This IDC Market Perspective offers a detailed analysis of the language used in the public displays of booth vendors at the National Retailers Federation conference held from January 13 to 16, 2024, in New York City. This analysis will provide insight into the common trends and themes among the marketing of vendors of digital commerce technology, including truly differentiated concepts and terminology that have conflicting or ambiguous meaning to buyers.“Digital commerce software vendors must continuously adapt their language to echo industry trends, capturing the zeitgeist while effectively conveying their unique value proposition. Unfortunately, this can create opaque and coded language about the value of the technology,” suggests Heather Hershey, research director of Worldwide Digital Commerce, IDC. “Technology product marketers need to strike a sophisticated balance between technical depth and accessible communication. In addition, an imbalance between clear communication and visionary marketing narratives can lead to buyer cynicism and alienation.”
Please Note: Extended description available upon request.
Executive Snapshot
New Market Developments and Dynamics
Buzzword Bingo: In Search of Top 4 Digital Commerce Trends at NRF 2024
Top 25 Trends at NRF 2024
The 20 Most On-Trend Vendors Observed at NRF 2024
Most Differentiated Vendor Observed: VTEX
Summary of NRF 2024 Digital Commerce Trends and Analysis
AI and ML
AI ≠ ML
ML ⊂ AI
GenAI ⊂ ML ⊂ AI
Personalization and Experience
Composable and Unified Commerce
“Composable,” “Modular,” and “Headless” Were Prominent, But Not as On-Trend as “Unified”
About “Unified Commerce”
Examples of “Unified” Language Observed
Unified Commerce: The Platform Rebrand Perspective
Unified: The Digital Transformation Rebrand Perspective