The global supply chain management (SCM) software market increased by 12.3% to $7.7bn in 2011 over last year, according to Gartner.
The figures mark the second year of double-digit growth for the SCM software market, driven by an increasing number of supply chain investments, which have kept their priority status and moved forward, despite caution from IT budget decision makers, the research firm revealed.
Gartner research vice president Chad Eschinger said despite ongoing economic uncertainty, the market for supply chain applications showed itself to be pretty resilient in 2011 with most SCM providers continuing to expand their footprints.
"North America and Western Europe continued to be the prime consumers of SCM software in terms of dollars spent, with nearly 79 percent of market revenue," he added.
"However, European growth slowed in 2011 while Asia/Pacific continued to experience robust growth that significantly outpaced the market average."
SAP continued to occupy the top position in the SCM software market, with 19.9% of the worldwide market share, followed by Oracle with 16.9%.
Ariba experienced the strongest growth among the top five vendors with SCM software revenue increasing 46.5% in 2011.
Gartner noted the SCM software market is fragmented, including a number of small and midsize vendors with revenue of less than $50m across regions and its four primary market segments.
The top five vendors namely SAP, Oracle, JDA Software, Ariba and Manhattan Associates together held 48.3% of the worldwide SCM software market based on 2011 total software revenue.
