Table of Contents
- Summary
- Market Categories and Deployment Types
- Key Criteria Comparison
- GigaOm Radar
- Vendor Insights
- Analyst’s Take
- Methodology
- About Sue Clarke
- About GigaOm
- Copyright
1. Summary
Digital experience platforms (DXPs) allow organizations to build personalized, engaging experiences that can be delivered across multiple channels and devices. With the number of organizations migrating to an online-only model, DXPs are becoming much more important for delivering these experiences. Many organizations are currently undertaking digital transformation initiatives, and the implementation of a modern, headless DXP can provide a return on investment (ROI).
The advantage of a headless system, in which the content is separate from the applications that use it, is that the system is future-proof because applications that support new and emerging technologies such as the metaverse can work with the content in the DXP repository. In the case of the metaverse, vendors that include standalone or enhanced digital asset management (DAM) capabilities have an advantage as they are more likely to support the types of digital assets and technologies required, such as 3D and spin sets, and likely already support technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). In terms of devices, DXPs should support computers, smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, kiosks, video screens, and more.
DXPs should also support a content repository, analytics, workflow, search, digital asset management, collaboration, and integration capabilities. Some of these capabilities may be basic, and organizations should be able to integrate more advanced tooling if required. As virtually all DXPs are cloud-native or cloud-first, many work with the large cloud providers such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft and use their cloud services in areas such as analytics to provide profiling information for creating personalized content and recommendations.
As more shopping experiences move online and competition among retailers intensifies, organizations will need to make their experiences more engaging and immersive to provide something like an in-person shopping experience. Some retailers are already using VR and AR to enhance online shopping, and some are beginning to explore whether and how they could exploit the metaverse to provide the feel of a physical shopping experience.
However, the metaverse has been put on the back burner by DXP vendors and organizations as interest in generative AI burgeons. Used appropriately, the technology can be incredibly useful to enable less-creative users to create text and images using written descriptions without any particular input. However, the technology is open to abuse, and vendors that offer it must take measures to ensure that it is used safely and to prevent inappropriate use.
This GigaOm Radar report highlights key DXP vendors and equips IT decision-makers with the information needed to select the best fit for their business and use case requirements. In the corresponding GigaOm report “Key Criteria for Evaluating DXPs,” we describe in more detail the capabilities and metrics that are used to evaluate vendors in this market.
This is our second year evaluating the DXP space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. All solutions included in this Radar report meet the following table stakes—capabilities widely adopted and well implemented in the sector:
- Repository
- Analytics
- Workflow
- Personalization capabilities
- Multichannel support
- Integrations
- Low/no-code development tools
- A/B and multivariate testing
How to Read this Report
This GigaOm report is one of a series of documents that helps IT organizations assess competing solutions in the context of well-defined features and criteria. For a fuller understanding, consider reviewing the following reports:
Key Criteria report: A detailed market sector analysis that assesses the impact that key product features and criteria have on top-line solution characteristics—such as scalability, performance, and TCO—that drive purchase decisions.
GigaOm Radar report: A forward-looking analysis that plots the relative value and progression of vendor solutions along multiple axes based on strategy and execution. The Radar report includes a breakdown of each vendor’s offering in the sector.