our retail respondents help us identify where eCommerce must head next, and here are some highlights from the study:

• Retailers understand that Amazon.com’s march towards market dominance is forcing them to differentiate their digital presence into something else. And the “new ” consumer’s influence is so powerful that not only does it permeate the external challenges retailers face; it also creeps into the operational challenges they report. The Business Challenges section of the report examines the ways they approach such tasks as inventory management, shipping and fulfillment, and, ultimately, the need to retain margin and maintain growth.
• While most retailers have made significant investments in eCommerce capabilities, the assumption that current eCommerce platforms can and will be extended to become retailers’ converged mobile (and ultimately – store) platform fuels much of the discussion in the Opportunities section of the report. Will the eCommerce platform ultimately become the digital platform used across all channels?
• Although lack of budget appears to have become an issue once more for retailers’ eCommerce initiatives, getting IT resources allocated has also risen as a concern. As a result, many retailers are currently at a loss for how to overcome their internal roadblocks. Winners, however, are steadfast, focusing on a streamlined platform or infrastructure, as examined in Organizational Inhibitors.
• The differences between Winning and lagging retailers in the perceived value of new eCommerce technologies could not be more stark. What’s more, the importance ascribed to technologies carries through to their implementation as well. As you’ll see in the Technology Enablers section of this report, Winners already have a serious leg-up on their competitors. It’s not too late to catch up, but laggards need to get moving: now.

To that end, we also offer several in-depth and pragmatic suggestions on how retailers should proceed. These recommendations can be found in our Bootstrap Recommendations. We certainly hope you take the time to read the full report – we think it is some of our strongest work to date.