challenges, trends, inspirations
5 reasons to choose SAP Hybris Commerce
05 Dec 2017 / 6min
Technology can either enhance or hinder the growth of your business. A decision to implement e-commerce platform always entails some risk, especially if online channel accounts for significant percentage of sales.
We know from experience that it takes several months of in-depth considerations to assure the validity of this important step.
Is it time to change the e-commerce platform?
There is a whole range of symptoms indicating that your current e-commerce solution may be inadequate to support the growth of your business going forward. In order to identify these, consider each of the following questions:
- Are you satisfied with the platform currently in use?
- Are the customers satisfied with the online and mobile purchasing experiences?
- Is your product offering and marketing communication coherent throughout all offline and online channels?
- Do you run a consistent and efficient technology platform that supports sales through all channels?
- Does the functionality of your platform match the needs of your business?
If you are unable to offer positive answers to all the above questions, or if you plan to expand your business into new markets, it is worth considering the advantages of moving to a new platform. SAP Hybris Commerce is one of the options that should be considered, as it offers 5 key advantages compared to other competitive solutions.
1. One platform for B2C and B2B users
Today, many companies operating on the B2B model are discovering that they can access a whole new field of sales opportunity by extending their reach to end users. Unfortunately, they seldom succeed in combining the B2B and B2C models in the platform they rely upon for their online sales.
The reason? Technological limitations of the platform related to its scalability (the B2C model requires management of much higher traffic volumes), or flexibility for adapting to different business models (insufficient implementation of module-based architecture, lack of expansion mechanisms). Such limitations force the IT team to maintain a number of different systems platform (often built upon different technologies) instead of one unified platform for all users. Needless to say, multiple systems and technologies drives costs up.
In such a case, switching to SAP Hybris Commerce allows integration of a number of stores ( both the B2C and B2B) that share, for instance, the same product data management module. The offering, targeting both business partners and end-customers, may be managed from the same location. You maintain a single platform. Whatsmore, thanks to SAP Hybris extensions and add-ons, functionalities may be easily transferred and shared between B2B and B2C sectors, what The above is even more important in view of the fact that consumerization of B2B activity is becoming an ever more frequent phenomenon.
2. Supporting business internationalization
At e-point, we have been building and implementing international systems for 11 years. Our experiences have made us keenly aware that localization of an e-commerce solution to a new market is not limited to the translation of content only. It is instead an immense and multidimensional undertaking. Individual features, such as delivery and payment methods need to be adjusted to the local conditions as well, and marketing communication must take into consideration the cultural differences and local context. The SAP Hybris platform supports this complex process:
- It allows the user to create numerous, local, online storefronts based on a single platform
- It enables effective management of product catalogs and allows control over availability of particular products to each of the individual markets
- It supports a number of currencies, languages and local tax rates
- It may be adapted to the specific needs of each business by means of a number of platform add-ons, including those supplied by e-point, to handle localization-related processes, such as content translation
Thanks to all these features, the SAP Hybris Commerce platform makes it possible to enter a new market quickly and effectively.
Inter Cars: B2B e-commerce platform
for 16 countries
3. Flexibility
Many of our customers whose systems have been developed according to changing needs over the course of a number of years are now seeing it all grind to a halt as they approach the limit of expandability of those systems. Adding new functionalities becomes a very costly and difficult (if not impossible) task, as the business logic has become far too complicated (even convoluted) with the implementations of previous modifications. Often the architecture of the system is to blame, as it fails to offer sufficient support or framework to accommodate added function. SAP Hybris Commerce has been designed with the ability to implement extensions and add-ons as a primary concern. The design concept assumes that individual functional modules are isolated and wrapped so that they can be configured to perfectly accommodate a specific market scenario. The solution-building process is similar to the process of building with LEGO bricks: the system provides ready-to-use components that we may set up in an optimized manner. New features may be created using available expansions and add-ons, without modifying the code of the platform itself.
SAP Hybris Commerce users have access to the marketplace of ready-to-install expansions and add-ons. The platform is also capable of integrating seamlessly with the existing business solutions, such as CRM and ERP. Due to its flexibility, the SAP Hybris platform may be considered a perfect supplement to the existing tools and systems: it combines them and optimizes their operations, simultaneously offering new opportunities and providing the end-users with a higher quality of service.
4. Short Time to Market
Building an e-commerce solution with SAP Hybris Commerce means not creating it from scratch, but rather arranging existing components into a complete platform. Therefore it takes less time to implement it when compared to tailor-made systems (systems that are largely adapted to match the needs of a specific organization).
At e-point, our 20 years of experience in creating tailor-made systems has made very clear to us the considerable amount of time required to produce a good e-commerce solution. Our customers’ businesses often demand a shorter timeline, as they are constantly striving to remain one step ahead of their competitors.
SAP Hybris Commerce Accelerators can provide a solution to this dilemma, shortening the time to market and enabling quick reaction to changing business needs. What are SAP Hybris Commerce Accelerators? They are ready-to-use, comprehensive, online store templates, suited to different business models (B2B, B2C, Marketplace) and market sectors, and their use can considerably shorten the platform’s development and implementation lead time.
In addition to reducing the time to market, the use of a template as the basis for the solution allows available development resources to be dedicated to creating more personalized features that will offer the necessary competitive advantage.
Leaders’ recommendations
SAP Hybris Commerce is used by such companies as Coca Cola, Volkswagen, Carlsberg, Galeria Lafayette, Henkel, Indesit, Electrolux, Ericsson, TUI Travel, Deutsche Post and Nestle. Hybris software is relied upon by stakeholders from both B2B and B2C sectors who operate is a wide range of market segments, such as retail, production, travel and services.
Awards
Reputable consulting companies, such as Gartner and Forrester, recommend SAP Hybris Commerce as the best e-commerce solution.
5. Stable and efficient technology
Decisions to switch to a different platform are often based on efficiency limitations of script language-based systems such as PHP. Although the most popular PHP platforms are perfectly suited to low or medium scale operations, JAVA language systems offer considerably better results in environments in which performance is critical. The SAP Hybris Commerce platform relies on proven technologies (JAVA, Spring, Apache SOLR) and has been ranked one of the 3 most efficient solutions in the “e-Commerce Benchmark 2016 V3 by Philippe Humeau” study.
Equally important, the development of the SAP Hybris package is backed by an international giant with many years of market experience, which guarantees that the solutions created are thoroughly tested and secure. The company provides its customers with technical support and assumes full responsibility for the platform it supplies.
However, the technology alone will not be capable of solving efficiency-related problems. The experience of the partner implementing the platform in building highly efficient and scalable solutions, both in the on-premise and cloud-based model, is equally crucial.
Summary
The SAP Hybris Commerce platform is not just a technology solution. It is a proven model of an omnichannel e-commerce architecture. It is particularly attractive for dynamically growing businesses that plan to expand into the international scene; scalability and shortened time to market will make it possible to quickly and efficiently expand operations, at the same time ensuring the stability, reliability, and predictability of the solution.