Supply chain management suppliers enjoy bumper year

The global supply-chain software market is back in full swing, reporting double-digit growth in 2010 compared with the previous year, according to analyst firm Gartner.

Revenue across the industry totalled $6.8bn (£4.14bn) in 2010, marking a 10 per cent increase on 2009. In 2009, the market had declined 2.1 per cent with revenue at $6.1bn.

"Despite a difficult selling environment, the current market for supply chain management software shows signs of renewed health. The market for supply chain applications was more resilient than most in 2009 and rebounded well in 2010," said Chad Eschinger, research director at Gartner.

"Pure-play vendors and specialised vendors drove a majority of the overall market's growth in 2010, outpacing enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite providers' growth by three to one, and, in general terms, we are seeing consistent momentum across all market segments."

SAP has the greatest share of the ERP market accounting for 19.5 per cent of the worldwide market, with Oracle slightly behind with a 17.9 per cent stake.

JDA Software experienced the strongest growth among the top five vendors, with 40.2 per cent growth in 2010.