Today, it is not enough to have a simple website; organizations require a tool that will enable them to provide perfect, unique, and integrated experiences to their customers. This is where Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) comes into play—a robust cloud-based tool that assists companies in addressing the customers’ needs, optimizing the eCommerce processes, and achieving long-term success.
In this guide, we will define what Salesforce Commerce Cloud is, describe its features and advantages, explain its pricing, and why you should choose it for your business. If you are a small retailer or a giant brand name, SFCC has the solution for your business.
Overview – Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Commerce Cloud is an eCommerce platform that is Software as a Service (SaaS) that helps businesses create, operate, and monetize online stores. Originally called Demandware, Salesforce Solutions bought the platform in 2016 and smoothly incorporated it into its powerful environment. Currently, Commerce Cloud is implemented in such brands as Adidas, Puma, Lacoste, L’Oréal, and Unilever to provide unique and customizable e-commerce solutions.
It is not only a simple eCommerce solution but a platform for B2B, B2C, and D2C models that can be adapted to the needs of a particular company. This is an AI, data analytics, and cloud infrastructure-powered solution that is perfect for businesses that want to improve customer experience and grow.
Key Products of Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers several tailored solutions, including:
B2C Commerce Cloud
It is intended for companies that sell their products directly to the consumer. It provides artificial intelligence and digital experience to individual customers, omnichannel retailing, and mobile-first strategy for improving the shopping experience of an individual customer.
B2B Commerce Cloud
This solution is ideal for companies that are B2B or businesses that sell their products to other businesses. Some of the aspects that it has are account-based pricing, enhanced stock management, and a large product database to handle bulk and wholesale business.
D2C Commerce Cloud
Enables organizations to cut on middlemen and market their products directly to the consumer. It incorporates sophisticated order management and personalization features to improve the direct brand-consumer connection.
Order Management
A strong selling point that enables the full handling of orders from the time they are placed, paid for, and fulfilled, and in case of products that are returned. This makes it easy for the customer and also makes the operations of the company more efficient.
Why Your Business Needs Salesforce Commerce Cloud
It is particularly strong in delivering individualized experiences, handling multichannel transactions, and growing at scale.
Einstein AI for Personalization
Another key capability of Commerce Cloud is the possibility to integrate it with Einstein AI, Salesforce’s artificial intelligence tool. Einstein AI can monitor customers’ behavior in real time and provide recommendations and product suggestions that can greatly enhance conversion and customer retention.
For instance, Einstein AI can use data on customer’s previous purchases, web activity, and current actions to provide relevant products. It also improves the shopping experience by identifying what customers might be interested in next and making sure that these products are among the first that the customers see when they search.
Such a level of personalization has been known to have an effect on sales and satisfaction among customers. L’Oréal and Adidas are some of the retailers who have employed Einstein AI in their businesses to help them offer personalized shopping experiences, which in turn leads to higher levels of engagement and conversion.
Omnichannel Capabilities
Consumers today are not confined to one single touch point but rather they engage with the brand through multiple touch points such as mobile, web, and physical stores. It helps businesses to provide continuity of shopping experience across the channels. No matter if a customer begins his/her journey on a mobile device, continues it on a desktop computer, and finishes the purchase in a store, SFCC guarantees that all the interactions will be consistent.
The omnichannel features are especially helpful for companies with brick-and-mortar and online shops. For instance, a customer can order online and opt for home delivery or they can shop physically and order through the mobile application at a later time. When integrated with all the channels, helps businesses reach customers at their preferred platform and makes shopping easier.
Scalability for Growing Businesses
Regardless of whether you are a small retailer or a large enterprise, the issue of scalability is always important when selecting an e-commerce platform. It is designed for scalability to enable businesses to manage growth and changes in demand. This means that the cloud-based infrastructure allows SFCC to be able to accommodate a large amount of traffic during peak sales periods like the holidays or product launches.
For instance, Puma integrated Salesforce Commerce Cloud to enhance the mobile-first approach in different parts of the world. Another advantage that Puma realized with the help of the scalability of SFCC is that the speed of the mobile site increased by 69% and the site was able to handle large traffic loads. This not only enhanced the level of satisfaction of the customers but also increased sales during the peak seasons.
Robust Marketing and Merchandising Tools
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is integrated with the latest marketing and merchandising features that help businesses control and manage promotions, recommendations, and customer engagement programs. These tools make it easier to:
- Automate your marketing across all channels including email, social media, and paid advertising.
The following are how a business can use customer data to improve its marketing strategy:
- Optimise product pages, promotional banners, and marketing strategies using A/B testing.
- It allows for the management of multiple storefronts, languages, and currencies, which is particularly useful for companies with operations in different countries.
By utilizing the advanced marketing tools of SFCC, companies can develop complex and effective promotional campaigns by Hiring Salesforce Developers that will increase customer response and conversion.
Mobile-First Approach
Since most of the customers are using their mobile devices to shop, having a mobile-friendly website is essential to the success of any e-commerce business. It is built with mobile-first in mind, meaning that websites work well on all devices, from mobile phones to tablets and laptops.
Apart from mobile responsiveness, SFCC supports the most popular mobile payment options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay to ensure that customers can complete the purchase with ease on their mobile devices. It also has the feature of responsive design which means that your site will be good on any device and the user experience will be seamless.
Advanced Order Management
Another important aspect of the e-commerce business is order management, and it is a leader in this field. It provides order management where businesses can monitor the orders, shipments, returns, and payments on the same interface. This helps to enhance the flow of operations for customers and employees while at the same time minimizing the possibility of making wrong decisions.
It also offers visibility on stock status in real-time, which helps businesses control stock and not oversell or run out of stock. This is particularly useful for companies with multiple outlets or sales points as SFCC guarantees real-time data sync for inventory.
The Order Management System also supports split shipment, thus it can help businesses to deliver orders from different locations and inform customers about the order status in real-time.
SEO and Search Optimization
Italso provides a comprehensive SEO toolkit to enhance the position of the company’s website in search engine rankings and attract more organic traffic. It allows merchants to manage and enhance product pages, category pages, and other web content for search engines. It also supports fast loading of the website which is a very important factor in the enhancement of search engine optimization.
Moreover, SFCC incorporates artificial intelligence-based search optimization for the search function that improves the shopping experience by providing intelligent search suggestions and automatic sorting. These features make it easier for the customers to locate what they are searching for hence enhancing the general experience of the site and thus enhancing the conversion rate.
SFCC is a component of Salesforce Digital 360, a set of applications for marketing, commerce, and CRM. It offers businesses a complete picture of their customers helps them monitor all the interactions with the clients and offers them a relevant and unique experience at every step of the process.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud Pricing
Commerce Cloud operates on a shared success pricing structure in which companies contribute a percentage of their Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). This pricing model means that the businesses will only be charged for the value that they receive from the platform, thus making it an affordable solution.
- Pricing for B2C Commerce is between 1% – 3% of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV).
- For B2B Commerce, the cost is between 1% and 2% of GMV.
- D2C Commerce is available at $1 per $1000 GMV.
Organizations also have the option of adding Order Management features, which are charged on a per-order basis.
Conclusion
Commerce Cloud is an effective, flexible, and versatile solution that helps businesses create smooth, relevant, and multichannel customer experiences. From artificial intelligence and omnichannel support to order management and a mobile-first approach, SFCC offers the solutions businesses need to succeed in the world of e-commerce.
Whether you are a small business owner who wants to expand or a large brand that wants to improve the experience of its customers, it is a solution for you.
