IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative was unveiled at the company’s annual Impact Conference, which is attended by IBM clients and business partners.

The company says that Smarter Commerce can transform how companies manage and adapt to customer and industry trends across marketing, selling and service processes.

IBM also estimates that this market will grow to $20 billion in software alone by 2015.

"Customers use social networks, mobile devices, websites and influencers to make buying decisions today," said Craig Hayman, General Manager, IBM Industry Solutions. "These businesses must connect to these customers where and how they prefer to buy to be successful. At the same time, they need to make sure they have the means of effectively managing their supplier and trading partner network to ensure they have the products at the right time and place to meet this new customer demand."

IBM has also announced new Smarter Commerce software:

Advanced Analytics

WebSphere Commerce and Coremetrics web analytics enables customers to gain faster insight from statistics, charts and dashboards to determine the effectiveness of their marketing programs, call center performance and cross-selling initiatives, making it easy to manage and enhance the customer experience.

Cloud Computing

The new Coremetrics Lifecycle offering is a cloud-delivered product that helps IBM clients track key customer advancement milestones, allowing them to better target investments in marketing programs, content and products to improve results.

Cross-Channel Commerce

Through the integration of Coremetrics Intelligent Offer and WebSphere Commerce, organisations gain immediate insight into online buying trends, while Sterling Configure, Price, Quote with embedded business intelligence by Cognos helps companies streamline the quote-to-cash process.

Social BusinessThe integration of Coremetrics Social Analytics with WebSphere Commerce allows enterprises to measure the impact of social activity on their commerce website including social referrals and the usage of social features such as product reviews, enabling them to make better investment decisions in social programs.

Supply Chain Planning & Execution

Through the integration of WebSphere Commerce and Sterling Order Management, IBM's Smarter Commerce enables businesses to better optimize inventory investments by providing enhanced visibility and intelligence around current inventory positions and sourcing options, resulting in improved fulfillment rates at a lower cost.

More information can be found here.