SAP Digital Commerce solution is a leader in B2B and B2C markets

SAP’s digital commerce solution, SAP Commerce Cloud, has become a key player in the digital commerce market, helping thousands of global companies succeed.

E-commerce continues to show significant growth, as evidenced by the latest statistics from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of the Census. In May 2024, the Bureau reported that U.S. retail e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2024 reached $289.2 billion, up 2.1% from the previous quarter and up 8.6% from the same period in 2023. E-commerce sales accounted for 15.9% of total retail sales, underscoring the growing importance of online retailing in the retail sector. While total retail sales saw a slight decline of 0.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the upward trajectory of e-commerce indicates a shift in consumer shopping behavior toward digital platforms.

In line with this e-commerce boom, SAP Commerce Cloud has played a key 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 capabilities by handling up to $110 million in GMV per minute with impeccable uptime.

SAP initially focused on platform modernization to ensure long-term success for both its customers and SAP Commerce Cloud. This strategic focus was key to establishing a solid foundation, leading to SAP being recognized as a significant player in the 2020 IDC B2C Digital Commerce Report. Over the past two years, this focus has shifted toward delivering functional innovations designed to drive measurable business outcomes. These efforts have led to SAP regaining its leadership position in both the 2024 IDC B2B and B2C Digital Commerce Reports. Additionally, Gartner has recognized SAP’s improved positioning in the 2023 Leaders quadrant 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 customers, who have some of the largest commerce implementations in the world, require a platform that can handle complex commerce challenges with flexibility, agility, and cost-effectiveness. In response, SAP has committed to a long-term modernization strategy, adopting pragmatic composability to support customers’ digital transformation regardless of their level of digital maturity.

To accelerate innovation, SAP has adopted an all-cloud implementation model with continuous improvements across different areas of commerce. This includes headless, API and event-driven architectures, composable storefronts and modern microservices-based implementations for core functions such as payments, promotions, order management, sourcing and inventory availability. These innovations have made SAP Commerce Cloud a solid solution for companies looking to optimize their digital commerce operations.

Key Innovations Driving SAP Digital Commerce

Generative AI has played a significant role in SAP’s innovation strategy. Historically, AI in commerce has focused on personalizing customer experiences to increase loyalty and profitability. While that remains essential, generative AI enables commerce teams to automate mundane tasks, increasing efficiency and connecting customers faster with the products they are looking for. SAP leverages its extensive operational and experiential data, alongside third-party data, to provide customers with a comprehensive view. New AI tools in SAP Commerce Cloud improve catalog management and product discovery, streamlining the process of maintaining product visibility and discoverability.

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

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

As SAP continues to expand its digital commerce footprint, it remains committed to helping businesses innovate quickly and adapt to market demands, ensuring long-term success and customer satisfaction.