Demandware

I met with these guys yesterday. On demand flexible web commerce solution. I was skeptical, heard this pitch before, but I have to say that I was impressed with the solution. The founders have a lot of experience, they also founded Intershop back in the day.

The tools are pretty cool, almost like a BPM visual modeling tool hooked up with the execution components for online commerce. They also have adapters that connect with execution systems (like SAP).

My take on this is that it's a tough standalone sell, but I don't gather that the company is going this route anyways. Through relationships where they embed the solution they could do very well... maybe they should hookup with the guys from Homestead that just demo'ed.

The other thing that really impressed me was the ability to do inline a/b testing on a retail site to guage effectiveness of the online promotions. Think about a drug trial where some people get the test drug and others get a placebo, that's what a/b testing is.