Top 5 Reasons to Choose SAP Commerce Cloud over Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Enterprise eCommerce platforms are no longer monopoly affairs. Selecting the best for your business is a tough job. So, before choosing a platform, make sure to have in-depth research about the functions and features.

Experts are predicting massive growth in retail e-commerce sales this year. It is estimated to reach $4.13 trillion. So, turning to the best e-commerce platform is essential to boost sales and generate revenue.

An Overview of SAP Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Commerce Cloud

SAP Commerce Cloud and SalesForce Commerce Cloud are the two platforms that are continuously compared by the users. Both of these possess potent aboriginal functionalities and deliver strong business litigations to their stakeholders.

Also, both platforms have the potential to initiate the growth of businesses, though the major difference is the provision of the client and how the platform caters to the needs. 

SAP Commerce Cloud has been topping the chart on the B2B and B2C aspect. SAP provides more flexibility than other e-commerce platforms and is known to be the ideal choice for consumers.

Here are five points that will surely help you understand why SAP Commerce Cloud is better than the Salesforce counterpart.

Basic Platform Functionality

Salesforce Commerce Cloud comprises many robust features that are mandatory for the e-commerce platform. Here are some of its basic functionality features.

• This e-commerce platform provides a one-touch mobile payment option.
• It offers multi-site surveillance and localization.
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud has access to all the features in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Though it has access to the Salesforce ecosystem, it is not built under force.com. This means, despite SalesForce Cloud having solid integration tools, there are high chances of facing intricacies pre and post-launch.

While choosing Salesforce Commerce Cloud, consider in-depth research on the tools. Always make sure that the required tools for the business are supported by the platform. If the tools are not supported by the Salesforce Cloud, you need to look for third-party extensions. This addition will cost a fortune, based on the complexities.

On the other hand, SAP Commerce Cloud has tapped the market high as it got listed as the leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant in the field of digital commerce. This platform offers a unified system for controlling product, content, customer experience, and orders.

SAP Commerce cloud works together with the other five SAP customer experience cloud to make the process smooth and hassle-free. It makes the system simpler between the front and back office in a single chain process. This platform also helps in dealing with IoT, machine learning, and blockchain.

The most important feature that makes it better than the rest is its ability to manage the workflow for creating products. This feature encourages teamwork, assign deadlines, and assure profitable management of the retail store.

This platform is specifically designed for B2B and B2C industries as it constantly invests in adjacent technologies. This feature delivers the flexibility to build full ordeal without any third party interception.

Back office 

SAP Cloud improvised its features to elevate user experience. This platform has made big changes in the Backoffice Administration cockpit. It enables to build customized user-friendly tools in a simple and appealing way. 

SAP-integrated all the admin interface elements from the older renditions and enhanced PCM by accumulating all the external data into a customizable UI framework.

This latest feature incorporates advanced customer services and is connected to ASM ( Assisted Service Module ). It provides real-time sales and service support through the omnichannel framework used by the customer. 

Unlike Salesforce, SAP cloud offers Smart edit. A smart edit is a user-centric form of constructing customized customer experiences. This feature enables easy content management, in-context editing, drag, and drop components management, visual tooling, and preview in different media.

Salesforce Cloud features the Admin interface, which is one of the advantageous features for businesses that are entangled in day-to-day operations. It proves to be a user-friendly solution for some businesses, whereas SAP Commerce Cloud remains advantageous irrespective of the operations.

B2B and B2C Facilities

In early 2020 a research suggested that  22 % of people responded to B2B and 28% of people responded to B2C through social media Platforms.

So, industries that work on B2B format are approaching e-commerce platforms for filling resellers’ orders. The main motive still remains to attract new customers by endorsing their brand in the market. E-commerce platform also provides rich experiences and push visual initiatives for more reach. 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud has been lagging on the B2B aspect for a long time. For filling up this rift, they came up with Cloud Craze, which enables customers a customized shopping journey. This feature works on multiple channels such as mobile, digital, in-store, and social. Cloud craze is built on Force, which means it offers basic B2B elements that include multi-contract management, policy pricing, and pricing based on roles.

In contrast, SAP has been leading the B2B industry for decades. It was rated first B2B Commerce Suite by Forrester Research, which is the main reason why it is still the ideal choice by many B2B and B2C clients.  

SAP supports distribution networks that help in building a connection between sellers, distributors, and consumers (B2B2C)

Here are a few features of SAP Commerce Cloud B2B- 

• Association Management: Clients can approach a self-service region to arrange and supervise their company order approval workflows and Cost center budgets.<
  
• B2B check out: The specific features of B2B can be facilitated in the checkout process, which includes entry of purchase order number, signing up for auto-replenishment, and choosing the way of payment. 
• Punch out Integration: Clients can unleash their product directory to buyers by inclining the process towards procurement systems. 
• Quotation negotiation: Clients can demand quotations which are then evaluated by account managers to mediate and approve costing.
• 
  

  Omnichannel Engagement

  Businesses with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain almost 89% of their customers whereas businesses with weak omnichannel engagement can only retain 33% of their customers. 

  In the era of digitalization, consumers need both physical and digital platforms. This lead to high demand for omnichannel engagement. 

  Salesforce Cloud delivers a streamlined cloud-based strategy that enables merchandisers a number of facilities such as Marketing, order managing, operations, and merchandising. All of the above-mentioned facilities come under one consolidated platform.

  SAP has a different approach to omnichannel engagement. This e-commerce platform incorporates all physical and digital customer breakthroughs onto a single platform. The touchpoints of SAP omnichannel includes online, point of sale, call center, social and print media.

  SAP omnichannel capabilities include:

  • Omni commerce connects is a next-gen commerce Application programming interface (API) that helps dealers to unleash key commerce functionality through a RESTful Web service API. It integrates with core commerce functionalities onto internet stimulated touchpoint.
  • For easy usability and customization, it offers an ingeniously extensible architecture merchandising. 
  • SAP omnichannel facilitates the Assisted Service module used for supporting both instore and online channels.
  • Easy usage of tools and cockpits to regulate and stimulate commodities and content for every channel.
  • It is constructed for the transnational marketplace. Irrespective of your format, SAP Cloud has the structure to tackle the high amount of orders, data, and traffic.
  • Management and fulfillment of order: This SAP omnichannel capability helps businesses to showcase real-time stock availability. It provides a single easy viewing of inventory on both online and instore channel.
  • Intuitive UI: This authorizes consumers with the potential to search stocks across the stores, order for picking up, and locate shops.

  Pricing Model

  Locking an e-commerce platform for businesses is discreetly linked to cost. Both SAP Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Commerce cloud implementation are not included and are traditionally empowered by the agency partners. 

  Salesforce Commerce works on a revenue share pricing model and long-term contract, which causes problems for many clients. Whereas SAP Cloud is provided on a monthly subscription base pricing model. 

  Salesforce is a little bit expensive because it does not possess all the tools and needs a third-party intervention. While SAP invests in adjacent technologies that make it cost-efficient. 

  SAP Commerce Cloud pricing model comprises license, hosting, and Cloud services. The pricing does vary person to person is evaluated on the basis of peak page view per second.

  

  Benefits of SAP Commerce Cloud

  SAP commerce cloud is an e-commerce platform that leads businesses to elevated sales and growth. It is beneficial for both online and offline operations. 

  It is one of the most cost-effective e-commerce platforms and works as a magnet for attracting clients. 

  Here are a few benefits of SAP commerce cloud-

  • Managing Content: SAP cloud performance gives rise to a strong web content management solution with the consistent passage across the multi-faceted selling platforms.
  • Boosted efficiency: SAP cloud can elevate productivity that curtains holistic operating costs and expenses for consumer service.
  • Seamless integration: This e-commerce platform utilizes processes such as web service integration incorporated with ERP solutions to benefit credit checks.
  • Tackles complex problems: It supports purchasing and sales requirements that help businesses to tackle issues regarding buyers and users.
  • Reliability and Speed:  SAP cloud for B2B services ensures high traffic operation and assists more than 20 million transactions per sec.

  Summing up

  SAP Commerce Cloud is an ideal choice for B2B services. It ensures great customer experience and is more flexible than SalesForce. 

  Salesforce lacks in various aspect such as it does not support all tools and need the third party intervention for a smooth run. This also makes SalesForce expensive than SAP.