It’s no secret that it’s a pretty tough time right now for retail. Most every article and tweet is all doom and gloom in our industry. But if history is our guide, some of the most important commerce- and marketing-tech vendors will thrive in this time of unrest in the market. 

It’s against this promising backdrop that we’ve established our Top 10 Power Players and Rising Stars. Check out the microsite for the full list of winners and judges.

Alongside Bain & Company and Coresight Research, and with insights from a roster of influential executives across retail, we have decided to launch this survey to bring together and recognize the most impressive, thoughtful minds in our industry and start building a community for both current and future leaders.

While there are innovations throughout the commerce ecosystem, from manufacturing and supply chain to store operations and delivery, we’ve chosen to limit the categories for this first go-round to marketing and merchandising-related tech vendors. These companies, creating value in customer acquisition, assortment planning and loyalty — are impacting the commerce ecosystem in ways we believe will be the most important drivers of differentiated retail performance over this cycle.

We look forward to diving deep in future Power Players awards into other crucially important areas of commerce, like store operations and logistics. We have the benefit of extensive expertise and shared learnings with our partners Bain & Company and Coresight, and the amazing high-growth leaders we work with, such as ShipBob and Fourkites in logistics, and emerging leaders like GoRadar and Cogsy in store ops and inventory management. More to come!

On behalf of Bain & Company, Coresight Research, Bain Capital Ventures, and our tremendous Advisory Board, huge congratulations to each of the 15 winners.