Last year on Singles Day, customers using SAP Commerce Cloud received 55% more orders and recorded a 77% increase in sales. Those using this solution since 2019 enjoyed a whopping 10x growth in order volume.
It’s no surprise that the Single Days, the Black Fridays, and the Cyber Mondays of the eCommerce world are experimental events for retailers worldwide. But these are also the times when, as a retailer, you need to hit the nail on the head.
To steer ahead of the curve, you want the online channels to do what they do best: deliver more purchases faster and with less hassle. And to make it all happen; you have to identify where your business stands and what your chances of success are.
SAP Commerce Cloud, a cloud-native headless commerce solution, is exactly what suffices this in-vogue eCommerce scenario. Whether you belong to fashion, ply your trade in the automotive sector, administer the revenue stream of a hospitality business, or manufacture products for household and personal care, SAP Commerce Cloud appears to be the way forward — and a step above the current on-premises SAP or other commerce solutions that you’re using.
What Do We Mean by Upgrading and Migrating?
Upgrading SAP Commerce Cloud means upgrading the solution to a newer version. While upgrades are relatively straightforward, migration is less so (detailed in the following paragraphs). In that light, upgrading refers to having the patch releases of SAP deployed in the current cloud environment, migrating the existing data to the newer version, and managing the modifications to the technical components.
As such, upgrading SAP Commerce Cloud entails leveraging better functionality, using innovative tools, establishing better control over SAP product integrations, facilitating better overall UX, securing the data from existing bugs, and taking advantage of all that the new cloud infrastructure has to offer.
Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud is the process of moving business and operational data from your existing commerce system (on-prem) to the cloud. Including the data and technical considerations, migration is the de facto overhaul of how you carry out your business. It’s about rethinking the way you operate, upgrading your technology, and scaling your commerce base.
Since this migration entails moving the existing SAP Commerce to the cloud in the public cloud, it’s not necessary that for every configuration, the migration would be possible. Hence, you need to upgrade your current system to a compatible version for the cloud. And from there, you can migrate your existing databases as well as all the other business data.
Why Migrate to SAP Commerce Cloud?
Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud makes sense in today’s cloud-first world, where flexible platforms and SaaS applications are becoming the norm for businesses of all sizes. You need the flexibility to integrate components of your digital offering, such as your eCommerce and CRM solutions, manage the digital life cycle of a product, and track data across verticals.
Most importantly, a migration journey to the cloud gives you complete control over how your business operates and where it’s headed. With the power to control your data, you can shape how your commerce operations are executed. The following points further the case for migrating to SAP Commerce Cloud:
Opening the Doors to a Better Business Model
On-premises solutions might tie you to limited tools and functionalities. You can’t customize beyond an extent of capabilities that suit you. For instance, the existing SAP Commerce solutions might not be flexible enough to allow for the addition of a new service line.
You can overcome these limitations with a cloud-based solution. You can easily add features and work towards future-proofing your endeavors. Besides, the addition of features (such as a chatbot) doesn’t require you to go beyond the storefront and make changes on the backend — thanks to the headless architecture.
Enhancing Purchase Experience Like Never Before
Often, businesses are worried about low traffic, high card abandonment rate, low conversion rate, and low average order value. With SAP Commerce Cloud, all these metrics tend to move positively. That’s a result of the highly refined retail pipeline and the associated rewarding purchase experience.
Consider a scenario where a customer wants to buy a particular car engine part, such as an oil filter, O-ring, or a camshaft pulley. A commerce cloud-powered store would help the customer narrow her research by comprehensively detailing the product attributes, facilitating 3D interactive product display, and blowing open the granular engine parts. This would allow for selecting and checking the granular part (like an O-ring) right on the product page.
The facility of AR further helps the case for the mobile-dominant apparel, home appliances, and electronics sector, among others. Not to forget the easy integration of value-added services like on-demand video tutorials, printable quotes, and virtual assistance that help close the purchase funnel through better and more engaging customer experiences.
Facilitating 360-Degrees Customer View
Be it reacting to the market trends, streamlining the operations, anticipating customer needs, or meeting product demand, having a comprehensive customer view of the data across the business is pivotal to healthy growth. By migrating from a single business framework to a solution built on the cloud, you needn’t worry about data silos and fragmentation.
You’d know exactly why to change the product descriptions, tweak the product catalog, adjust pricing, and change the purchase UI. You’d know how the inventory is moving (or not moving), and you’d have the right levers to improve your operations. You’d also be aware of where the bottlenecks are in terms of sales and what you can do to remove them.
Wrapping Up
To conclude, migrating from your existing on-premise solution to SAP Commerce Cloud is a way to augment profits, streamline functions, enhance customer experience, and embrace business intelligence. Top that up with the cloud-specific cost-saving, and you have a compelling case for moving to SAP Commerce Cloud.