Living in an interconnected world… just like your e-commerce

COVID-19 has greatly boosted e-commerce, including a significant increase in B2B adoption. B2B buyers now expect the same consistency and personalised experience as consumers, regardless of the channel. According to a study of 300 B2B companies by DigitalCommerce360, 73% of respondents believe e-commerce is vital to the overall digital transformation of their company. 

Buyers and sellers are increasingly present online. They follow the digitisation momentum and do not want to be left behind. According to McKinsey & Company, 96% of the sizable segment have changed their go-to-market strategy since the pandemic. This shift is here to stay. 

Omnichannel is a way to reach your customers more efficiently and consistently while increasing customer satisfaction. The challenge is to combine information from several channels. E-commerce does not compete with traditional channels – it complements them. The challenge is: how do I keep my customers on my platform? To do so, it is vital that you build strong partner relationships and get to know your customers in-depth.  

Integration is the key to success 

Know your customer, both online and offline! Customers offer you valuable information through different channels. It’s about consolidating this information and using it to get a better understanding of what your customers want and need. 

Five SAP Clouds to the rescue!

SAP offers you an integrated platform for customer experience, composed of five Clouds. The platform’s purpose is to help you achieve your business goals. It guides customers through their entire customer journey and optimises customer satisfaction levels.

These are the five Clouds:

• SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris)
• SAP Marketing Cloud
• SAP Sales Cloud (including configure, price, and quote - CPQ)
• SAP Service Cloud (including CPQ & Field Service Management)
• SAP Customer Data Cloud/Platform (see Fig. 1).

The Clouds run on SAP Cloud Platform, a core driver of innovation. It offers you a wide range of integration and extension capabilities with other systems or technologies. For example, it will enable you to deploy:

• chatbots and assistants that help your customers find your nearest branch;
• machine learning algorithms that suggest recommended movies;
• IoT, e.g. to pre-heat the car when it is -20°C outside;
• scenarios like the one below (Fig. 2): John wants to buy a new pair of shoes!

This last example illustrates some of the possibilities of the SAP Cloud Platform: 

• Data integration: combining data about your customer, products, pricing, orders, online/offline, etc. 
• Sales channel harmonisation: BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) or return in-store, order in-store but deliver to customer address, view in-store stock online, etc. 
• Services integration: customers expect to receive the same service level through all channels; omnichannel dialogue is required for the best customer experience 
• Marketing: get a holistic 360-degree view of the customer for personal and contextual communication 
• Identifying customers across channels by integrating Commerce Cloud with Customer Data Cloud: online/offline, loyalty programmes, cookies, registrations/login, consent management, connecting profiles with social networks 
• Enabling organisation: omnichannel forces companies to consolidate data and align the organisation internally, opening up endless opportunities 

SAP CPQ also integrates with SAP Commerce for Quotes, increasing sales efficiency, and supporting configurable products on the frontend, including SAP Subscription billing 

Conclusion 

Customer intimacy and personalisation are essential to stand out and offer a unique experience to your customers. Omnichannel strategies are here to stay. The need for integration and data consolidation is more urgent than ever. 

Research by Gartner and IDC MarketScape (Fig. 3) shows that SAP excels at delivering business value with future-proof digital projects. SAP offers solutions for CX sales/marketing and an all-in-one digital commerce platform supporting B2B and B2C business models. In both cases, SAP is an excellent choice! 

TheValueChain can help you optimise your e-commerce through SAP.