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SAP Digital Commerce Solution Leads in B2B and B2C Markets

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The SAP digital commerce solution, SAP Commerce Cloud, has emerged as a pivotal player in the digital commerce space, driving the success of thousands of global companies.

E-commerce continues to demonstrate significant growth, as evidenced by recent statistics from the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. In May 2024, the Bureau reported that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2024 reached $289.2 billion, reflecting a 2.1 percent increase from the previous quarter and an 8.6 percent rise from the same period in 2023. These e-commerce sales accounted for 15.9 percent of total retail sales, highlighting the growing importance of online commerce in the retail sector. While total retail sales saw a slight decline of 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023, the upward trajectory of e-commerce indicates a shift in consumer purchasing behavior towards digital platforms.

In line with this e-commerce boom, the SAP Commerce Cloud solution has played a crucial role in facilitating seamless online transactions for businesses worldwide. Since its launch in 2018, the solution has enabled secure and reliable processing of hundreds of billions of euros in gross merchandise value (GMV) across more than 25 industries and over 65 countries. During peak periods, such as the holiday season, SAP has demonstrated its capability by handling up to $110 million in GMV per minute with flawless uptime.

Initially, SAP focused on platform modernization to ensure the long-term success of both its customers and the SAP Commerce Cloud. This strategic emphasis was crucial for establishing a solid foundation, leading to SAP’s recognition as a significant player in the IDC B2C Digital Commerce Report in 2020. Over the past two years, this focus has shifted towards delivering functional innovations designed to drive measurable business outcomes. These efforts culminated in SAP regaining leadership in both the IDC B2B and B2C Digital Commerce Reports in 2024. Additionally, Gartner has acknowledged SAP’s improved position in the Leader quadrant in 2023 compared to its competitors.

According to Riad Hijal, Global Head and VP of Marketing and Solutions at SAP Commerce, the company’s success can be attributed to its relentless focus on customer needs. SAP’s enterprise clients, who operate some of the most extensive commerce deployments globally, require a platform capable of addressing complex commerce challenges with flexibility, agility, and cost-efficiency. In response, SAP committed to a long-term modernization strategy, embracing pragmatic composability to support customers’ digital transformation journeys regardless of their digital maturity level.

To accelerate innovation, SAP adopted an all-cloud deployment model with continuous enhancements across various commerce areas. This includes headless, API- and event-based architectures, composable storefronts, and modern microservices-based implementations for core functions like payments, promotions, order management, sourcing, and inventory availability. These innovations have positioned SAP Commerce Cloud as a robust solution for businesses seeking to optimize their digital commerce operations.

Key Innovations Driving SAP Digital Commerce Solution

Generative AI has played a significant role in SAP’s innovation strategy. Historically, AI in commerce has focused on personalizing customer experiences to enhance loyalty and profitability. While this remains crucial, generative AI enables commerce teams to automate mundane tasks, improving efficiency and connecting customers more quickly with the products they seek. SAP leverages its extensive operational and experiential data, alongside third-party data, to provide customers with a comprehensive view. The new AI tools within SAP Commerce Cloud enhance catalog management and product discovery, streamlining the process of maintaining product visibility and discoverability.

Order management systems are vital for delivering seamless customer experiences. Acting as the central nervous system of unified commerce, these systems orchestrate the entire order lifecycle from placement to fulfillment. SAP’s Order Management Services, including the SAP Order Management solution for sourcing and availability and the SAP Order Management foundation, offer modular capabilities to create frictionless omnichannel experiences. These solutions enable organizations to respond dynamically to business events such as fraud holds, deliveries, and in-store pickups, optimizing sourcing strategies to maximize customer satisfaction while protecting margins.

SAP’s recent announcement of the open payment framework at Shoptalk aims to accelerate customers’ time-to-market. This framework connects SAP Commerce Cloud with third-party payment service providers like Stripe, Adyen, WorldPay, and Airwallex through low-code or no-code integration. By providing a modular, extensible, headless framework, SAP also empowers retailers to choose payment partners that best meet their needs, facilitating scalability and eliminating the complexities of managing multiple connectors.

As SAP continues its journey in the digital commerce landscape, it remains committed to empowering businesses to innovate swiftly and adapt to market demands, ensuring long-term success and customer satisfaction.

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