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June 11, 2001

Blue Martini Poised To Overcome Economic Slump
Vendor of Java-based E-commerce and CRM apps expands offerings, reaches out to developers

By Eileen Colkin (ecolkin@cmp.com)

More on CRM:

CRM Vendors Consolidate In Hopes Of Having It All (04/16/01)
Cisco Enlists Informatica To Analyze Customers (03/29/01)

he year's slow economic start prompted many businesses to curb E-commerce spending, forcing vendors to add value to their products.

Blue Martini Software Inc., which provides E-commerce and customer-relationship management applications, posted a net loss of $15.2 million for the first quarter, compared with a $5.8 million loss in the first quarter of 2000, despite a 92% increase in revenue to $20.5 million. But analysts say the vendor has enough liquid assets to survive while it tries to expand its offerings and value.

At last month's JavaOne conference, the company launched the Blue Martini Developer Network to give developers online collaboration capabilities. Blue Martini also released visual tools to help developers extend and customize its apps and integrate them with existing and legacy systems. Blue Martini has been slow to help customers take advantage of the flexibility of its Java-based software. "It hurt them in the past that customers struggled to extend older versions of their products, and this is a move in the right direction," says Randy Covill, a senior retail analyst at AMR Research.

Java is used at most large companies because of its scalability and performance, so Blue Martini may have an edge over some rivals. IBM's WebSphere Commerce Suite and BroadVision Inc.'s One-To-One Enterprise Solution began as C++ products and have needed reconfiguring to meet open standards.

Blue Martini's flexibility was a key selling point, says C.J. Ritterbusch, marketing director at Club Colors, a Schaumburg, Ill., maker of personalized promotional items. Blue Martini has upgraded in tandem with his company's needs, adding features such as call-center modules. "Down the line, we won't need to find other products," Ritterbusch says. "All that will be necessary will be an upgrade to current software, which is easier and more cost-effective than starting over."

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