Hybris E-commerce Platform: A Popular E-commerce Solution for B2B & B2C Businesses

SAP Hybris continues to lead the market for e-commerce platforms for both B2B and B2C companies. With every new version comerobust enhancements that make the suite’s core commerce capabilities even better equipped to ensure customer engagement and improve dialog between business and customer. With these kinds of innovations, consumers and clients are empowered to manage their own purchases, orders, and subscriptions with definite visibility of each stage of the fulfilment process. Below are just some of the functionalities and features you are missing out on by not getting SAP Hybris:

•    Customer 360 View – SAP’s Assisted Service Module provides relevant and real-time customer information to customer service agents. This results in highly optimized andpersonalized support to customers and their real-time needs in the form of quick customer snapshots, customer overviews, activity feeds, profiling, preferences, and recommendations.

•    Commerce Quotes – SAP Hybris also features commerce quote capabilities, allowing for richer user experiences that simulate the complex reality of various business-to-business transactions. The quotes feature is made available across all SAP Accelerators, which means it can be used by all businesses wishing to offer quotes and estimates to customers.

•    Order Management – The Hybris e-commerce platform also features order management capabilities, which provides superior benefits for both consumers and vendors. Customers are empowered to view and manage their returns, thus allowing customer service representatives to reallocate time to actions and activities that add more value to customers. This also results in businesses having better capabilities to fine-tune sourcing logic through dynamic ranking of fulfillment locations, which ultimately optimizes sourcing strategy and helps cut down delivery times and expenses.

•    Efficient Architecture –Hybris also supports containerization, which allows for simpler, more organized, and more reliable configuration as well as deployment. This results in better consistency and speed of processes across various environments.

4 Tips to Choose the Best E-commerce Platform Provider

Retailers operating in today’s fast paced, tech-driven environment have to work through all kinds of challenges in order to stay relevant and competitive, especially with the consumers’ increasingly high expectations. Nowadays, it is not enough that you always keep stock of the right products. You also need to keep customers satisfied by filling their orders faster and making the whole process more affordable for the customer. Add to this the fact that savvy shoppers use multiple devices and channels all throughout their customer journey and the magnitude of the work you need to do becomes even more evident. This is why you need to invest in the most efficient and reliable e-commerce platform provider to help you overcome the rapidly moving online retail environment and thrive despite the pressure of high expectations from modern consumers. Here are useful tips on choosing the right e-commerce platform provider for your business:

•    First things first, list down and specify your requirements and prioritize them in terms of front-end-needs and back office integrations. Assess the solutions you need and think about features like customer management and catalog requirements. Look for exceptional qualities like flexible architecture, security, high performance, mobility, and scalability.

•    Clarify your expectations and make sure that everyone is on board with them. Specify tasks for your consultant or service provider and the results you expect, as well as the actual cost of their services.

•    Know your prospect partner’s work and experience. A strong portfolio is an excellent indication of quality, but make sure that their credentials hold value and are relevant to your own line of business. Look for a provider that has worked with companies of the same size and similar business model.

•    Finally, look for compatibility. Expertise, skill level, and technology offerings are not enough to ensure partnership success. Look for a company that is the right cultural fit and can adjust well with your team. Study how they operate and how they interact with your own people.

An Overview of the Hybris Ecommerce Platform

The SAP-owned Hybris e-commerce platform is hard to ignore as a leading e-commerce system. Because it’s been built on Java Spring, Hybris is an easily accessible platform. A pioneer in digital commerce, Hybris was first founded in 1997 and later acquired by the German giant SAP, giving the platform an even stronger hand in the industry. Huge names in business use Hybris including internationally renowned and recognized brands and businesses, such as Samsung, Vodafone, Audi, and O2, making Hybris one of the most popular systems in the market. 

Hybris offers a wealth of benefits to B2B businesses in that it provides practical solutions to common problems in modern B2B e-commerce. In fact, only Hybris can deliver B2B user experiences that are at par with the most efficient B2C websites, with its strong emphasis on the practice of omnichannel commerce. This ensures that customer experience is consistent across all possible channels, from desktops to mobiles, tablets, and even in-store and collection point transaction interactions. Hybris is ideal because it does not limit businesses to only a single channel, thus broadening your profit opportunities.

Hybris is a single system that consolidates everything, from the management of various business models and multiple channels to integrating different markets. The system has been receiving great reviews and above average ratings regarding important features and functions, such as usability and integration, upgrade speed, and the management and creation of various mobile applications, which is something that has become incredibly vital in today’s modern market. 

Usability is also among the main selling points of the Hybris platform. It is unlike most other platforms out there that require additional education as the majority of developers will already have a solid background and understanding of Java, in turn requiring less training and attracting a greater talent pool from existing, as well as newly hired, developers.

3 Reasons to Choose a Cloud-Based CRM Solution

Customer Relationship Management tools are becoming more and more integral to the success of companies, regardless of the type of clients or customer base they serve. CRM solutions are now a major key to managing the sales funnel and enhancing customer relations. Customer relationship management tools are beneficial in helping company representatives and associates to track different details of a prospect’s sales process and provide a single place where relevant files and notes can be stored. Cloud-based CRM solutions are all the rage these days because of their incredible business advantages, among which are:

• Accessibility anytime and anywhere: The cloud-based nature of these CRM systems allows associates to log-in and access information from anywhere with an internet connection. This way, they can have authorized access to important client and account information, which can be extremely helpful in initiating last minute sales calls, finding contact information on the fly, and closing sales from remote locations.

• Mobility: In line with accessibility is cloud-based CRM’s mobility aspect, enabling users to download integrated mobile applications onto their own devices so information can be readily available once activated. This means having the ability to acquire required information quickly and at any time of the day, when running from one client meeting to the next.

• Scalability: Finally, cloud-based CRM enables great flexibility and scalability, allowing companies to scale up or scale down, depending on their current business situation. This means only ever having to pay for resources that you need at the time and the opportunity to expand on an as-needed basis. Increasing capacity also doesn’t have to mean waiting for a lengthy upgrade or for a new program to be written specifically for you.

Marketo Integration Improves Marketing Strategies

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade you would know that lead generation and inbound marketing are now the go-to breakthrough tactics businesses and marketing departments use to get in front of customers and take their business to the next level. In fact, more and more companies are looking at inbound marketing as a fundamental digital business strategy, as a result of their search for more creative and efficient ways to grow and progress online.

The modern era of online marketing relies greatly on lead generation and inbound marketing. Both processes work to stimulate and capture customer interest in a business, product, or service, in turn developing a definite sales pipeline. Inbound marketing makes use of various digital channels, while leveraging different types of social and online/digital techniques as well as the abundance of readily available information on the World Wide Web. All these are keys to unlocking, developing, and qualifying potential leads out of today’s self-directed-buyers—which the majority of the consumer public are.

Consumers’ typical buying process has undergone a major change since the internet. Marketers are now in need of new and creative ways to tap into buyer interest and be heard through all the noise that the information age creates. Savvy marketers now know to focus their efforts on inbound marketing strategies and building continuous and meaningful relationships with customers instead of shooting the moon with email blasts and mass advertising efforts.

Marketo is a lead-nurturing platform that allows businesses to cultivate and maintain long-term relationships with their customers by first turning them into prospects and eventually converting them into willing advocates. Lead-nurturing is a tried-and-tested tactic that effectively moves prospects through the marketing funnel and, at the same time, provides more meaningful and valuable customer engagement. Lead generation and lead nurturing are critical components of inbound marketing strategy that can effectively turn your prospects into loyal, paying customers.

How Cloud CRM Software Enables Business Automation

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is a business strategy that is sweeping the marketplace by providing companies with solutions that enable better interactions and relationships with existing and potential customers. Needless to say, CRM solutions can positively impact your overall profitability as you streamline various processes that result in more focused and needs-based service delivery not only to customers but also to service users, suppliers, and even your employees. Beyond being a powerful sales and marketing tool, CRM is now being applied and embedded in business strategies for supply chain management, human relations, and customer services.

A CRM Software system gives you the ability to manage different types and levels of business relationships that can ultimately help you progress as a business. In its most basic sense, a CRM system is a central hub where you can store and share client and prospect contact details with colleagues. It serves as an information center that also enables you to track the history of your interactions with consumers, ranging from phone calls to emails, meetings, enquiries, and presentations. This results in a better understanding of your customers, as well as clearer and greater up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. As well as tracking this important information, CRM software also enables business automation by allowing you to organize the next steps your team members or colleagues will have to take in order to provide seamless service delivery, close deals, win new prospects, or grow existing customer accounts. Some of the typical tasks that CRM systems streamline and automate include:

        ·         File and content sharing

        ·         Instant messaging between team members and employees

        ·         Sales forecasting

        ·         Analytics

        ·         Email integration

        ·         Marketing automation and

       ·         Customer service system management through an organized, cloud-based ecosystem that     keeps customer data both safe and easily accessible within the right organizational circles and business facets.

Benefits of the Hybris E-Commerce Platform

As more customers use multiple channels to engage your business, you will need an omnichannel solution that will make it easier for you to reach them. Hybris offers a reliable e-commerce platform that can help you target your customers and engage them regardless of the device they use. You can address the challenges associated with managing and running an omnichannel business using the Hybris e-commerce platform, as it provides a meaningful and consistent shopping experience to customers. The solution integrates all physical and digital customer touch points into one platform, including social media, online, point-of-sale, and mobile. Here are three important benefits of Hybris e-commerce for your business:

1. It is flexible – Hybris e-commerce can be structured to fit your business. Hence, it does not matter what industry you are in. The solution will help you create personalized, contextual, and relevant experiences for your customers to increase sales and conversion rates, while boosting brand loyalty. The platform is sturdy, safe, reliable, and customizable too. Its flexibility allows you to connect with customers—anytime and anywhere and on any device. Be sure to work with an experienced and reputable SAP Hybris Regional Gold Implementation Partner company so you can be sure that the solution can be perfectly tailored to your business. Look for a service provider that has at least a decade of experience in implementing SAP web shops and other relevant services.
   
   
2. Access everything in once place – As long as you are working with a seasoned SAP Hybris Regional Gold Implementation partner, you can be sure that they possess the skills to implement and integrate functional areas into your custom Hybris ecommerce solution. These areas include marketing, campaign management, and customer optimization and experience. In this manner, you only have to rely on a single platform for everything you will need to improve or launch your campaigns and marketing programs.
   
   
3. Boost your online sales – Hybris e-commerce can be handy if you have an online store. Use it to boost your web-based sales with a unified shopping cart for all your ecommerce channels. As a dependable and robust ecommerce suite, Hybris offers well-integrated solutions aiming to increase your online sales.