Elevate your B2B operations with SAP Commerce Cloud! Read this article to learn how one solution helps address challenges in versatile E-commerce projects.
How SAP Commerce Cloud Transforms B2B Commerce Business
Despite a big boost in the B2B E-commerce market last year, keeping up with what buyers expect is a constant challenge. There's a noticeable gap between what buyers want and what they actually get. How do we bridge it?
Uncover the power of personalized engagement, robust order management, and integrated commerce solutions that propel B2B businesses into a new era of digital success. With SAP Commerce Cloud, organizations gain unparalleled agility and competitiveness, making it the ultimate game-changer in the evolving world of B2B commerce. Take a look at the transformation hurdles in B2B commerce and analyze how your company can overcome them using SAP software solutions.
What is B2B E-commerce?
B2B E-commerce refers to all digital transactions between business customers (business-to-business). Among others, it has the following distinctive features:
- Bulk ordering and pricing: B2B E-commerce platforms can handle large-scale transactions with bulk ordering options. Distinctive pricing structures, often tiered or negotiated based on volume, cater to the specific needs of businesses buying in quantities typical of the B2B environment.
- Personalized and negotiable pricing: B2B platforms provide a level of pricing flexibility. Prices can be personalized based on customer relationships, order history, or negotiated agreements. This feature accommodates the nuanced pricing dynamics inherent in B2B transactions.
- Advanced product catalogs and account management: B2B E-commerce platforms typically feature advanced product catalogs, allowing businesses to manage and showcase a diverse range of products. Additionally, robust account management tools facilitate handling multiple users, roles, and permissions within a single business account, streamlining the procurement process.
The global E-commerce market is projected to reach $21,168.6 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 16.9% from 2023 to 2030, according to Meticulous Research. Such impressive growth is propelled by the diverse advantages of B2B marketplaces. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and chatbots, E-commerce automation aims to elevate sales, boost workforce efficiency, and ensure 24/7 accessibility. However, such rapid growth is inevitably accompanied by the pitfalls outlined below.
B2B Commerce Business Challenges
Not every digital transformation in retail leads to the desired results. In fact, according to Deloitte, around 70% of transformation projects fail. B2B retailers often face one or more of the following challenges in their digital commerce transformation projects:
Global scale-up
Expanding a B2B E-commerce business globally comes with challenges. Handling different currencies, following diverse regulations, and connecting with local payment gateways require careful planning. It means accurately managing finances, staying compliant with local laws, and adapting to various payment systems. To succeed, businesses need a practical approach and understanding of the financial, legal, and technological aspects of international B2B E-commerce.
Supply chain integration
Coordinating and integrating a global supply chain poses a significant challenge in B2B E-commerce. Managing inventory, logistics, and suppliers across different regions requires robust systems to ensure a seamless flow of products, timely deliveries, and optimal stock levels.
Cross-border trade compliance
Navigating the complexities of international trade regulations and compliance standards is a persistent challenge for B2B E-commerce businesses. Ensuring adherence to import/export laws, tariffs, and product-specific regulations across various countries demands meticulous attention to detail and a comprehensive understanding of global trade dynamics.
Individual requirements
While businesses recognize the transformative power of digitization in B2B sales, many struggle to fully leverage its benefits. B2B E-commerce goes beyond regular online stores and standard customer service, involving products that need detailed explanations, large orders, personalized customer connections, and complex decision-making with multiple participants.
For B2B retailers to overcome these challenges and achieve their desired business goals, SAP developed a tailored solution — SAP Commerce Cloud.
SAP Commerce Cloud Features for B2B Commerce
Offering customers consistent information and shopping experience across all channels is a basic requirement of modern E-commerce strategies. Gartner has recognized SAP as a leader of Magic Quadrant for digital commerce platforms. Designed primarily for large enterprises with complex B2B, B2C, and B2B2C use cases, SAP Commerce Cloud demonstrates its strength in catalog and product management and configuration and, most importantly, offers powerful B2B commerce capabilities.
As a cloud-native, API-based platform, SAP Commerce Cloud offers all the benefits of a headless commerce setup, and thanks to the decoupled frontend Spartacus, a consistent appearance in design and function is possible across all sales channels and customer touchpoints.
Below, we list key SAP Commerce Cloud features for B2B commerce.
Omnichannel solution
SAP Commerce Cloud's omnichannel solution seamlessly integrates online and offline channels, providing a unified experience for B2B buyers. This ensures consistent interactions across various touchpoints, fostering a cohesive and efficient B2B purchasing journey. Because the Commerce Cloud supports different targeting and personalization options when serving business customers, B2B customers also have the opportunity to manage their profiles and place orders independently.
Product content management
Tailored for the B2B segment, SAP Commerce Cloud's Product Content Management enables businesses to efficiently organize and present complex product information. With the SAP C/4HANA Suite and the SAP Commerce Cloud, it is possible to quickly update catalogs and add information about new products and offers. B2B buyers can access detailed, accurate, and up-to-date product data, enhancing their decision-making process.
Order management
SAP Commerce Cloud's Order Management is designed to meet the unique requirements of B2B transactions. It enables businesses to handle complex order processes, manage bulk orders, and streamline fulfillment, ensuring a seamless and efficient B2B order experience.
Global sales transactions
Win new markets for your company with ease. With SAP Commerce Cloud, you can achieve unlimited omnipresence by supporting multiple sites, languages, tax rates, and currencies. Thanks to optimal system performance and high scalability, companies can process transactions and orders without restrictions.
Microservices architecture
SAP Commerce Cloud can be seamlessly integrated with a suite of cloud solutions, encompassing SAP Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Customer Data Cloud, and back-office systems like SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA. Furthermore, you can leverage the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to effortlessly develop and integrate new extensions, including third-party offerings.
Build an Intelligent Company with SAP Commerce Cloud and LeverX
The SAP Commerce Cloud system offers a wide range of benefits for efficient production control and planning and can optimally map all relevant business processes from make-to-stock to engineer-to-order. Cloud computing also allows you to reduce IT costs and save resources. The technology of SAP's systems is structured so effectively that your company can digitally map the entire value chain. By using the SAP Commerce Cloud system, customers experience:
- 30% more efficient checkout process
- 60% faster launch of new online shops
For more than 20 years, LeverX has built up competencies across all E-commerce technologies, offering the following key services:
SAP ecosystem integrations
As an SAP Global Strategic Supplier, LeverX offers a comprehensive range of solutions and services. From optimizing your digital core with S/4HANA to implementing robust DSC and PLM solutions, our expertise extends to BI tools, Asset Management, Procurement, and Customer Experience solutions. Leveraging our proficiency in SAP technologies, we ensure seamless integration and tailored implementations to enhance and streamline your business processes across the SAP landscape.
E-commerce development
In E-commerce development for the B2B segment, LeverX excels in platform/custom development, offering tailored solutions for customization and fine-tuning to meet specific business needs. Our focus is optimizing performance and ensuring scalability, providing robust and flexible E-commerce solutions that align seamlessly with client requirements.
Top Software Development Company 2024
The LeverX project team synchronized the client’s data from disparate sources and streamlined its collection and processing.
The result?
- Robust E-commerce platform with tailored product catalogs
- Refined demand forecasting
- Cost-effective data aggregation and visualization
- Customer experience improvement
AI&ML solutions implementation
LeverX can enhance the B2B E-commerce experience by providing AI-driven tools for streamlined customer interactions. Shopping assistant chatbots, personalized search and recommendations, and warehouse stock predictions can help you stay on top in a highly competitive E-commerce market.
If you want to elevate your online presence and maximize your investments in a top-notch E-commerce solution, don't hesitate to let us know your needs; we'll be happy to help you.
