Retailers and Wholesalers Spent $6.1 Billion on Industry Cloud in 2018

According to the latest estimates from IDC, five large industry groups have spent a total of $37.5 billion on industry cloud solutions in 2018. The five industry groups are healthcare, public sector, finance, retail/wholesale, and manufacturing. Among them, manufacturing grew the strongest while retail/wholesale was next.

IDC's spending forecast shows a small increase in 2019 growth, relative to 2018. The overall market is expected to reach $45.4 billion in 2019 with three of the five groups growing above the market average of 21.5%. Healthcare provider and public sector spending are both forecast to grow below the market average, although their 2019 growth rates will be higher than those for 2018.

From a geographic perspective, the United States market will make up close to three quarters of the overall market in 2018. Most of the other regions will enjoy stronger than average market growth with Japan and China expected to grow the most year over year at 54% and 47% respectively. These two countries are also forecast to grow at an even higher annual rate in 2019. The other regions, such as U.S., Latin America, and Middle East & Africa, will also outperform their 2018 growth rates.

The healthcare provider market in the U.S. is expected to pass the $10 billion mark in 2018 for the first time while the Western Europe market for healthcare industry cloud is also forecast to hit a landmark in 2018 by crossing the $1 billion mark. Relative to all other regions, Japan can be considered a late adopter to industry cloud deployment. Having said that, the region will fast track to pass the $1 billion mark by 2022. Meanwhile, China is expected to reach that landmark two years earlier.

Note: All figures are forecast estimates.

According to IDC's vendor estimates for 1H 2018, SAP is still the leading vendor in the finance industry cloud market. After SAP, the next seven vendors in the finance industry cloud market are also expected to capture more than $100 million in revenues over the same period. On the healthcare provider side, IDC currently tracks over 140 industry cloud players with athenaHealth and NTT DATA consistently occupying the top two spots.

In the manufacturing industry cloud market, Veeva Systems and Medidata constantly vie for the first two positions while Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman compete at the top of the public sector market. In the retail/wholesale industry cloud market, NCR holds the top spot followed by Shopify.