SAP Commerce Cloud Explained: A Video Guide for Bu...

cuikenjian · ‎2024 Jul 24

Abstract

Whether you're a stakeholder, manager, consultant, or business user of SAP Commerce Cloud, you will need clear, concise, and insightful information. To help you navigate the extensive functionalities of SAP Commerce Cloud, the Commerce education/training team curated a series of videos that cover every module you might need. All these videos can be found on the video page of learning.sap.com. This blog post serves as your ultimate guide and index to these invaluable resources. Get ready to transform your e-commerce capabilities and drive business success!

Please note:

If you are looking for a live session that overviews SAP Commerce Cloud? Discovering SAP Commerce Cloud: A 101 Guide to Core Features is ideal for beginners and anyone needing a refresher on the essential modules and functionalities.
This blog post can also serve as a foundational self-study resource to enhance your preparation for the SAP Commerce Cloud Business User Certification exam. It covers most of the pertinent topics and provides a first-level introduction to them. However, for a more comprehensive learning experience, I strongly recommend enrolling in the SAP Commerce Cloud Business User C4H320 training. This program offers direct instruction from SAP-authorized instructors who will guide and support you throughout your learning journey.

(Please be aware that some videos referenced in this guide may display user interfaces (UIs) or storefronts with minor differences compared to the latest version of SAP Commerce Cloud. Due to the rapid pace of monthly updates, it can be challenging to ensure all videos reflect the most current version. However, the features and functionalities should remain consistent, and you can safely disregard the UI or storefront differences.)

Overview

First, please watch the video titled:

Introduction to SAP Commerce Cloud

to get a brief overview of the basics of SAP’s powerful e-commerce solution.

As explained in the video, SAP Commerce Cloud is composed of a number of key modules. The most essential ones are illustrated in the following diagram:

Screenshot 2024-07-23 at 12.29.59.png

(From Bottom to Top)

Platform - The Platform module serves as the foundational layer providing core functionalities such as user management, security, scalability, and cloud deployment. It is designed to support customizable and scalable e-commerce solutions.
Product Content Management (PCM) - PCM is a critical module for managing product information across all sales channels. It allows businesses to centralize product data, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and enrichment of product details.
Commerce (Promotions & Coupons, Search, etc.) - This module focuses on key commerce functionalities such as Promotions & Coupons, Search & Navigation, Adaptive Search, etc.
Customer Experience Management (aka. Web Content Management) - this module helps manage and deliver digital content to various customer touchpoints. It includes tools for content creation, personalization, and management, all aimed at enhancing user experiences.
Order Management - This module handles the full lifecycle of customer orders. This includes order capture, processing, fulfillment, and returns management.
Customer Support - This module empowers customer service teams with tools to manage customer inquiries, complaints, and service requests effectively.
B2B - Specifically designed for Business-to-Business commerce scenarios, the B2B module extends the functionalities of all the other modules and includes B2B driven features such as account management, self-service organizational structures, replenishment ordering, customized pricing, and approval workflows.
UIs (Storefronts, Backoffice, SmartEdit) - refers to all the user interfaces employed for interacting with various types of data of all the underlying modules.

For a quick overview of the Platform module, feel free to watch the Platform & Extensibility video.

Following that, we will delve into each of the other modules, introducing: 1. Backoffice UIs, the primary tools of business users; 2. PCM for product data management; 3. Customer Experience Management to present the e-commerce shop with product data; 4. Commerce for promotions, coupons and search to enhance the e-commerce shop; 5. Order Management & Customer Support for order fulfillment and the related customer support features; 6. B2B for a quick overview of B2B features.

1. Backoffice UIs

Among the various graphical user interfaces available out-of-the-box in SAP Commerce Cloud, Backoffice is undoubtedly the most frequently used by business users.

Backoffice offers several standard perspectives (aka. cockpits) tailored to different user roles and feature sets. To get an overview of these perspectives, you can watch the video:

Backoffice Perspectives

One notable perspective is the Backoffice Administration cockpit. This perspective is versatile and can be used to manage various types of data. Let's take a closer look at how to manage system data within the Backoffice Administration Cockpit:

Managing System Data in Backoffice Administration Cockpit

In addition, Backoffice includes many useful general features as well, such as:

Deep Linking in Backoffice

For the other use of Backoffice (e.g., Product Cockpit, Adaptive Search Cockpit, etc.), please refer to the corresponding Backoffice perspectives in the modules listed below.

2. Product Content Management (PCM)

For business users, a typical first task within the context of Product Content Management (PCM) in SAP Commerce Cloud is to become familiar with the Backoffice Product Cockpit. To get started quickly, you can watch an introductory video:

Backoffice Product Cockpit

Now, let's delve into the specific steps required to perform essential PCM tasks in Backoffice using the Product Cockpit:

Additionally, media management is a crucial aspect of Product Content Management. To learn how to add media to products within the Product Cockpit, watch the following instructional videos:

After watching the videos, you should now have a solid understanding of how to manage basic product data in SAP Commerce Cloud. In addition to these fundamentals, SAP Commerce Cloud offers several standard product modeling approaches to extend the basic product model. For an overview, please watch this video:

Product Modeling (Overview)

For a more in-depth look into specific product modeling approaches, consider exploring the following resources:

Lastly, it's important to note that for product content management in the Backoffice, the workflow management support in the collaboration center is an invaluable tool. For more information, please watch the corresponding video:

Working with Workflows

Please note that workflows can also be used to collaboratively manage data from other modules. You will see examples of this later.

3. Customer Experience Management (aka. Web Content Management)

After preparing the product data, we'll need to present it on an e-commerce shop. This is achieved using a Web Content Management System (WCMS) in the Customer Experience Management module. Check out this video for an overview of WCMS and to understand how backend data integrates with the frontend:

An overview of Web Content Management System

The standard frontend solution in SAP Commerce Cloud is known as Composable Storefront. Watch this video for a quick introduction:

Introducing SAP Commerce Cloud Composable Storefront

For easy and intuitive management of frontends and related web content, SmartEdit is provided. Start with this video, Experience and Web Content Management in SmartEdit for a quick introduction to SmartEdit. Afterward, you can delve into the following videos for more detailed information on working with SmartEdit:

In addition, Personalization is a crucial aspect of customer experience management. To see how to add personalization to an existing page, you can watch the video "Add a Personalization to a Page." This feature is available in SmartEdit's personalization mode. For a brief introduction to this mode, view "Personalizing Your Commerce Storefront in SmartEdit".

Finally, as mentioned earlier, workflows can be used for collaboration work within SAP Commerce Cloud. To understand how to effectively use workflows in SmartEdit, you can watch the video Working with Workflows in SmartEdit.

4. Commerce (Module)

Now that our e-commerce shop is set up with product data, it's time to enhance it using the Commerce module.

1. Among the many features provided in this module, promotions are definitely the first ones to explore. For a quick overview, check out this video: Working with Promotion Engine in Backoffice (Overview).

Once you've watched the video, you can delve deeper into the specifics of working with promotions in Backoffice through the following topics:

You can also personalize promotions through Commerce Customization. For a quick demonstration, check out the Create a Commerce Customization video.

2. The next significant topic is the creation and management of coupons. You can watch the following videos to learn how to create coupons and apply them with promotions:

Additionally, there are special kinds of coupons designed for specific business requirements. For a quick introduction to an advanced coupon example, you can watch the Customer Coupons video.

3. To further enhance user experience, optimizing search functionalities is crucial. While the Search & Navigation module can be configured to enhance search capabilities, it requires a more technical approach. On the other hand, Adaptive Search can be utilized by business users to manage, optimize, and create more meaningful search experiences. For a quick summary, refer to the Overview of Adaptive Search Perspective.

For detailed guidance on actions you can perform within the adaptive search cockpit in Backoffice, please watch the following tutorials:

Lastly, understanding the basics of Merging Search Profiles is essential. This knowledge will help you unify and refine search configurations for an optimal user experience.

5. Order Management & Customer Support

After a customer visits an e-commerce shop, searches for their favorite products, and adds them to the shopping cart alongside any applicable promotions or coupons, they place an order to initiate the order fulfillment process. To understand the entire lifecycle from order capture to fulfillment, please watch the "Fulfilling Orders" video.

In addition, customer support is crucial to ensuring customer satisfaction before, during, and even after the shopping process. Please watch this video:

Improving your Customer Service with Backoffice Customer Support (Overview)

for an overview of the customer support features.

As you see, customer support is provided through two graphical user interfaces: the Customer Support Cockpit in Backoffice and the Assisted Service Mode (ASM).

You can perform a variety of customer support activities in the Customer Support Cockpit in Backoffice, such as: Creating a New Customer Account in the Backoffice Customer Support Cockpit. However, ASM offers a more modern and intuitive approach, making it particularly appealing for business users. Please watch the video:

Improving the User Experience with the ASM (Overview)

to get an overview of ASM, and review the following videos to learn some essential actions you can perform with ASM:

6. B2B

The Business-to-Business (B2B) commerce module of SAP Commerce Cloud is specifically designed to support and enhance the complexities and intricacies involved in B2B commerce transactions. These could include bulk orders, complex pricing models, order approval processes, or highly specific delivery requirements unique to B2B interactions. Our team is currently developing a B2B-focused learning journey for SAP Commerce Cloud, and we expect to finish it by Q2 2025. I'll share the link once it's available.

Meanwhile, you may find it useful to watch the following videos:

These provide basic demo examples of standard B2B support.

Last but not least

I hope this structured guide, complete with references to our carefully curated video content, provides you with a concise overview of the immense potential of SAP Commerce Cloud.

Please leave your comments or questions here.

Happy learning!