Cost of product updates and support fees decreased by 2.6%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 0.5%, in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. At constant currency, the decrease was primarily due to a 3.2 point decrease related to lower employee-related support and overhead costs and 0.4 points related to a decrease in other support costs. These decreases were somewhat offset by a 1.0 point increase related to higher professional fees.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, cost of product updates and support fees decreased by 1.2%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 1.2%, compared to the first nine months of fiscal 2019. At constant currency, theyear-to-date decrease was primarily due to a 1.9 point decrease in employee-related support and overhead costs, which was somewhat offset by a 0.6 point increase related to higher channel partner commissions and third-party royalties and 0.1 point related to an increase in professional fees and other support costs.
Cost of Consulting Services and Other Fees. Cost of consulting services and other fees includes salaries, employee benefits, third-party consulting costs, related travel, share-based compensation expense, and the overhead costs of providing our customers systems implementation and integration services, consulting, custom modification, hosting services, application managed services, and education and training services. Cost of consulting services and other fees also includes costs associated with our hardware business.
Cost of consulting services and other fees decreased by 5.1%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 1.0%, in the current quarter compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. At constant currency, cost of consulting services decreased by 1.8 points from lower billable contractor costs, 1.8 points due to lower employee-related and overhead costs due to lower headcount in our support organization, 1.7 points due to lower warranty costs, and 0.2 points due to a decrease in other costs. These decreases were somewhat offset by a 0.4 point increase related to higher share-based compensation expense.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, cost of consulting services and other fees decreased by 0.6%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 1.8%, compared to the first nine months of fiscal 2019. At constant currency, theyear-to-date decrease was primarily due to a 0.7 point decrease due to lower billable contractor costs and 0.5 points due to a decrease in other costs. These decreases were somewhat offset by a 0.4 point increase in employee-related and overhead costs and 0.2 point increase related to higher share-based compensation expense.
Sales and Marketing.Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of salaries, commissions, employee benefits, travel, trade show activities, advertising and branding costs, overhead costs related to our sales and marketing personnel, share-based compensation expense, and the costs of Inforum, our customer event.
Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 1.2%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 0.8%, in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. On a constant currency basis, the decrease in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to a 5.6 point decrease related to lower employee-related sales and overhead costs due to lower headcount in our sales organization, and a 0.5 point decrease related to other sales and marketing costs. These decreases were somewhat offset by a 2.6 point increase due to higher share-based compensation and a 2.3 point increase related to higher commissions.
Sales and marketing expenses increased by 0.8%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 1.2%, in the nine-month period ended January 31, 2020, compared to the nine-month period ended January 31, 2019. On a constant currency basis, theyear-to-date increase in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to a 2.1 point increase related to higher commissions and a 1.2 point increase due to higher share-based compensation. These increases were somewhat offset by a 1.4 point decrease in employee-related sales and overhead costs, a 0.7 point decrease due to lower professional fees and other sales and marketing costs, and a 0.4 point decrease as a result of loweryear-to-date marketing program costs in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019.
Research and Development.Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenditures, third-party consulting and professional services, overhead costs related to our research and development function, and share-based compensation expense.
Research and development expenses increased by 0.2%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 0.7%, in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. On a constant currency basis, the increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to a 1.2 point increase due to higher share-based compensation, a 0.4 point increase in employee-related and overhead costs, and a 0.3 point increase related to lower capitalization of software development costs in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. These increases were somewhat offset by and 1.7 points related to a net decrease in professional fees and other development costs.
Research and development expenses increased 1.6%, excluding the favorable foreign currency impact of 1.2%, in the nine-month period ended January 31, 2020, compared to the nine-month period ended January 31, 2019. On a constant currency basis, theyear-to-date increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to a 1.8 point increase in employee-related and overhead costs and a 0.6 point increase due to higher share-based compensation. These increases were somewhat offset by a 0.5 point decrease related to higher capitalization ofyear-to-date software development costs in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019 and 0.3 points related to a net decrease in professional fees and other development costs.
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