four best practices when choosing a commerce platform

NOVEMBER 10 2016

FOUR BEST PRACTICES WHEN CHOOSING A COMMERCE PLATFORM

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FEATURED SPEAKER

John AmbroseSr. eCommerce Consultant

Perficient Digital

CHOOSING A COMMERCE PLATFORM

COMMERCE TECH TRENDS• Consolidation in the commerce platform space• SaaS models becoming more pervasive• Best-of-breed vs. all-in-one solution• Traditional online shopping transforming down to

the IoT level• Purchase anything, anywhere, anytime –

omnichannel• Personalization at all levels of the shopping

experience• Good news/Bad news – Many platform options to

consider

1 “Worldwide Retail Ecommerce: The eMarketer Forecast for 2015,” eMarketer

2 “B2B eCommerce Forecast, 2015 to 2020,” Forrester Research

WHY DO COMPANIES RE-PLATFORM?• Competitive pressures

• Improve ease of doing business

• Lowering the cost to serve customers

• Globalization and expansion

• Business change/growth driving the need for more capabilities

• Improved performance and scalability


POLL QUESTION:What is the biggest driver for you to consider re-platforming? (choose all that apply)· Competitive pressures· Improve ease of doing business· Lower cost to serve customers· Globalization &/or Expansion· Change/growth increases needs· Improve performance & scalability

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HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?4 BEST PRACTICES1. Develop a business case2. Define platform capabilities3. Identify integrations with other supporting platforms4. Determine scalability the right hosting environment


BEST PRACTICESCHOOSING A COMMERCE PLATFORM

• Baseline establishment• Goals and objectives• Customer profile and experience (use cases)• What will success look like? KPIs specific to your business• Investment and payback - (TCO & ROI)

Identify capabilities that drive any commerce implementation: products, content, customers, marketing, sales, and reporting

Ecosystem of supporting platforms that drive operational excellence

Hosting models that support growth and performance

BUSINESS CASE

CAPABILITES

INTEGRATIONS

SCALABILITY

BUSINESS CASE CAPABILITES INTEGRATIONS SCALABILITY

COMMERCE PLATFORM SELECTION - CONSIDERATIONS

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WHAT IS A BUSINESS CASE?“A justification for a proposed project or undertaking on the basis of its expected commercial benefit.”- English Oxford Dictionary

57% of eBusiness leaders partner with their IT colleagues on commerce technology projects.

They also crucially partner with teams focused on the customer experience such as digital marketing (41%), corporate marketing (36%), creative services (30%), and merchandising/inventory (27%).- Forrester, 2016 Commerce Technology Investment Trends: Omnichannel


BUSINESS CASE -KEY AREAS FOR INCLUSION1. Establish baseline KPIs – current state2. Goals and objectives3. Customer profile and experience (use cases)4. Define what success will look like – KPIs5. Investment (TCO) and payback (ROI)

1 “Commerce Technology Continues Its Bull Run,” Forrester


THE NEXT GENERATION OF COMMERCE• Capabilities that are driving success

• Rich content• Up-sell/cross-sell

• Missing capabilities creating lost opportunities

• Personalization • Mobile • Loyalty program

• Functionality for the audience being served (B2B, B2C, B2B2C)


CAPABILITY ALIGNMENTAREAS TO CONSIDER1. Products2. Content3. Customers4. Marketing/merchandising5. Sales6. Reporting

2 “Understanding TCO When Evaluating eCommerce Solutions,” Forrester Research

SOCIAL ANALYTICS

MARKETING

CRM

PAYMENTS

CMS

ERP

PIM3 Forrester Research

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INTEGRATION ECOSYSTEM• Expensive aspect of a commerce

implementation• Drives significant value – operational

excellence• Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

– becoming more pervasive


SCALABILITY• What is the best hosting option for the platform and supporting platform

integrations based on your current and future business needs?

• How will the platform’s performance be maintained as site traffic and order volumes increase?

• What disaster recovery and/or high availability options exist in the event of infrastructure failure?


HOSTING MODELS1. Cloud2. On-premise3. Hybrid4. SaaS – providing the

infrastructure4 “Understanding TCO When Evaluating eCommerce Solutions,” Forrester Research

HOSTING MODELSMassive scalability and preconfigured or customizable environments that reduce hardware and management burdens

Control of the hardware, security, performance, and scale requiring internal IT support

Control critical systems and data in your on-premises environment while moving certain workloads, such as email or content delivery, to the cloud

Infrastructure is typically provided as part of the service


CLOUD

ON PREMISE

HYBRID

SAAS

POLL QUESTION: What hosting option would you consider for your re-platforming initiative? (select one) · On-Premise· Cloud· Hybrid (On-Premise & Cloud)· SaaS


KEYS TO PLATFORM SELECTION• A business case that aligns with your organization’s strategy and

business model

• Platform features that align to your business goals and deliver the best possible customer experience

• Seamless integration with your internal and external platforms

• Platform scalability and a hosting environment that best fit your business requirements

POLL QUESTION:

What is your timeframe for re-platforming or upgrading your commerce platform? (select one)- Less than 3 months- 3-6 months- 6-12 months- Greater than 12 months- No plans for upgrade or change

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