SAP Commerce Cloud: Features, Benefits, Architecture

SAP Commerce Cloud — a powerful solution in the world of digital commerce. As in recent years, there has been an increased demand for enhanced CX and omnichannel operations, SAP Commerce Cloud has become a go-to platform for enterprises around the world. That’s why in today’s article, we’ve decided to talk about the platform’s extensive features and benefits and learn how it can transform your digital commerce strategy.

What Is SAP Commerce Cloud?

SAP Commerce Cloud is a comprehensive ecommerce platform. Its purpose is to deliver consistent, personalized, and seamless CX across all touchpoints. Previously known as SAP Hybris Commerce Cloud, it is now part of the SAP Customer Experience (SAP CX) suite and runs on a robust cloud infrastructure. This helps ensure increased scalability and flexibility. The platform serves businesses of all sizes by supporting B2C and B2B commerce models and enabling enterprises to meet the increasing demands of digital commerce.

SAP Commerce Cloud Features

SAP Commerce Cloud platform boasts a wide range of features that streamline ecommerce operations while ensuring exceptional customer experience.

Omnichannel commerce

SAP Commerce Cloud enables businesses to provide a unified shopping experience across all channels, including web, mobile, social, and in-store. This feature ensures that customers have consistent and uninterrupted interactions with your brand, regardless of the platform they use. 

For example, a customer might start their shopping journey by browsing a store’s online catalog at home, add items to their cart via the mobile app, and later visit a physical store to check out the products in person. Their cart and product preferences are saved. So even if a person doesn’t buy a product in-store, they can always complete the transaction online. This integration across web, mobile, and physical stores creates a consistent experience for customers no matter where they engage with the brand.

Personalized сustomer experience

The platform’s advanced personalization tools allow businesses to offer tailored product recommendations and promotions based on customer behavior and preferences. Personalization enhances customer engagement and drives conversions.

For instance, when a customer visits a website or mobile app, the platform tracks their browsing history, purchase behavior, and even wishlist items. Based on this information, it can later provide tailored product recommendations, and a customer can see more products or promotions related to their wishlists and preferences.

This also works during holiday sales and special events when the platform offers targeted discounts and shows customers the items they are most likely to be interested in. This improves CX but also drives engagement and conversion rates. 

Scalability and cloud-based infrastructure

Built on a flexible cloud architecture, the platform can scale with the needs of growing businesses. It provides seamless updates and high availability while reducing the burden on IT teams, thanks to its managed cloud infrastructure.

For instance, a company is expanding its global ecommerce operations and needs a platform that would be able to handle the growing number of products offered worldwide, high-traffic periods during sales and holiday seasons, etc. By using SAP Commerce Cloud, companies can scale their operations effortlessly and be sure that their website is ready for increased traffic (Black Friday) without experiencing downtime or performance issues.

Advanced order management

The platform supports efficient and accurate order management across multiple touchpoints, enabling real-time visibility into order status and inventory. This helps businesses fulfill orders more quickly and accurately.

When a customer places an order online, the system checks availability at the nearest warehouse or store and updates the customer on when and where their order will be fulfilled. If an item is out of stock at a nearby location, the platform automatically reroutes the order to the next closest fulfillment center without delaying the shipment.

This real-time tracking and efficient management allow companies to fulfill orders faster and more accurately, whether they come from online purchases, mobile apps, or in-store kiosks. Customers can also track their orders in real time which significantly improves transparency and trust.

Extensive integration capabilities

One of the key strengths of SAP Commerce Cloud is its ability to integrate seamlessly with other SAP solutions, such as SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA, and external systems through APIs. This ensures efficient data flow and a streamlined customer journey.

For instance, when a customer books a flight through the website or mobile app, the platform connects directly with SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA systems to check seat availability, manage pricing, and ensure that all data—such as customer information, payment, and loyalty points—flows seamlessly between systems. 

For example, if a customer modifies their booking or selects additional services like extra baggage or in-flight meals, these changes are automatically reflected across all connected systems in real time. This seamless integration ensures that customers have a smooth, efficient journey from booking to boarding, and the company benefits from accurate, real-time data management across all its operations.

When to Use SAP Commerce Cloud

SAP Commerce Cloud is ideal for businesses that operate in a complex digital landscape and need a platform that can grow with their business. Here’s what SAP CX Commerce Cloud can offer to your business:

• Complex product catalogs management across platforms
• Scalable solution for rapid growth
• B2B and B2C commerce experiences
• Customer journeys and interactions personalization
• Seamless integration with other systems

Another reason why SAP Commerce Cloud can be a good choice for enterprises is because it handles high-traffic periods during the season of sales effortlessly. Here’s how the platform helped enterprises achieve astounding results during Cyber Week 2023:

• +9.3% in overall site traffic
• $110M in peak GMV
• +35% in orders processed

Due to the reliability and scalability of the platform, enterprises can experience record-breaking volumes in the number of orders processed, overall site traffic, and more.

SAP Commerce Cloud Architecture

The architecture of SAP Commerce Cloud is built on the foundation of microservices, allowing for modular, scalable, and efficient deployment. Its headless commerce capability decouples the front end from the back end, giving businesses the flexibility to build customized storefronts and integrate with third-party systems. With a cloud-native approach, SAP Commerce Cloud offers continuous delivery, high availability, and reduced downtime.

SAP Commerce Disadvantages

While SAP Commerce Cloud is a powerful platform, it is not without its challenges.

High implementation and maintenance costs

The platform requires a significant investment in terms of initial setup, licensing, and ongoing maintenance. This makes it more suitable for larger enterprises with the necessary resources.

Steep learning curve

For teams new to the SAP ecosystem, the learning curve can be steep, requiring extensive training and a strong technical background to manage the platform effectively.

Complex customization process

Although SAP Commerce Cloud offers extensive customization options, the process can be resource-intensive and time-consuming, especially for highly tailored business requirements.

Resource-intensive for small businesses

Due to its complexity and cost, smaller businesses may struggle with the platform’s resource demands, making it more suitable for mid-sized and large enterprises.

That is why to facilitate your project, it’s easier to choose a team with years of experience in SAP Commerce Cloud, well-established processes, migration and updates expertise, and more. This way, you can kickstart your project right away and won’t have to spend lots of time and money on training, getting a strong technical background, and finding the right people for your team.

When choosing the right partner, look for the following factors:

• Number of certified employees. Ensuring the partner has a team of SAP-certified professionals guarantees the necessary technical expertise. SaM Solutions currently possesses 30+ certified solution architects, developers, BAs, and PMs, and their number is constantly growing. 
• Architect expertise. A strong team of architects with deep knowledge of SAP product integrations is essential for seamless system functionality. In our team, we currently have SAP consultants, Solution architects, Team leaders, Project managers, Business analysts, Back-end developers, Front-end developers, QA specialists, DevOps, Designers, and more.
• Go-live experience. The number of confirmed live projects showcases the partner’s capability to deliver quality results on time. At SaM Solutions, the number of go-live projects has already exceeded 40, and more than 10 projects are currently in progress. 
• Delivery framework and best practices. A partner with a proven delivery framework ensures smooth project execution by following industry best practices.
• Proprietary solutions. Leading SAP partners offer their own solutions to enhance the SAP ecosystem. At SaM Solutions, our proprietary Auction Module for SAP Commerce Cloud, developed by our R&D team, offers added flexibility and security for businesses in the auction space. It offers seamless lot lifecycle management, intuitive bidding interface, real-time bid information, enhanced bidding protection, composable storefront, and modern front-end technology stack. 
• Breadth of specialization. While many partners focus on one area, SaM Solutions has extended its expertise to include not just SAP Commerce Cloud but also SAP Business Technology Platform, demonstrating our ability to handle a wide range of products.
• Strategic tech partnerships. It’s important to ensure that your partner has all the necessary tech partnerships and certifications to be up-to-date with the best practices. We maintain certifications with leading global software vendors like SAP, Microsoft, and Amazon, ensuring our adherence to the highest standards.

Why Choose SaM Solutions for SAP Commerce Cloud Solutions?

SaM Solutions has been a trusted provider of SAP Commerce Cloud services since 2013, helping medium-sized businesses and large enterprises across the EU, UK, and US achieve ecommerce success. With over 40 successful go-live projects and 10 ongoing projects, we have established ourselves as an industry leader. Our team includes over 30 certified architects, developers, and business analysts, all specialized in SAP Commerce Cloud implementations, ensuring the highest level of expertise. 

As an SAP Silver Partner, we not only provide seamless integration with the SAP ecosystem but also push the boundaries in innovation, leveraging technologies such as AI/ML, IoT, and data science through our dedicated R&D team. This combination of technical mastery and innovative thinking allows us to deliver tailored, cutting-edge solutions for our clients.

At SaM Solutions, we understand that each business has unique needs. That’s why we offer a range of services, from full outsourcing projects to providing dedicated and augmented teams to complement your in-house resources. Whether you need a comprehensive solution from start to finish or skilled professionals to bridge a capability gap, SaM Solutions ensures flexibility, scalability, and collaboration. 

Our commitment to excellence and global presence allows us to minimize time zone differences and maintain high levels of communication and transparency, ensuring that every project aligns with your business objectives. With SaM Solutions as your partner, you gain the expertise, innovation, and support necessary to excel in the highly competitive ecommerce landscape.