SAP Commerce Cloud is an enterprise eCommerce solution that supports multichannel shopping, customer service, and more. Through customizable modules and powerful integrations, SAP Commerce Cloud makes it possible for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C businesses to design frictionless online and offline shopping experiences. 

While SAP Commerce Cloud offers powerful omnichannel shopping options for enterprise brands, it does have its drawbacks. For example, its complexity makes for challenging implementations, especially if you’re moving from an on-premise solution. 

In this post, we’ll go over what SAP Commerce Cloud is, its most popular capabilities, and how to avoid common missteps during an SAP Commerce Cloud migration.

What Is SAP Commerce Cloud?

SAP Commerce Cloud is a sophisticated omnichannel platform that helps enterprises handle complex customer journeys and high order volumes. Previously known as SAP Hybrid Commerce, this omnichannel platform allows brands to interact with shoppers both digitally and in person. SAP built Commerce Cloud on open-source Kubernetes, but it’s now available within Microsoft Azure, too.

SAP Commerce Cloud’s key capabilities include: 

• Product Content Management
• Customer Experience Management
• Order Management
• Accelerators
• Customer Support
• Integrations

SAP Commerce Cloud allows enterprises to track every stage of the customer journey to share relevant, personalized experiences with customers at scale. Implemented well, SAP Commerce Cloud makes it easy to draw data-driven insights, save time, increase average order values, and drive long-term customer loyalty. 

6 Key Capabilities of SAP Commerce Cloud

SAP built Commerce Cloud to be modular, so it’s very flexible. It comes with a lot of features out of the box, as well as additional modules and extensions to customize as needed.

While you can extend functionality with multiple modules, enterprises rely on SAP’s six key capabilities to drive results both online and offline. 

1. Product Content Management

Create a single source of truth for all your products in one place. Create product catalogs with descriptions, images, pricing, and more that adjust in real-time.

2. Customer Experience Management

This module allows SAP Commerce Cloud users to create a customer experience strategy. SAP Customer Experience, also called SAP Hybris, allows you to interpret customer actions and dynamically adjust the messaging they see on all channels. This includes personalized recommendations, promotions, and even storefronts. SAP Commerce Cloud also allows you to segment customers and recover abandoned carts.

3. Order Management

SAP Commerce Cloud users rely on the platform to manage, process, and ship all customer orders from one platform. For example, you can see your stock figures in real-time at all locations. With flexible sourcing options, Order Management makes it easy to source inventory in less time.

4. Accelerators

Accelerators are industry-specific add-ons tailored to your unique needs. SAP Commerce Cloud currently offers accelerators for: 

• B2B
• B2C
• Chinese markets
• Financial services
• Media
• Travel
• Public sector

These accelerators come with storefronts and preloaded configurations, so all you need to do is add content.

5. Customer Support

Your shoppers expect immediate support. SAP Commerce Cloud comes with a Customer Support module that gives customer service representatives more context into the buyer experience. CSRs can see a customer’s full history with your company so they can provide a higher level of service. 

6. Integrations

SAP Commerce Cloud comes with pre-built integrations with other SAP products. This is a great way to extend the functionality of SAP and customize it to your exact needs. 

SAP Commerce Cloud integrates with other SAP solutions to bring sales, marketing, and customer service into one platform. It integrates with: 

• SAP Marketing Cloud
• SAP Sales Cloud
• SAP Service Cloud
• SAP Customer Data Cloud

SAP Commerce Cloud Challenges

While SAP Commerce Cloud can bring the customer experience into a single platform for enterprises, it creates additional complexities that enterprises need to manage. If you’re planning on migrating to SAP Commerce Cloud, work with an experienced migration team to avoid these common pitfalls: 

• Complexity: SAP Commerce Cloud licenses are expensive. If your enterprise won’t make use of its large toolbox of features, it might not be worth the cost. It’s ideal for businesses that need more robust omnichannel experiences for shoppers, but it isn’t known for being user-friendly either, so your team will need training — and outside experts experienced with SAP technologies — to navigate the platform at first. 
• Lack of strategy: SAP Commerce Cloud enables you to personalize the customer experience and messaging at scale, but it doesn’t do the work for you. Don’t move to SAP Commerce Cloud without a sound messaging strategy first. 
• Migration issues: SAP Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based solution. If you’re using an on-premises solution right now, that means you’ll need to migrate to the cloud. This isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, but you’ll need a strategic approach to maximize efficiencies and gains while moving to the cloud.

SAP Commerce Cloud helps enterprises anticipate buyers’ needs with content, pricing, promotions, and experiences that match their expectations. While SAP Commerce Cloud can make enterprises more efficient and profitable, it isn’t without its downsides. 

Partnering with Argano’s SAP experts can help you avoid migration headaches and challenges that might otherwise slow you down. Contact us today to learn more.