Enterprise e-commerce systems (whether hosted on their server or installed locally) are software programs specifically tailored to meet the requirements of large businesses, providing all current business requirements while accommodating future expansion.
Enterprise platforms often come equipped with features and customization such as marketing analytics, order and inventory management, resource planning & accounting management, and reporting customer data and reports for customer retention purposes.
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Channels
- Transaction Fees
- Business Model
- Marketing Strategy
- Ecommerce Software
Enterprise businesses (with more than 1,000 employees) have purchased over 45% of e-commerce applications since 2020 - now is an opportune moment to upgrade your e-commerce capacity! In this deep dive, we explore some of the top enterprise ecommerce platforms and their features compared with each other.
Replatforming Process
An extensive set of internal stakeholders are involved in selecting a new platform. Be sure to involve departments from across your organization - IT, Operations, Logistics, Marketing Design, Customer Service, etc.
- at an early stage to understand how a specific platform impacts each department in your organization. Collect their feedback before beginning to draft your requirements list.
An RFP for e-commerce will allow you to set clear goals and objectives internally and communicate them to prospective platform providers.
That way, youre free to evaluate each platform on its merit without becoming overwhelmed by each pitch from each one. When making the RFP or outlining business requirements, you should also keep these points in mind:
Establish The Key Reasons For Migration
Every enterprise may have differing priorities when considering migration; to help manage your platform selection process more effectively from day one, identify which objectives are of primary concern to you and focus on them first.
Determine The Pain Points Of Your Current Platform
You wouldnt be reading this if everything with your existing platform met all your requirements perfectly - now it is time to identify all of its shortcomings, such as meeting specific business requirements or not supporting mobile connectivity.
Determine Critical Ecommerce Features
Your current platform does some things well despite any challenges; note all features and integrations you want to preserve regardless of whether they were natively integrated by your team or developed separately.
What Features Would You Like To See?
Dont just focus on fixing current problems - include wish-list items that would be nice but arent necessities. Here are just a few features found within CIS stores beyond standard e-commerce functions:
Your priority should be selecting a platform that fulfills all your most crucial requirements. Once complete, consider each forum according to features and services; even non-essential elements could give your business the edge it needs for competitive success.
Check Key Requirements for System Integration
No business can exist on an island. Therefore, its crucial that any platform integrates seamlessly with all systems used within it (unless, of course, you plan to abandon some).
Integrated technologies and systems within your company aim to enhance operational efficiencies by seamlessly linking departments, software programs, and services.
As a modern business with various systems and applications as well as processes and procedures, your e-commerce system must work seamlessly with those already present as well as add additional ones if required - this may include enterprise resource planning software (ERP), warehouse management systems (WMS), Product Information Management (PIM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems as well as Marketing Automation Platforms (MAP).
Integration of Future Systems Required
At this point, businesses must consider where their business will head in terms of strategy and platform selection.
You should select something flexible yet scalable enough to allow expansion into new markets - something like CIS may offer with its integrations with popular marketplaces like Google Shopping, Amazon, or Facebook; using its headless capability, merchants can connect CIS directly into any CMS, DXP (Digital Experience Platform), app device or any custom frontend while CIS handles backend management duties!
Consider what features will best support your goals and plans when selecting a platform so that platforming isnt needed in just a few short years.
Please pay special attention to the features most essential to running your business and ensure they are standard or easily integrated.
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Enterprise Ecommerce Solutions
Your online business begins with an e-commerce platform.
Enterprise-grade platforms manage both frontend sales and backend processes while also connecting core business software solutions, so the one you select could affect how customers experience your sales frontend and everything behind the scenes. Lets consider some categories in which all these options may fall:
SaaS
SaaS (Software as a Service) has quickly become a viable alternative to Open Source over recent years and continues to gain in popularity.
Cloud SaaS as an industry has grown three times within five years, according to Statista data; revenue currently sits around $90 billion, with more expected by 2022. SaaS allows enterprises to rent the platform while considering factors like cloud hosting/SSL security/platform maintenance, etc., which reduce overall ownership cost in many cases (the total cost of ownership can often be less).
Versionless offers outsourced IT management and PCI compliance solutions, leaving less control of code or backend, depending on your needs.
While enterprises tended to rely heavily on on-premise software in the past, more enterprise solutions such as SAP Commerce Cloud (formerly Oracle Commerce Cloud), Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Oracle Commerce Cloud now exist for SaaS offerings at enterprise levels.
Players that were initially SaaS providers have expanded into enterprise markets with their offerings to address high-volume client needs.
Renting instead of buying allows businesses to concentrate their resources on developing customer relationships and improving the customer experience; we explore why enterprises are moving toward SaaS in this whitepaper.
Headless
Creating the digital experience your customers expect of you can be just as critical to many businesses success as what you sell them.
In highly competitive industries such as finance or IT services, staying current on technology trends and responding quickly to disruptions is paramount for staying competitive and creating customer satisfaction that sets it apart from its rivals. How is your organization using its technology assets to provide positive experiences to its clients that set itself apart from competitors?
Headless commerce, an innovative solution for SaaS-based ecommerce platforms that leverages loosely coupled microservices architecture, is an exciting development in SaaS ecommerce platforms that use microservices architecture.
Instead of having both frontend and backend components tightly intertwined in monolithic architectures, headless commerce separates user interface components from backend services using APIs or web services, allowing both layers to communicate directly.
Headless microservices models decouple individual system elements from each other by eliminating dependence. Enterprise businesses may find greater benefit in adopting such decoupling strategies as headless because these decoupled methods provide increased control and freedom, allowing certain elements to work separately rather than having them all integrated into an overly complicated whole.
- Additional Costs
- Shopping Cart
- Ecommerce Space
- Ecommerce Companies
- Product Descriptions
- Digital Products
Headless e-commerce platforms will add crucial functions, like PCI compliance and security, to other infrastructures such as ERPs, PIMs, and POS.
Furthermore, their frontend CMS gives more freedom in customizing customer experiences for a better user journey.
Headless features allow merchants to easily integrate payment gateways without lifting themselves, saving both money and time while also speeding up innovation and time to market.
All three of the following companies provide API-driven headless options for integration: Elastic Path (formerly Episerver), Commercetools, and Optimizely.
Composable Tech Stack
Composability refers to breaking an entity into modules that combine into an overall whole. Gartner defines composable organizations as those constructed of interchangeable blocks; companies with such organizations can quickly identify which tasks are successful and eliminate those that dont by splitting off into smaller teams.
This will also help support digital transformation initiatives more successfully while responding to disruptions more rapidly.
Monolith technology platforms combine the frontend/presentation layer and backend/server-side into an all-in-one solution, making setting up an online shop simpler.
Still, these platforms may need fixing for enterprises. Many businesses are moving away from monolithic approaches towards MACH, consisting of microservices, cloud-native SaaS apps, API-first architecture, and headless platforms.
MACH architecture offers businesses more agility to quickly adapt to technological changes without overhauling a monolithic approach.
Open Source Platforms
Companies who own open-source platforms possess complete code control over them and may make modifications whenever desired, providing server and software management, server and software monitoring, and server/software administration for both server- and software-management features; these platforms tend to be more costly in the long run and come with additional responsibilities for PCI compliance, hardware, managing IT staff hosting requirements as well as manual integrations which fall on them as part of management responsibilities that fall directly upon them.
Enterprise Ecommerce Host Options
When selecting an e-commerce platform, the host you use is critical. Your ideal host depends on factors like sales volume, website size, and traffic volumes, as well as budget considerations - so below; we provide the main types of hosting and their features to assist with making this decision easier for you.
- Marketing Tool
- Social Channels
- Wide Range
- Ecommerce Business Models
- Online Sales
- Mid-Market And Enterprise Brands
SaaS Hosting
Like SaaS platforms, SaaS Hosting allows the user to rent software at an agreed monthly cost without worrying about IT infrastructure management - freeing the business user to focus on core competencies without worrying about technical details.
SaaS hosts do not require you to install anything; all thats necessary for using their software is internet access, and your subscription fee should cover everything, such as security and site maintenance costs.
Cloud Hosting
SaaS is one of many types of cloud hosting available - there are other solutions, like Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).
IaaS works similarly to SaaS by being pay-as-you-use; like SaaS software, it can scale with you as your business expands. IaaS differs because merchants pay one company, but another party hosts their site.
IaaS offers you complete control of the infrastructure behind your website, giving you full oversight. To use IaaS efficiently and successfully for e-commerce websites, you must know exactly which features and functionality will make up its foundation.
Your hosting provider handles server management while it falls to you to maintain runtime environments like middleware applications and operating systems on behalf of their infrastructure provider.
Platform-as-a-service (PaaS), like IaaS, entails infrastructure, middleware, and development tools in one package.
Users log on using an interface designed specifically to build apps; no programming skills or creative ability is needed - however, web developers frequently opt for PaaS because of their full control over their apps.
Self-Hosting (On-Premise)
Enterprise businesses may also choose to host the software on their servers; retailers, however, must host it themselves on physical servers located within their business space or data centers if self-hosting is an option for your company; alternatively, if your focus lies solely online, then SaaS might be more suitable.
Self-hosted open-source software gives users complete freedom in customizing the code as they see fit - giving them total control of customizing and changing the website per their needs and specifications.
Self-hosting has proven popular with enterprise businesses looking for custom website development solutions.
Self-hosting gives you complete control of both the software and hardware components for your server, giving you full responsibility for hardware malfunctions or software bugs, failures, or errors; any required IT staff to deal with security, patches, and manual updates as well as maintaining hardware may fall solely to you.
Read More: What are Some Good E-Commerce Platforms for Developers?
Cost of Enterprise Ecommerce Replatforming
Before embarking on any enterprise ecommerce replatforming initiative, consider who will oversee project management, design, and development tasks.
Ensure all parties involved understand each others business and budget requirements to achieve successful re-platforming initiatives.
- Content Management
- Online Marketplaces
- Types Of Ecommerce Business
- Payment Options
- Target Market
Diverse stakeholders will have different priorities regarding customizing and marketing features. It would make the process much smoother if all stakeholders agreed upon budgets and deadlines from the outset; consider this when presenting options and planning a budget.
E-commerce Platform Cost
Due to their various functions and features, pricing between platforms varies significantly in their E-commerce platform costs.
Each forum also has different pricing models you must consider: "owned" solutions often cost far more than GMV for GMV calculations, while headless solutions charge per API call required - therefore, research should be performed before making this purchase decision.
Cost of Development and Integration
Replatforming requires significant investments in development and integration costs, which shouldnt be discounted as the major expense during your re-platforming journey (after design costs).
It would help if you considered several factors: building costs, integration costs with third parties or APIs, and costs related to third-party apps or pre-launch tests before finalizing these calculations.
Employing an internal team makes customizing and modifying a website more manageable; installing integrations or features may take more time and affect other parts of the system; alternatively, you could hire an outside agency for web design if integrations cannot be installed by their platform team themselves (this could cost more - Elogic Commerce estimates this to cost as much as $10,000!).
Website Design Costs
Replatforming can provide the ideal opportunity to refresh and revamp the design and appearance of your storefront design and build, including its interface and design.
Make this time count by mapping out how core customers experience your online store and planning what journey will be taken by each. Templates and wireframes will be necessary to assess how users interact with your content and products, with easy navigation being key in providing users with what theyre searching for faster.
Furthermore, whether or not to manage design yourself is also worth considering; alternatively, enlist the services of professional designers or agencies as needed.
Cost of Migration
Data integrity should always be addressed during platform re-platforming processes, and you should cut corners with regard to budget.
You will have access to sensitive and sensitive information during this migration; thus, you must always keep data security up for grabs.
Blind spots or vulnerabilities in moving data across platforms are easy to overlook; insufficient protection could have serious repercussions for both companies and their reputation, not to mention potential legal action against them.
Your business must implement an adequate data protection plan before beginning the migration process; check security levels regularly and who has access to sensitive information such as customer details.
At its heart is data migration - successfully moving all product, category, and transactional data, as well as customer details, onto a new platform.
Talk with potential platforms about costs and guarantees associated with data migration: Do they offer migration agreements/services or catalog transfers? Have they implemented data security measures?
Before selecting a platform, you must account for its costs. They may be significant: poor transfers can result in incorrect images or product suggestions for customers as well as mishandled data collected from them - both factors that have the potential to reduce conversion rates significantly and cause customers to trust you less over time.
How to Maintain SEO Traffic At an Acceptable Cost
While migration costs are important in helping customers locate you quickly and easily, dont lose valuable SEO equity you have gained on an unplanned re-platforming.
Redirection and URL structuring must also be planned; whether using an agency or in-house teams depends on their budgets for completing these processes.
- Additional Transaction Fees
- Competitive Edge
- Additional Features
- Native Features
- Online Shopping
Even the finest platforms require ongoing care after launch. What will it cost to keep your online store operational after its debut? Maintenance expenses include platform upkeep, continuing development, support work, SEO, data analytics/security (if had), updates/patches, and PCI compliance checks.
Additional Enterprise E-commerce Solutions Factors
To achieve success for any enterprise, multiple systems must work in unison. Customer experience will likely be integral to its success - B2C or B2B-based.
It would help if you strived to keep customers satisfied through effective website usability, payments, shipping logistics, and continuous implementation of new software that integrates smoothly into existing stacks of services and products.
Website Performance
Your site should function consistently regardless of any extra bells and whistles it features; in todays digital era, customers may leave without looking again if the pages take too long to load - 60 percent of B2B customers have abandoned transactions due to slow page loads alone! Page load speed greatly affects customer behavior and whether or not they visit your website altogether.
According to Googles algorithms, page loading time affects rankings in desktop and mobile search results; website speed should be prioritized to increase its exposure and be seen.
Google Cloud Platform is an industry-leading hosting solution featuring unlimited bandwidth, industry-grade security measures, and speed.
Plus, our hosted e-commerce system boasts an average uptime rate of 99.99%, so no site downtime worries exist here!
Traffic Handling Capacity
Your customer base could be growing, and you are witnessing an unprecedented spike in traffic that exceeds the capabilities of your existing platform, perhaps due to an overwhelming surge during holiday sales or TV advertisement campaigns causing dramatic traffic increases.
These situations happen daily, and they should be seen as positive signs indicating growth for any successful enterprise. If your store experiences increased traffic, its platform must be capable of accommodating this increase. Not only must your platform accommodate current demands, but it must also allow for future growth.
Data and Payment Security
Protecting your and your clients data is vital, so when selecting your platform, you want it to make you feel safe regarding data management and payment handling; anything less could prove costly for the business.
Choosing between SaaS or self-hosted platforms, as well as on-premise options, might have an effect. Self-hosted platforms often give more visibility regarding security; SaaS provides protection and PCI compliance as part of their monthly fee so that you can focus on other tasks instead.
Mobile Optimization
Google research indicates that 53% of visitors will abandon a website if pages take more than three seconds to load, and 46% dont like waiting while shopping on mobile devices.
You know best where and what your customers like shopping; therefore, it makes sense for you to identify where visitors come from before optimizing your website accordingly.
Stability
SEO is essential for many e-commerce businesses; however, not all platforms can effectively accommodate it. Some venues feature built-in features for SEO and migrations.
In contrast, others may need customization or integrations with third parties to meet this standard. Establish clear specifications of which SEO features are necessary when planning the platform, including those from search engines.
Your SEO team may offer many suggestions about improving their crawling of the site. Consider these requirements:
SiteMaps in XML
A sitemap serves as the road map of your website, outlining relationships among pages, videos, and files. A great sitemap will enable search engines to crawl your website more effectively while quickly finding its most important pages.
Page Titles And Meta Descriptions
Title and meta descriptions are small HTML codes that name and describe your website. Page titles and meta descriptions help search engines understand its contents so they can index accordingly.
Manage Redirects
It is necessary to manage redirects when redirecting one URL to another URL due to broken or outdated links or when an entire site no longer operates, in which case using a 301 Redirect will alert search engines of its availability or nonexistence.
Pagination
Content should be divided up into pages for search engines to easily index. This ensures your content doesnt end up as "white noise."
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Conclusion
When starting an online business, composible technology should always be your priority.
Even if you sell commodities or have something unique, you will need more than an out-of-the-box monolithic solution. Modern commerce requires modular IT systems; composable technologies allow your company to grow organically while adhering to consumer trends and expectations more easily than rigid approaches.
Whats the best way for retail companies to select compostable solutions? As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues influencing consumer behaviors and preferences, retail businesses must embrace its connected yet decentralized nature when choosing mobile apps, responsive sites, or smart speaker technology.
