The landscape of eCommerce technologies and vendors is every bit the mysterious Wonderland that Alice encountered, full of interesting characters where things are not always as they seem. As Drupal continues to expand its footprint globally, it is increasingly winding up in the consideration set of companies for whom eCommerce is an important part of their business model. This means that the Drupal Commerce modules are being evaluated against requirements much more sophisticated than what many in the Drupal community are accustomed to (e.g. processing credit cards for sites with 1-2 products where the commerce portion is an add on / afterthought). Now companies with large product catalogs, complex transactional business rules, and sophisticated digital marketing requirements are looking at Drupal. As a result, Drupal Commerce now has an opportunity to go head to head with the packaged solutions of the eCommerce realm, just like Drupal has done with the traditional CMS realm. 

 

This 50 minute talk will give an honest assessment of the capabilities of Drupal Commerce in each of the major functional areas under the contemporary "eCommerce" umbrella, and compare how Drupal Commerce stacks up against the other options out there at the low, middle, and high end of the market. We'll point out the Cheshire Cats and Mad Hatters of the eCommerce landscape, and provide perspectives on the types of web applications and company business models where Drupal Commerce tends to be the best "fit". The speakers will also provide recommendations for how those of us in the Drupal world can continue to evangelize Drupal Commerce as a legitimate eCommerce tool. 

 

This talk will combine business-y stuff about technology landscape and platforms with a technical overview of the modules most readily used to support Drupal Commerce projects and the relative development effort for building sophisticated commerce sites in Drupal. Site builders, Drupal agency business development people, folks from companies evaluating Drupal, and anyone interested in eCommerce will benefit from attending this presentation.