IBM Digital Commerce vs. Podia

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
IBM Digital Commerce is an e-commerce platform that is designed to deliver omni-channel shopping experiences, including mobile, social, and in-store. In June 2019, IBM Digital Commerce was acquired by HCL Technologies.N/A
Podia
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Podia in New York offers their ecommerce platform for managing memberships and selling courses online.
$39
per month
Pricing
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Mover
$39.00
per month
Shaker
$79.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Considered Both Products
IBM Digital Commerce
Chose IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce was a lot more customizable and had a good engine for us to make enhancements. We were not locked down to certain integrations and we were able to utilize a lot of the features outside of the box vs using a prescribed set of features and functionality that …
Chose IBM Digital Commerce
Compared to some other software that our clients have considered, a lot of them choose WebSphere Commerce because of the ability to scale easily. Some of our customers are coming from a PHP based ecommerce platform that doesn't allow them to scale up and they're hitting the …
Chose IBM Digital Commerce
Websphere commere efficient e-site model, contract based pricing, and efficient catalog filtering funtionality were the primary reasons to go for websphere commerce. It has good B2B functionalities available out of the box in WCS when compared to other e-commerce solutions …
Chose IBM Digital Commerce
I didn't select WebSphere Commerce.
Podia
Chose Podia
It has all the same features of kajabi such as the website builder, email system, affiliate system, and course hosting . I believe they both now do quizzes and certificates too. Kajabi gets points for having a podcasting platform, a more full fledge community platform …
Chose Podia
Kajabi had lots of features all in one place. I liked their digital course creator program. I liked the ease of their their membership site program/host, too. It had an app for my clients to use. There were some problems with not being able to customize the look of pages, but …
Features
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
IBM Digital Commerce
7.6
Ratings
3% below category average
Podia
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Product catalog & listings8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Product management8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Bulk product upload8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Branding8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Mobile storefront8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Product variations8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Website integration8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Visual customization8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
CMS4.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
IBM Digital Commerce
6.0
Ratings
25% below category average
Podia
8.0
Ratings
4% above category average
Abandoned cart recovery6.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Checkout user experience6.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
IBM Digital Commerce
6.0
Ratings
32% below category average
Podia
8.0
Ratings
4% below category average
eCommerce security6.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
IBM Digital Commerce
7.0
Ratings
10% below category average
Podia
7.0
Ratings
10% below category average
Promotions & discounts7.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Personalized recommendations7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO7.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM Digital Commerce
6.2
Ratings
26% below category average
Podia
8.0
Ratings
0% below category average
Multi-site management8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Order processing5.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Inventory management6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Shipping6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom functionality6.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IBM Digital CommercePodia
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Shopify Plus
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kentico Xperience
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IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM Digital CommercePodia
Likelihood to Recommend
Websphere commerce is well suited if multiple sites are required based on geography, for branding, large customers. It is well suited for B2B model to handle different pricing and catalog filters for each business. It is not well suited if there are multiple external systems that drives the pricing an d promotions. WCS should be the master for pricing and promotion
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If you are not techy want to create a course creation type of business then I think its really great. I have used a lot of programs and only a few are complete and Podia is there except for a full fledge blogging platform (you can do a version but it's not quite the same). It's probably the most user friendly email system I have used and the website builder is very user friendly as well. I think if you are a serious blogger and wanting seo traffic to drive to your site, this one thing to watch and consider not as competitive then vs Kajabi.
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Pros
  • Scalability. Since WebSphere Commerce is based on WebSphere Application Server, it's fully scalable just like WAS.
  • Support. Their support team is a pleasure to work with. They get back to you quickly and are knowledgeable of their product, so I learn a lot from them about things that are not covered in detail in their documentation.
  • Robust. The software is robust once it's up and running since it depends on WAS.
  • Sample store & sample data. It's really fast to get a store up and running based on the sample store & data they provided.
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  • Emails
  • Course hosting
  • Website creation
  • Website chat
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Cons
  • It still uses EJBs, need to move to latest technologies for persistance
  • Promotion module customizations needs to more easy
  • Grouping of products based on the shipping methods/shipping dates etc functionality needs to be added
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  • I sometimes wish there was more that I could customize on my website and digital programs
  • I wish their email service (for broadcasts/group emails) had more features and customization
  • I would like to use my brand font
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Likelihood to Renew
The scalability and various configurations of the product allows for a wide range of e-commerce site features. It provides a storefront to begin with so it helps with speeding up development.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
No answers on this topic
It has a great user interface, it's fast to edit and create courses, to edit and create emails, to find chats, to develop the website. Support has been friendly and I haven't found anything that hasn't worked. It also has basically all the tools you need outside if a complete blog platform
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Alternatives Considered
Compared to some other software that our clients have considered, a lot of them choose WebSphere Commerce because of the ability to scale easily. Some of our customers are coming from a PHP based ecommerce platform that doesn't allow them to scale up and they're hitting the limit of their ecommerce system
Read full review
Kajabi had lots of features all in one place. I liked their digital course creator program. I liked the ease of their their membership site program/host, too. It had an app for my clients to use. There were some problems with not being able to customize the look of pages, but they allowed coding/programming if you had training, so I sometimes hired someone to do that for me. I couldn't figure out how to use their website builder, so I didn't do much there. When it came down to it, I could use Podia and it was cheaper and easier to use. GoDaddy was my website host for a few years. I did a lot on there. It was my website builder and host and I liked it. It was easy to use. My website looked great. It had more features than Podia with blogging and connecting to social media. I had a storefront but it wasn't great for selling digital products. Back then, it wanted to show my inventory and shipping options, which don't apply for services and digital products. I did a little with my digital courses on there, but in the end, I liked other sites better for this. It didn't work out. Weebly was just a starting point for me when I create my first digital course. I liked how it looked and it was easy to build, but there are better options for this sort of thing now.
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Return on Investment
  • We were able to roll out Commerce in record time thanks to a good understanding of the tool and our required processes.
  • We were able to roll it out on several websites in quick secessions due to the platform's features.
  • We were able to plan a solid road map given repeatable projects.
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  • Increased sales by $8000 from January to June (Added 2 more programs quickly and easily)
  • Saved almost a thousand dollars in the first year in costs by switching to Podia
  • Improved customer satisfaction by using 1 site instead of 4
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ScreenShots