What is an Enterprise Ecommerce Solution?
Large companies dominate the world of eCommerce. Online retail has opened many avenues for smaller businesses, but multi-brand sellers like Amazon dominate the realm. Many large companies are going the D2C (Direct To Customer) route to counter Amazon-like sellers. This entails setting up your eCommerce site and creating a user journey that encourages purchases from the brand rather than from an aggregator like Amazon or Walmart. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce cater to these brands and help them set up their websites. These are enterprise eCommerce solution providers.
How Enterprise Ecommerce differs from Small-business Ecommerce?
So, what key features do large businesses need that are not present in smaller eCommerce plans? Here are some crucial differences:
- Heavy traffic: The first and most obvious thing is the traffic a website needs to handle. Big brands have many products, heavy traffic of users visiting the website, and multiple transactions taking place on the websites. So, they need a larger server to handle the load` without impacting the site speed.
- Technical and security issues: All eCommerce sites need Technical Support and a secure website to conduct eCommerce transactions. However, the problem becomes much more acute for larger companies because any downtime or security problem can lead to substantial financial losses for bigger firms. Hence the Technical Support needs to be more robust than smaller eCommerce sites.
- Multi-location fulfillment, cross-regional compatibility: Large brands operate across different regions, with multiple languages, different currencies, and fulfillment centers (warehouses). An enterprise-level eCommerce platform needs to integrate all of these seamlessly.
- Multi Catalog Management and Pricing Flexibility: Large brands tend to have extensive product catalogs with multiple regional variations and pricing structures. Different teams that often manage catalogs and discounts need to be flexible per the company’s marketing plans.
- B2B & B2C support: Large enterprises have different customer markets, including B2B. Any enterprise eCommerce solution must offer B2B support as well.
Besides the above points, there can be many other complexities. Such complexities do tend to rise in large enterprises running on multiple systems. An enterprise e-commerce solution must promise its customers Peace of Mind with a hassle-free experience.
Differentiating factors
So how does one decide which Enterprise eCommerce solution to choose? The above points are qualifiers that any barebones enterprise eCommerce platform will have. Here are a few points that you must consider to help differentiate the best from the rest:
- Cloud-Based vs local server-based: These days, most enterprise platforms are cloud-based, meaning the software is based on the provider’s server, and the customer can access it by logging in online. This means that all company data lives on the service provider’s server. This might not be suitable for some enterprises with stringent IT security policies. Other enterprise solutions are locally based and installed on the enterprise’s own servers.
- Headless Compatible: The Headless model is a model of Ecommerce development where the Front UX of the website is decoupled from the backend of the site. This lets developers customize the look of the website free from any constraints. Some Enterprise eCommerce platforms support this model while others don’t.
- Automation: Marketing Automation is essential for a successful eCommerce operation. Discounts and promotions need to be applied across different catalogs. Customers need to be presented with promotions based on their preferences. An automation engine is required to analyze customer behavior and present them with suitable products and discounts.
- Subscription features: subscription model has been gaining popularity in recent years. No retailer can ignore the potential revenue growth that this model promises. Any enterprise eCommerce platform worth its salt must offer subscription integration.
Best enterprise eCommerce solution providers
Now let us look at the top enterprise eCommerce solutions available today. We have analyzed the solution providers and ranked the platforms based on quality.
Shopify Plus
Starting Price:
$2,000 per month
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
- Automated workflows for product and inventory management,
- Prescheduled sales and promotions
- Automated campaign creation
Subscription features:
Subscriptions enabled with Apps. Shopify encourages its customers to use Recharge for their subscription needs. Many other apps are also available.
Advantage:
- Quick migration/setup
- Easy-to-use interface
- Reliable
Disadvantage:
Limited flexibility for website look and design.
Shopify is a leader in the eCommerce realm. It already dominates the eCommerce platforms for smaller businesses. Over the years, its Shopify Plus offering has become a significant player in the enterprise eCommerce segment.
It brings the familiar Shopify features of reliability and ease of use to the big brands. The Shopify app store is full of apps designed to fulfill every functionality. From product bundles to subscriptions to automated campaigns.
BigCommerce Enterprise
Starting Price:
No minimum cost. The price depends on sales volume.
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
Automated workflows are created through the Atom8 automation app (recommended by BigCommerce). There are other apps on their app store that facilitate automation.
Automations for customer segmentation, content publishing, and inventory control.
Subscription features:
Subscriptions enabled with Apps. Recharge is the most popular subscription app on the BigCommerce app store.
Advantage:
- Well suited for Headless commerce
- Excellent customer support and onboarding process
- WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) front-end editor
Disadvantage:
- Sales based pricing
- UX could be more user friendly
BigCommerce’s USP is it’s easy to design front-end pages. The platform is also the easiest to implement the headless model and has many apps to enable more features. Unlike Shopify, it makes integration of B2B sales channels very easy.
Overall, it is an excellent eCommerce platform for enterprises but requires some coding expertise to implement.
Magento Commerce (owned by Adobe)
Starting Price:
$1,988 per month
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
Automation is achieved through apps in the Magento marketplace.
Subscription features:
Subscription enabled with apps
Advantage:
- Easy-to-use content & front-end editor
- Wide range of extensions to enable varied functions
Disadvantage:
- Difficult to use without coding experience
- Poor customer support
Magento is an old player in the eCommerce market. The platform used to compete with Shopify, and until a few years ago, it was considered better than Shopify for enterprise customers. Adobe has since acquired it and remains a competitive enterprise eCommerce platform. However, it is tough to use without coding experience and is not as popular as it once was.
SAP Customer experience
Starting Price:
$4,500 per month
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud and local both
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
SAP claims to automate customer data collection and profile creation.
Subscription features:
Subscription enabled through the SAP Subscription Billing integration module. Integrations built on the SAP integration Suite.
Advantage:
Detailed stack of products for every business need, going beyond eCommerce to CRM, sales, etc
Disadvantage:
- Pricey, only for large brands
- Somewhat B2B focussed
SAP is a business for other businesses. Its target customers are large brands for B2B selling, although it does work for B2C as well. The tech stack is focused on creating a complete suite of tech services covering all aspects of eCommerce and beyond. This includes customer service, customer data solutions, Sales, and POS.
Very expensive for some but you cannot go wrong with their extensive products. Their offerings are a bit different from other platforms. They operate like business consultants, and your team’s involvement and dealing with their UX will be comparatively limited. Simply put, there is no one as thorough as SAP services, but they are also the most expensive.
Salesforce Commerce cloud
Starting Price:
No minimum cost. The price depends on the sales volume
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
Salesforce commerce automates storefront design with a click-based layout. It also integrates with Slack to automate workflows.
Subscription features:
Subscription enabled through external apps. Apps can be purchased through the Commerce cloud Partner marketplace.
Advantage:
Easy to run multiple stores across countries in a single dashboard
Disadvantage:
Sales based pricing structure makes it expensive at high sales volumes
Salesforce is a provider known for its sales management and CRM software. If you happen to use other Salesforce products, Commerce cloud will be an excellent fit for your organization. It will integrate well with other salesforce software.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud is focused on the mobile eCommerce experience and uses predictive intelligence to optimize the experience for the end-user. An expensive solution but recommended for those brands that run five or more online stores.
Digital River
Starting Price:
The price depends on the features
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
Automation achieved through external integrations
Subscription features:
The platform has an Inbuilt subscription model.
Advantage:
Easy to install and integrate
Disadvantage:
- B2B commerce focussed
- Barebones features of a payment gateway
Digital River is a payment gateway that facilitates payment across regions, currencies, subscriptions, and much more. The platform was created to simplify payments for companies running their eCommerce websites.
Strictly speaking, it is not a complete eCommerce solution but an easy and cost-effective option to integrate with your website if you already have one and require a payment gateway.
Oracle ATG
Starting Price:
Starts at $150,000
Cloud-based/ local:
Cloud-Based
Headless Compatible:
Yes
Automation:
Oracle ATG automates a wide range of business processes through automated workflows.
Subscription features:
Recurring orders and subscriptions are inbuilt features.
Advantage:
A complete suite of services, including accounting, shipping, etc. No external apps needed
Disadvantage:
- Expensive one-time cost.
- Difficulty in omnichannel selling.
ATG Ecommerce was bought by the Oracle group and is now known as Oracle ATG. This cloud-based eCommerce platform is mobile focussed and easy to use. Its most significant advantage is the ability to perform multiple organizational functions, thanks to its complete range of functions.
Unlike most other platforms, it does not rely on a market of external apps. Most functions are inbuilt, which can be convenient. However, it is only suitable for selling on your website, and there is no integration to sell on Amazon or other online channels.
Let’s get started!
An enterprise eCommerce solution can provide your business with the scalability, features, and security needed to take on larger competitors. If you’re looking for a comprehensive eCommerce platform that can grow with your company, reach out to us. We are proud to partner with some of the top providers in the industry and would be happy to help you build an enterprise eCommerce site that meets all your needs.