Time for e-shop in SAP

With the development of the Internet and offered security of transactions, the confidence in online shopping is increasing. Numerous studies indicate that the value of sales in the Internet continues to grow. Although most of these studies relate to the stores offering the products in an open channel for the retail customers (B2C), also the trade in the business to business model rapidly grows.

For retail consumers, the most important criteria for choosing an online store are the prices, wide offer range and standard of the service (including time of delivery). Other criteria include an easy and intuitive navigation in the application, efficiency of the service, available options and an attractive graphics and form of presentation of goods. Similar criteria are chosen by the business customers, although in this case the price and product offer is often an effect of earlier negotiations and reflect the granted discounts.

On one hand the requirements of the customers and on the other hand the business expectations of the companies trading in the network define the main guidelines, which are to be met by the applications for handling of e-shops. Also among complex solutions for business offered by SAP, supporting the traditional sales channels handled by SAP ERP and SAP CRM, the tool for supporting the trading in the network – SAP E-Commerce was a must.

SAP E-Commerce is not a new product. Initially, it was developed as an add-on to SAP ERP known as Internet Sales Application (ISA). It is also known as Internet Sales R/3 Edition and CRM Internet Sales. Currently, it is offered as a complete, fully mature solution extending the capabilities of SAP ERP system and other systems operating in the company, such as: SAP NetWeaver Portal and SAP CRM.

By integrating with SAP CRM along with E-marketing, E-service and Web Channel analytics tools, SAP E-Commerce provides a Web Channel platform that allows you to effectively use the Internet as a sales, marketing and customer support channel. Completing the already implemented SAP solutions by SAP E-Commerce provides a possibility of using the synergy effect, which is difficult to achieve, if you try to integrate with other electronic sales systems.

An important feature of SAP E-Commerce is that it can be used for handling the sales to business customers as well as the retail sales to the individual customers.

SAP e-shop in B2B

In the business model, the e-shop is a sales channel, which can be used to service all customer, as well as selected groups, for example local distributors, wholesalers, retailers and individual stores.
Online store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – the customer is not limited by office hours of the company or the sales department. Easiness of ordering and full information about the products and prices, as well as possibility of presenting new products contribute directly to the sales increase. The user may easily, at any time, place the order, compare products or get to know previously unknown goods. Additionally, the shop based on SAP E-Commerce provides information about the offer and products presented as an interactive presentation enriched by photos, video films or attachments (e.g. specifications, instructions, technical drawings etc.).

The shop offer may be adapted to the selected customers or customer groups. After registration and logging, for example the selected product catalogues and the prices list assigned to the given customer category is visible.

The possibility of ordering directly by the customer on one hand provides him full control over its execution, without any confusion arising from the lack of availability or price differences, and on the other hand relieves the sales department. After all, the customer performs a part of work, creating the order by means of an application processing the purchases. The sales process is simplified and accelerated, because the order may be transferred directly to the departments responsible for the delivery. Transferring of the product catalogues to the digital format allows for reduction of costs connected with the preparation, printing, distribution and updating of the paper price lists, folders and catalogues.

The biggest advantage of the online shops in SAP E-Commerce is an integration with other SAP systems (ERP, CRM). This allows for significant reduction of implementation project due to the usage of many elements from other SAP systems, such as: e.g. pricing, product availability control, information about products or document configuration.

SAP E-Commerce is a mature and refined solution. The security of SAP e-shop was worked out by one of the best companies in the world responsible for software audit, made up of former hackers.

Function available in SAP E-Commerce

The user making advantage of B2B shop is able to navigate through the product catalogue and to view the cards of particular items. The customer may be additionally informed about the product bestsellers and related articles (cross-selling). It is possible to quickly search for interesting products and documents already created on the basis of many criteria thanks to SAP NetWeaver and Classification (TREX). It is worth noting that thanks to the TREX SAP system integrated with the shop is not loaded with extra network traffic – TREX replicates the product catalogue and is responsible for its storing. From there, the product search is performed by any criteria and a fast access to the catalogue is possible.

The product card includes the description of the product with the photo. In addition, it is possible to embed marketing films and attachments with the specification in the card (e.g. PDF or Excel). The user is also informed about the price of the given product and its availability. Depending on the individual settings, the customers may have different prices for the same products. The mechanisms available as SAP standard for price determination (ASP Internet Pricing and Configurator, IPC) and for global availability-to-promise (SAP ATP) are used here, and therefore it is possible to re-use this component and to reduce the time of implementation. It is also possible to calculate the quantity discounts.

The shop user is able to add products to the cart directly from the product catalogue or product card. After proper configuration, it is possible to save the cart status after logging off or to create a new cart after each logging. In B2B shop, it is possible to assign the delivery address to the purchase order header, as well as separately to each item of different address. It is also possible to individually add and modify the receipt address by the customer from the level of the shop.

When all the products are added to the cart, it is possible to go to the creation of the offers or requests for quotation. It is possible to automatically send the confirmation to the customer along with the attached purchase order by means of an e-mail. The document immediately occurs in SAP system and is ready for further processing (packing, dispatch, invoice).

When on the basis of the generated purchase order, the dispatch documents are created, the customer is able from the level of the shop to control the status of the purchase order, along with the current position of the dispatch on the map (the functionality available depending on the shipping company).

Additionally, the user has access to the history of own transactions and in case of repetitive, cyclical purchases the user may create and use the purchase order templates.
Throughout the entire process of the purchase, the user has access to the full technical assistance by means of user guide, frequently asked questions (FAQ), chat with operator, sending e-mails by means of the form and phone call with the agent.

Openness to graphical adaptation

The standard interface in the e-shop in SAP E-Commerce will appeal to users who are already familiar with SAP products – not only because of the familiar and intuitive processing thanks to the connection of the shop functional elements with functions offered by SAP ERP. The appearance of the shop application may be freely modified and adapted for example to the generally prevailing trends or corporate colours. The official website of the company and the shop may have a consistent layout, which is compatible with the image strategy of the company.

To customize the interface for all its elements, ranging from changing the colours and fonts used, through modification of the layout, adding and removing elements until the change of the entire screens and certain parts of the business logic.

An interesting solution is also connection of the shop interface with SAP NetWeaver Portal. It is particularly advantageous in case of already running portal, including the description of the products, operation manual or performing the customer service support. Although the integration of both products on one screen is invisible for the end user, he has all functionalities of the shop enriched by the capabilities of the portal gathered in one place.

For retail customers

The requirements of the retail customers are very different from the requirements of the business customers, however SAP E-Commerce may also be used for organizing of a store for retail customers. In this model, as oppose to B2B solution, which is available only for registered users, the potential customer can browse the product catalogues and add them to the cart without logging and having an account in the shop. Only during the finalization of the transaction (creation of a purchase order), the user is asked to sign in or create a new account.
The B2C store interface is ready for use by the users with no previous experience with SAP products- its use is highly intuitive. B2C solution allows you to better tailor the market offer to the particular customers. It is possible for example to adjust the prices in many dimensions – at the level of the customer or hierarchy of the customers and at the level of logging moment – the customer before logging can see a different price than the logged client, it is possible to charge quantity discounts when you add products to your cart.

Checked by the largest

The maturity of the solution and the possibility of a full integration with other SAP products cause that the largest corporations benefits from using SAP E-Commerce as an important sales channel. The examples of such companies are: Sony, Pioneer, Heineken, Beck’s, Sagem, Siemens, T-Mobile or Medion. The stores based on SAP E-Commerce ensure the maximal sales support at each stage.