A multi-year martech boom is underway. Global martech spend is projected to surpass $215 billion annually by 2027, up from $131 billion in 2023, according to a Forrester forecast.
Last year, spend increased 10.9%, according to the report, Global Martech Software Forecast, 2023 – 2027. Annual growth is projected to climb to a steady 13.3% over the coming years.
B2C budgets. Much of the growth is driven by large consumer brands. Global B2C marketing organizations spent 18% of their marketing budget on martech last year.
This share of the budget is expected to grow. Two-thirds (66%) of marketing decision-makers say they plan to increase their technology spend, according to Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2023.
Why we care. Competitive pressure is surely a driver for increased market investment, moving forward. This represents a turnaround from 2023, when growth slowed after coming out of a sharp pandemic-era acceleration. In 2022, annual growth peaked at 16.7%, according to Forrester. The report cites new generative AI capabilities and low-code tools as further drivers for steady growth in the coming years.
Spending is spread evenly. Martech spend is spread evenly across three main pillars, the study found. Each of these broad areas account for approximately one-third each of martech spend:
- Brand strategy (resource and performance management).
- Brand experience (experience delivery and automation).
- Customer understanding (data management and analytics).
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Data solutions. Not surprisingly, a key driver for increased martech spending is the importance of data management. The customer data management segment of martech is expected to grow 14% annually, reaching $37 billion by 2027.
Need to integrate. Martech vendors continue to proliferate, with the number growing to over 11,000 in 2023. With so many tools across marketing functions, organizations have adopted more technology without integrating many of these tools.
Forty-seven percent of marketers said they’d like to reduce the number of solutions they use, according to the Forrester report.
Dig deeper: How strategic martech integration drives growth
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