Worldwide supply chain management (SCM) software revenue reached $6.23bn in 2009, a decrease of 0.7% compared to $6.19bn in 2008, according to a report from IT research and advisory firm Gartner.
According to the report, license revenue declined 7.4% in 2009, while recurring revenue associated with subscriptions and maintenance grew at 10.8% and 0.2%, respectively. The specialised segment of SCM software revenue increased 1.6% to $3.5bn in 2009, while the suites segment of SCM software revenue declined 3.7% reaching $2.7bn.
Of the top six SCM vendors, Manhattan Associates, SAP, JDA Software and i2 Technologies experienced declines in software revenue by 21.4%, 8.8%, 2.5%, 2%, respectively, while Oracle’s revenue grew marginally and Ariba’s revenues increased by 8.8%.
SAP captured 19.8% of the SCM market revenue reaching $1.22bn, while Oracle came in second with $1.04bn revenues and 16.8% of the market share. JDA Software and Ariba captured 4.2% and 3.7% of the market share respectively, and i2 Technologies and Manhattan Associates captured 1.8% each.
The firm said new software sales were difficult to obtain in 2009, and vendors that have succeeded have transitioned part or all of their business toward subscription delivery of their offerings.
Chad Eschinger, research director at Gartner, said: "Although the first nine months of 2009 contracted, the fourth quarter sustained 6% annual growth, driven by some pent-up demand, but more so from growth in subscriptions and the many maintenance renewals that were due in the fourth quarter.
"Given the market’s vendor fragmentation and the continued expansion of suite vendors, we expect market consolidation and share in the SCM market to eventually mimic that of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market. However, unlike the ERP market, we expect the process to take longer, with less ‘lock-out’ and more activity with new entrants, given the breadth of needs across supply chains and functional domains."
