SAP overtook Salesforce, Oracle and Adobe when it cames to serving the B2B digital commerce market

SAP overtook Salesforce, Oracle and Adobe when it cames to serving the B2B digital commerce market. Source: AFP

Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce – who leads in B2B digital commerce?

  • SAP has pipped giants like Salesforce, Oracle, and Adobe when it comes to serving the B2B digital commerce market globally, in the latest IDC vendor assessment

Recent world events really threw into sharp relief the fact that if you’re a business in 2020, you must have an online storefront for selling products and services.

Many e-commerce platforms target the end-user, and having the right digital commerce platform with the right mix of functions is critical for business longevity nowadays.

According to Gartner, B2B buyers on digital commerce platforms are more likely to be comfortable purchasing products when they have more information to make their decisions, and they are three times more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret.

So, providing a comprehensive and helpful customer experience are key factors for businesses to consider in opting for the ideal commerce service that suits their needs.

In the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide B2B Digital Commerce Platforms 2020 report, enterprise software big boy SAP came out ahead of its perennial enterprise software rivals Salesforce, Oracle, and Adobe in being named a leader in the B2B digital commerce product category, thanks to its core platform, SAP Commerce Cloud.

According to the IDC report, SAP offers an expansive and deep customer experience application portfolio including customer relationship management (CRM), marketing, Configure price quote software (CPQ), and servicing.

“Customers we interviewed rated SAP above average when asked whether SAP Commerce Cloud is ‘built for the future’. One customer commented, ‘This is where SAP is really good. They were a bit late to market here but have gotten ahead,” the IDC report outlined.

While a truly all-in-one, B2B digital commerce solution is still not on the cards, SAP’s vast suite of microservices coupled with deep personalization capacities can allow its B2B customers to customize their offering– making sure to use A/B testing continuously to optimize for best results.

SAP’s services can additionally be deployed right to the cloud and is now able to support multi-tenant SaaS using the recently-launched SAP Upscale Commerce application. While SAP sees some demand for this, it is by no means fully multitenant SaaS. “While SAP still sees demand for its offering, IDC firmly believes the future of B2B digital commerce is multitenant SaaS,” stated IDC.

However, few other software vendors can match the scope of the frontend as well as back-office applications that SAP has under its belt, so it is still the market leader. In fact, SAP Commerce Cloud supports the largest number of B2B digital commerce customers, processing upwards of 20 million orders annually.

“Consider SAP if you are an enterprise looking for an all-in-one digital commerce platform that can handle complex enterprise requirements and can support both B2B and B2C business models or you use SAP for other CX [customer experience] applications,” the IDC MarketScape report summarized.

“Selecting the right cloud B2B digital commerce platform can be extremely hard; there isn’t a one-size-fits-all vendor, and the market is evolving extremely fast,” noted Jordan Jewell, IDC’s research manager for the Digital Commerce program.

For a unique and highly customized commerce experience, SAP’s platform offers deep functionality and support for both B2B and B2C business models.