When the material is analyzed in depth, a clear pattern emerges regarding the largest players: "custom-built" is the single largest category on the list with a total of 12 e-commerce companies. On the commercial side, Optimizely and Askås are most common with five e-commerce companies each, followed by Brink Commerce, Shopify and Centra with four each. The fact that the platform for 43 of the companies on the list could not be identified also suggests that the proportion of custom-built systems may in reality be even greater, as these often leave fewer digital traces than commercial standard solutions.
The custom-built systems are primarily found at the top of the list among the largest companies in terms of turnover, such as Amazon and Boozt. The latter company states that they use "a completely custom-built platform that we have built and further developed since its inception".
A industry-specific pattern is that food-related companies largely build their own systems, a choice that can be linked to the management of complex logistics. Mathem explains the strategy behind its self-built solution:
At Mathem, we use our own custom-built platform covering both our app and web solutions, as well as the logistics and distribution link in the business. This is an end-to-end solution that forms the very foundation of our services.
Since the shopping experience and logistics are tightly integrated, the platform manages the entire value chain – from the customer interface to advanced warehouse automation and picking processes. Developing and controlling the system end-to-end is crucial for our ability to innovate and adapt quickly.
Partykungen also runs its business on a tailor-made technical foundation.
We use a completely custom-built e-commerce platform written in PHP. It manages both our front-end, but also most of our backend systems such as order management (OMS), warehouse management (WMS) and product information management (PIM), the company states.
In the turnover range of 200 to 800 million Swedish krona, the market changes in character. Here, it is primarily the commercial platforms Shopify, Askås and Centra that are used. Centra profiles itself particularly within the fashion segment with customers such as Ideal of Sweden, Icaniwill, Djerf Avenue and Stronger.
Brink Commerce stands out among the companies with the highest median turnover. Askås is noted to have the lowest median among the established platforms on the Top 100 list.
Some players also choose hybrids or build custom solutions through agencies. An example is Snusbolaget, which collaborates with an external party for its technical solution.
We have built a tailor-made platform together with Easyfy. In our Swedish operations, Snusbolaget.se, Nettotobak.com and Haypp.com/se are on the platform that is also used for our international operations, says Snusbolaget.
The Most Common Platforms on the Top 100 List*
- Custom-built: 12
- Optimizely: 5
- Askås: 5
- Brink Commerce: 4
- Shopify: 4
- Centra: 4
- Litium: 3
- Amplience: 3
- Adobe Commerce (Magento): 2
- Norce: 2
Other platforms used by individual companies on the list include Commerce Tools, Easyfy, Intershop, Avensia, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Drupal, Viskan, Kodmyran, Nyehandel, Woocommerce, Crystallize, OpenCart and Zen Cart.
*Refers to the 57 companies where the platform could be identified.