B

B2B e-commerce
PLAYBOOK AND 2
B
reSource guide
Best practices and resources for
companies researching, justifying,
developing, launching, and maintaining
successful B2B e-commerce operations
contentS
section 1 section 2

05 11 29 47 49 63
commerce Platform stage 1: research and stage 3: selecting a commerce Platform Vendor comparison saP hybris case studies /
implementation Best Justication Platform Partner decision resources tool reference customers
Practices

33 65
Online Selling Can Improve

48 57
Gross Revenues 15

06
Research Is Now Digital 17
Self-Service Is Win-Win 19
Loyalty Is Easier to Build 22 stage 4: Build out and launch about saP hybris
guidance from saP hybris B2B accelerator
B2B e-commerce Design, Wireframe, and Coding 34 forrester

23
roadmap

39 59
09
Before starting
stage 2: gathering
requirements
Who Should You Include in
stage 5: ongoing
maintenance, support and
saP hybris white Papers
and solutions Briefs
the Requirements Gathering operations / Phase 2
Process? 23
Decision Point: Internal or External
What Requirements Should Support? 45
be Examined? 24
Comparing Phase 1 to Phase 2 46
Benefits of Agile Methodology:
Test Early and Often 25
section one B2B e-commerce
Commerce roadmaP
Platform
The needs of B2B buyers are changing rapidly. As consumers, they expect a highly
Implementation personalized and responsive shopping experience when they engage with retailers,
banks, and other digitally advanced companies on the Web, via mobile browsers,
Best Practices or ofine, in physical stores.

When doing business with you in their pro-
fessional lives, they also expect and demand
similar, convenient, efficient shopping and
purchasing experiences. SAP Hybris delivers
comprehensive B2B commerce solutions that
assure your business customers SAP Hybris
shopping experiences are as advanced as the
Webs best consumer sites highly produc-
tive, state-of-the-art business customer
experiences that maximize your conversion
rates and gross revenues.
As your company progresses down the path
of research, justification, platform selection,
implementation, and ongoing maintenance of
your B2B commerce infrastructure, there will
be a number of critical steps along the way.

6
 B2B E-Commerce 3. Vendor selection
5. Ongoing Support
Vendor research / scorecard Phase 2

Roadmap Choose a support model

In-house or outsourced
support

Phasing out remaining

requirements

1. Research and
Justification
FEEDBACK LOOP
Business Case/ROI basics

Increase in sales, operational

efficiencies, and loyalty

2. Requirements
gathering/RFP
Dont automate a bad process
4. Build and Launch
Involve stakeholders and
customers Project scope for initial launch

Data and integrations Continued involvement of

stakeholders

Timeline and tradeoffs

 Before Starting Below is a short list of suggested questions for your organization to
answer before embarking on a new commerce project.

The complexity involved with implementing a commerce platform should never be underestimated! What is your long-term vision for What will define the success of What is your change management
commerce? your commerce initiative? strategy?
A surprising number of commerce implementations begin without a clear view of the organizations vision for a
successful outcome, who is going to be involved, and when. These organizations may lose weeks or months resetting
expectations, redefining their projects, and resolving the frustrations of their stakeholders. Sometimes they run out of
time and resources, and ultimately wind up going live with fewer commerce functions than they had hoped.

This can be easily avoided if the planning is completed properly before the implementation is scheduled to begin.
Start your project with the best possible foundation of vision and resources, and make sure that the three following
key components are in place.
Who are your key stakeholders in What are your current commerce Does your organization have the
the commerce platform? pain points? required skills to implement?

Overall Commerce Cross-Functional Team Partnering Strategy

Strategy
Identify what the organization
needs to achieve, then define spe-
cific expectations around how the
SAP Hybris implementation will
impact and benefit these strategic
objectives.
Identify responsibilities for techni-
cal and business stakeholders
during the implementation, and
consider changes to roles, skills,
responsibilities, and organizational
structure that will be necessary
after implementation.
Even the best partners and the
greatest companies can be mis-
matched. Define what is important
to your organization and be ready
to share it with your existing or po-
What are your short-term project Do you have any target metrics Have all of your requirements been
tential partners. By ensuring these
goals and objectives? or KPIs? adequately documented?
criteria have been defined and
understood by everyone involved,
you can frequently prevent many of
the common problems associated
with launching a new or enhanced
commerce platform.

9 10
 how have youR b2b online
work related purchases
changed from 2014 t0 2015?

65%
Stage 1:
have increased
total spend on
work purchases

Research / Justification
This stage often includes a business case
and ROI analysis to determine the core
reasons why you are investing in a B2B
63%
have Made More
ROI is commonly broken down into two compo-
PURCHASES ONLINE
nents: revenue upside and cost reduction (ope-
rational efficiencies). At SAP Hybris, we believe
that both parts of the equation are equally

53%
e-commerce platform. This consists of
presenting the evidence to management important, although your specific business
dynamics will determine which has the larger
that the upside for building an online B2B
effect on your business outcomes. have INCREASED
business adequately justifies the expense.
THEIR AVERAGE
The third component is customer satisfaction
PURCHASE SIZE
and retention. While this may not show up on a Fact:
P&L each quarter, the positive effects will be
B2B Buyers are buying
seen by the company.
more online

*Forrester Research B2B

eCommerce Forecast 2015 to 2020
11
insight from the front lines:
the JuStification
ProceSS
Your initial market research will quickly
determine that building out an e-commerce
platform is essential to keep up with your
competitors and satisfy the demands of your
customers. Top management will invest a lot of
time rationalizing the expenditures, conside-
ring all the options, and creating a cost analy-
sis and projected ROI. Your CEO will want this,
and your CFO will insist on it. Every company
goes through this stage, and four to six months
will fly by very quickly. Be patient and let this
process run its course its a necessary part
of corporate life. The Catch-22 is that justifi-
cations and ROI projections at the beginning of
the project can seem like lost time.
That said, the ROI exercise highlights whe-
re your particular business might benefit
most from e-commerce.
However, whatever ROI you do up front is
strictly a theoretical model. You will be able
to calculate ROI on the back-end much more
easily, and with much greater accuracy. You
wont have the real numbers until you get to
Stage 4 of the project, and your first B2B site
is up and running. Thats when youll prove its
worth and, based on real world analytics, you
can fine tune your marketing strategies, scope
out new features and functionality, and move
on to Phase 2, where you will add the additional
elements you didnt have time for in Phase 1.
One of your first challenges will be customer
adoption persuading them to use the new
site. Thats when you will have real numbers to
measure ROI and justify future enhancements.
14
 2020

12.1%

online Selling can loWer 2014

forecast:
us B2B ecommerce
sales 2015 2020
coStS and oPen neW marketS $1132
8.5%
7.4%
BILLION

$690
6.2%
Before a company selects and implements Two major categories feed into this business
a new commerce platform, business sta- case and budgeting process: BILLION
2015
keholders and the technology implementa-
12.7%
tion team should establish a consensus on
hard cost saVings
all strategic objectives. 9.3%
such as reduced order processing costs, lo- $780
During this process, its a good idea to develop
a business case for a modern commerce plat-
wer cost of goods and supplies, and increased
efficiencies in sales and marketing expenses.
2019 11.6% $1066 6.7%
BILLION
BILLION
form that highlights the investment that will
be required compared to the cost savings and
revenue improvements. Then input the expec- reVenue gains
ted benefits into your annual budget process to that can be expected from increased agili-
ensure a full business commitment to the new ty, real-time updates (products, pricing) for
commerce model enabled by the platform. customers, and improvements in the customer
ordering experience, including self-service. $999 $855
BILLION BILLION
9.6%
7.7% 9.9%
$928
BILLION 2016

11%
2018 8.5% YOY GROWTH
SHARE OF B2B SALES
10.5%
15
2017
 B2B Buyers research the lions share
reSearch iS noW digital of their Business Purchases online
of those work-related Purchases made
2014: 21%

75% OR MORE

Three-quarters of B2B buyers do online
research for at least half of their work-
related purchases, according to Forrester
studies, and 30% complete at least half of
their work purchases online.
That last number is expected to double over
the near term, and B2B sellers should plan for
a significant volume of their business currently
transacted through traditional offline means to
move online.
22%
offline, what Percentage are tyPically
item they need along with a host of information researched online as Part of the Process
about that product, how likely are they to leave in 2014 and 2015?
that site and navigate over to your site to make
a purchase? 2014: 12%
If the competitor offers a frictionless purchase 1%-10%
opportunity, comparable prices, and a better
customer experience, you may never hear from
that customer again, no matter how loyal they
7%
have been in the past.
50%-74%

24%
When one of your customers runs a search,
lands on a competitors website and finds an

11%-24%

18% 2014: 21%

2014: 19%
BUY

2014: 24%

Base: 696 (930 in 2014) business decision-makers with more than 25%-49%

29%
1,000 employees (500+ in Europe) in North America and Europe
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting
on behalf of SAP Hybris and Accenture Interactive, September
17 2015 and August 2014
 Self-SerVice iS Win-Win By migrating customers to a commerce
Portal to Purchase their Products, our
customer suPPort costs haVe

B2B commerce can help companies information for customers and

reduce costs, and can take various forms, internal constituents:
depending on the nature of the business. Reduced customer service time spent on pro-
Self-service capabilities are satisfying viding product content, prices, configurations,
for many customers in fact, many de- and availability to both customers.
mand it while rewarding sellers with STAYED THE SAME
reduced costs and by using automation.
When a company automates and optimizes
self-service capabilities, they enjoy signifi-
ordering:
Reduced time and efficiency in ordering. 30%
cant savings on the back-end through both INCREASED
reduced errors:
9%
convenience and efficiency.
Order accuracy is often greater for online or-
ders than those entered manually by traditional
means.
DONT KNOW
customer serVice/rePorting:
An online B2B site gives customers a self-ser-
9%
vice portal to request quotes, ask questions,
enable maintenance, and access reports.

DECREASED

52%
Base: 45 B2B e-commerce Professionals
Source: The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q4 2013,
19 The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q4 2013, Forrester Research, Inc., October 7, 2013 Forrester Research, Inc., October 7, 2013
how much do you agree or disagree with the following statement*:

loYaltY iS eaSier to Build

We can build loyalty with customers more effectively in an online-only environment than we can with
those same B2B customers in an ofine-only environment.

More satisfied customers stay with you longer increasing orders, referrals, and lifetime value.
>25% of B2B SAP Hybris customers commonly report that online B2B customers are of higher value than offline
sales online
customers. A recent Forrester study found that B2B businesses find it easier to build loyalty with
SELLING ONLINE 5
YEARS OR MORE
65%
AGREE
online customers.

B2B companies find it easier to build loyalty with online-only customers than with
51%
AGREE
ofine-only customers.
total

44%
AGREE data PointS
Among the best justifications (aside from Business Buyers exPect a
dollars and cents) are the facts that: moBile / B2c exPerience:

a) Your customers are online, and they For example Amazon Supply is now investing
total
expect you to be online with a Mobile aggressively in the B2B world, and is becoming

28%
DISAGREE
SELLING ONLINE 5
YEARS OR MORE
b)
and B2C-like experience

Your competitors are online and, if you

a strong force in B2B markets.

24%
DISAGREE
>25% of B2B
sales online
arent, it can become a potentially fatal
disadvantage

10%
DISAGREE *Base: 353 online B2B companies around the world (147 B2B companies with greater than 25% sales online,
156 B2B companies that have been selling online for five years or more)
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SAP Hybris, September 2013 22
 Stage 2:
Gathering Requirements
Analysts at Virtusa Corporation estimate
that as many as 60% to 70% of all IT pro-
jects fail to fulfill planned requirements
while adhering to the mandated schedule
and budget. One of the key reasons for
project failure is a sub-standard require-
ment analysis i.e., not knowing what
youre delivering.
Who Should You Include in the Re-
quirements Gathering Process?
Be sure to involve all necessary stakeholders.
If you need approval from someone before
your commerce site can go live, its a good
idea to have them participate in defining the
requirements.
23
Customers are a critical component. It cannot
be overstated that customers need to be at
the center of every requirements gathering
exercise.
Youll also need an inclusive group of subject
matter experts, or SMEs. Make sure that mem-
bers of this cross-functional team represent
the way who want to show you how to imple-
finance, HR, operations, customer service,
inside sales, field sales, etc.
Next to strategy, your internal team struc-
ture is the next most important factor when
undertaking a new commerce initiative. Its a
common mistake to begin a new implementati-
on before adequately evaluating new roles and
organizational changes needed for launch and
ongoing maintenance. This can be avoided by
predicting future business and technical skill
requirements before you start your implemen-
tation, and reorganizing your business and
technical teams accordingly.
What Requirements Should be written with the assumption that you will not be
Examined? there to inform the person reading them they
should stand on their own and be clear to an
Forget about implementation details and
outsider or newcomer.
technical issues. When gathering require-
ments, do just that collect ONLY the initial INSIGHT FROM THE FRONT LINES:
requirements. There will be many people along
DONT AUTOMATE A BAD PROCESS.
ment the solution. But refrain from taking their
advice, at least at the beginning. There will be
adequate time for that later.
Anticipate the end results, or skate to where One of the biggest mistakes we
the puck will be. That popular sports quote
made up front was not spending time figu-
applies here. Dont worry about documenting ring out how a B2B commerce site would
the current way things and processes work,
change how we currently do business
but be adamant about how they should work.
and then building the functionality to meet
What is the desired outcome and how will the
customer be best served in a perfect world?
the future needs of customers.
Be clear and concise. Requirements should be
24

Benefits of agile methodology:
teSt earlY and often
When possible, leave room for building a
minimal viable product (MVP) to put in front of
customers early. What you think will be the kil-
ler app on your commerce site may be a yawn
for customers (and vice versa). While it is not
right for every project, agile methodology re-
serves time in the development cycle, allowing
for greater flexibility in both your timeline and
your final product.
25
as a corporate
manager
I need approval from my supervisor
before placing an order.
As a starting point, it is best to establish I need the ability to roam
a core set of use cases to be leveraged by warehouse and enter orders.
the team for discussion and collaboration.
Later, you can pivot and identify additional
needs that should be considered, but you
want to be careful not to get bogged down I need videos and technical specs
with too many use cases at the beginning. of the products I am purchasing.
I need to be able to place
bulk orders.
TEN
MOST COMMON FIVE TRYING TO BE
e-commerce platform Not having a budget before
TOO IMPARTIAL
issuing an RFP

RFP
Taking the short view
six ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

eight
not inVolVing
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

one
all of the
leaVing the rfP ProceSS to the
NOT ASKING Procurement dePartment

QUESTIONS THREE
stakeholders
THAT CAN BE EASILY Inviting too many vendors Wording queStionS in a WaY that enaBleS the
comPared to bid Vendor to SPin or oBfuScate the truth

ignoring the PeoPle asPects TEN

four //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Not doing sucient due diligence

 Stage 3:
Selecting a Platform PARTNER
In the previous stages, you crea-
ted the cross-functional team and
orchestrated many of the prepara-
tory elements of your e-commerce
initiative, such as presentations to
management and RFP requirement
gathering.
In this next, critical stage of vendor
analysis, qualification, and selecti-
on, the cross-functional team will
assume the crucial role of choosing
and bringing on board one or more
organizations that will become your
development partner, platform sup-
plier, and integration team.
29
If youve completed Stages 1 and
2 correctly, and if youve crea-
ted the right team to manage
Stage 3, you will make the right
decision that will work for the
company.
Your internal team may include
people from IT, finance, marketing,
operations, and logistics these
are the people who will assure that
your total solution works and this
solution is much more than just the
commerce platform. It will include
integrations with financial systems,
marketing systems, change ma-
nagement, operations, warehouse
management, supply chain ma-
nagement, inventory, fulfillment,
hiring decisions, and personnel
assignments. The entire project
team, or at least a core group, will
remain involved in vetting and choo-
sing all of the components along
the way. The commerce platform
itself is just one piece of a larger
organizational structure.The indi-
vidual or sub-team responsible for
the commerce system wont have
expertise in everything. The supply
chain team will make critical decisi-
ons, and the finance group will be
best equipped to make budget and
capital decisions. Your IT team will
determine how to manage all of the
integrations. By bringing the right
people to the table to make sure all
stakeholders have given their input,
everyone will feel that their needs
were considered and that their
voices were heard along the way.
For the person or team in char-
ge of e-commerce within your
company, developing an RFP will
require between three and six
months.
The next step will be to choose
seven to ten vendors and solicit
their responses. Even though you
may have worked many months to
develop your RFP, youll probably
want your vendors to respond wi-
thin a few weeks or a month. Then
review their responses and reduce
the number of candidates to three
or four, to participate in deeper
reviews, demonstrations, and pilot
projects. You might make your
selections based on pricing, time
frames, feature sets, references,
and track record.
At the very end, youll want to find working within the constraints. No
the best fit for your company, and matter which platform you choose,
determine whether the vendor with youre going to have some cons-
the right price and set of features traints.
matches your companys size and
culture. You must be able to fully trust
No matter how you manage the your platform vendor, system
vendor selection process, there integrator, and your internal IT
will always be unexpected challen-
team. Always believe that youve
ges, and it can be difficult to make
made the right decision.
decisions. You might find that you
want to second-guess yourself, and
Ultimately, Stage 3 is about making
this is natural, because you really
sure that Stage 4 is fully enabled
want to maximize your money, and
and has everything needed to be
maximize what youre doing for your
implemented successfully.
company. After you make the final
vendor selection, youll have to cre-
ate a plan for how youre going to
get everything done in the time and
money allotted, and move forward,
30
 PARTNER
Scoring Tips
& Y
ARCHITECTURE
TECHNOLOG
Robust, modular, and open archi-
tecture will satisfy your omni-
channel selling and fulfillment
requirements and provide the
foundation for your commerce
experience. Tip: Select a solution
that is built to scale your high traffic
and high transaction requirements
without breaking your budget.
31
B2B buyers expect the same
omni-channel experiences they
receive as consumers. Build a site
that delivers B2B user experiences
on par with the best B2C websites.
While your buyers enjoy rich functi-
onality and personalization, you will
maximize loyalty and revenue.
Product
CONTENT
management
PCM
The collection, cleansing and main-
tenance of your data is the founda-
tion of a successful B2B commerce
website, so it follows that your PCM
must be powerful and easy to use.
Tip: Skimp in other places and get
the best PCM available to you.
order
ORCHESTRATION
Streamline your order processes
across all channels with an order
management system (OMS), enab-
ling orders to be routed to the most
efficient shipping location. Tip: This
capability will be crucial as you
grow your fulfillment and drop ship
network.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
The standards for customer
engagement are now much higher.
Tip: Customers are looking for high
quality, relevant content within
tailored, contextual experiences
based on their available historical
customer data and current buying
journey data.
proven
track
record
If you are planning on being in the
B2B commerce business for the
long haul, then you better make
sure your partner is as well not
only looking at how long they have
been in business is important, but
also if their revenues are growing
and they are making money, or
bringing in investment dollars
32
 This process often
includes the following steps:

Stage 4:
Build Out and Launch Personalization: How
the website changes
Site Map: Overall page based on profile attri-
The key to this stage is the skill level and Design, Wireframe, and Coding butes of the user
structure of the website
experience of the internal IT organizati-
Website design includes creating the wirefra-
on, design firm, and/or system integra-
me, data elements, and user experience desi- Navigation: The flow
tion partner. Its common at this point to
red from the commerce platform, balanced of the website and how
complete a scoping exercise to determine against your companys culture, brand and logo
Wireframes: Structure
customers access your
the features and functionality that can go standards, and other internal requirements.
and templates of all
products
live in Phase 1. While the RFP contains all pages
One of the more critical steps in the definition
the features that are ultimately wanted, a of a website is for marketing and business
subset may need to be prioritized and im- users to collaborate on the visual design of the Visual elements,
plemented first, to meet time and budget site and its branding. Optionally, a UI/design including colors, fonts,
constraints. agency can assist with this part of the project. logos, images, etc.
(and CSS)

It is critically important for the developers to have a solid understanding of the websites inputs and outputs in order
for them to fulfill all specifications.
FEASIBILITY FOUNDATION EXPLORATION ENGINEERING DEPLOYMENT SUPPORT &
OPERATIONS

33
 creating a completed
user interface
Generally consists of the following steps:
1 2
Website wireframe HTML Prototype
The website wireframe, page schematic, or
screen blueprint is a visual guide that repre-
sents the skeletal framework of a website.
Wireframes are created for the purpose of
arranging elements to best accomplish a parti-
cular purpose. The wireframe depicts the page
layout or arrangement of the websites content,
including interface elements and navigational
systems, and how they work together. The wire-
frame usually lacks typographic style, color, or
graphics, since the main focus lies in functiona-
lity, behavior, and priority of content. It focuses
on what a Web page does, not what it looks like.
Wireframes can be pencil drawings or sketches
on a whiteboard, or they can be produced by
means of a broad array of free or commercial
software applications.
35
3 4
Visual elements JavaServer Pages
Development
Wireframes are generally created by business
analysts, user experience designers, develo-
pers, visual designers, and other roles with
expertise in interaction design, information
architecture and user research.
Wireframes focus on:
...the rules for displaying certain kinds
of information
...the relative priorities of the information
and functions
...the effect of different scenarios on
the display
...the kinds of information displayed
...the range of functions available
WEBSITE wireframe
The wireframe also connects the underlying
conceptual structure, or information archi-
tecture, to the visual design of the website.
Wireframes establish functionality, and the
relationships between different screen
templates. Creating wireframes is an iterative
process, and an effective way to make rapid
prototypes of pages, while measuring the
practicality of a design concept.
HTML prototype
The HTML Prototype takes this as input and
creates a clickable UI that can be displayed/
demoed to the business users and provide a
close representation of what the website will
look like. Since the website has not been built
yet (just the front end UI), customer, product,
and other integration data is not yet available,
but the HTML prototype does give the business
a good representation of what the website
will look like and how the functionality will be
displayed.
Following the guidelines above can help minimize changes later in the project, and help
keep the project on time and within budget.
Visual elements
Visual design takes the complete wireframes
to the next step by adding elements of color,
font, style, and icons to provide the visual ela-
boration of what the website will look like. This
typically includes the use of Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS) which are essentially a repository
of standards (fonts, colors, etc.) that are used
across the website.
JSP DEvelopment
Web developers commonly use HTML to build
a website. Once this is complete, it is no longer
a simple task to make changes to the look and
feel of the page originally provided in the HTML
file. That is because these elements are now
intertwined with the logic necessary to render
the pages dynamically. This is important to
understand, because making changes at this
point can extend the duration and cost of the
project.
36
 98% correct
can result Quick and dirty
fixes are essential

in 100% failure...
to drive velocity

insight from the front lines:

a commerce Site iS a
giant magnifYing glaSS
focuSed on Your data Errors tend to hide
other errors

Before you write even one line of code, you
have to make sure your data is 100% correct.
You must know how your integrations are going
to work, because if you magnify a few small
problems in a data set across a million pro-
ducts or SKUs, you may find yourself in trouble.
Simple errors can block
If your integrations arent 100% correct, youll
multi-day test scenarios for a
be setting yourself up to fail.
project, or disrupt a business
process within operations

37
 the suPPort team will need
to manage a wide range of

stage 5:
requirements:

ongoing maintenance, Changes in fulfillment

or 3PL partners
Application and server
monitoring

SuPPort & oPerationS /

PhaSe 2
Mobile application Feature/functionality
development enhancements

International expansion:
This stage follows the deployment of the multi-currency, Ongoing bug fixes
multi-lingual
application and the handover from the
project team to the support and operations
teams.
Data and partner
Payment processing
integrations
While your hosting company may provide first
level support if a server goes down, its wise to
assemble a team dedicated to ongoing support
and development of the site (including Phase 2 Integrating new touch
points/omni-channel Web analytics integration
and beyond requirements).
management

Page speed and load Search Engine Optimization

time optimization (SEO)

39 40
 the main oBJectiVes of the the actiVities that take Place
suPPort & oPerations Phase are: during Phase 2 include:

Ensuring the availability
of the application as agreed
upon in the Service Level
Agreements (SLAs) between
the end customer and
application support team /
operations and hosting team
Reporting on encountered
malfunctions and their
resolutions
Patching and maintaining Monitoring user satisfaction,
the system traffic, data volumes, and
system performance to assure
fast, proactive resolution of
unexpected issues
Maintaining system
configuration and
Establishing proper levels of
maintenance documents
user and system support to
resolve any issues related to
the commerce platform
Maintain communication Maintaining all parts of the
with hosting team platform, including applying
patches, verifying optimal
configurations, and making
sure that the system can handle
steep traffic increases following
planned campaigns
Making continuous impro-
vements, new features, and new
releases. Assuring that there is
a clear process for implemen-
ting change requests, installing
new releases, and resizing
the solution to accommodate
predictable traffic spikes
Updating system documentati-
on functionality, configuration,
use cases, and environmental
factors change.
Communicating all new
policies and job descriptions
as they evolve.

41 42
INSIGHT FROM THE FRONT LINES:
Decision Point: Internal or
External Support?
HOW TO SUPPORT
One of the steps often missed in
There are a number of considerations Cost/Expertise:
planning an e-commerce strategy
is how to support it after its live.
and tradeoffs involved in the decision to The cost of an outsourced firm is
support your e-commerce site in-house or likely to be higher than in-house, but
MAKE A decision through an outsourced partner. an external firm will likely have more
These include: resources available when you need to
Dont wait until the site is
scale up development, or have a tricky
in development or has
SUPPORT TEAM coding problem to solve.
gone live before making
this critical decision. Ideally, you should identify
your ongoing support team, Dedicated Resources:
whether internal or external

Plan your
Will your in-house team be dedicated to
- and have them working with your e-commerce business, or are they
you during the development shared across the business?
stages.

maintenance and
Control:
How much control do you have over
an outsourced team are they in your

support ops long

time zone and do they have a full-time,
expert project manager on their side?

before going live.

44
 rank them as follows:

insight from the front lines:

ScoPing out Your

commerce Solution
Think about scope early in the process. Its easy to try to
document every piece of functionality you want from your must
new B2B website and invest many weeks documenting have for
them. Then, when the scoping and budgeting discussion
comes, spend more time prioritizing them.
launch
We suggest prioritizing up front. This saves time and avoids

nice
management confusion at inopportune times. Create
buckets that work for your business, and fully document
those that will go live at launch time. launch to have to
launch

important
but can wait for
Phase 2

45
 guidance from forreSter
According to a report from Forrester Research, Inc., B2B eBusiness professionals are looking
at alternatives to point solutions and niche vendors. Players today offer integrated technology
stacks, feature-rich APIs, and end-to-end e-commerce capabilities aimed at serving diverse
customer segments both browsing and buying across multiple touchpoints, Forrester wrote.
B2B platforms are being increasingly used to manage strategic challenges, Forrester says, and
managers are relying more on commerce platform vendors as strategic partners to be more invol-
section two ved with managing their B2B relationships with both online and offline customers. A solution from
SAP Hybris is evaluated in the report, with SAP Hybris positioned as a leader.

Commerce the forrester waVe B2B online and moBile are transfor-
Platform Decision commerce suites
In this report, available through SAP Hybris,
ming B2B commerce
This useful document includes the findings of
Resources Forrester Research looks at how manufac-
turers, distributors and other B2B firms are
a commissioned study conducted by Forrester
Consulting on B2B Commerce. Over 700
working to better serve their sales channels B2B companies were surveyed, of which 353
through digital experiences and by developing companies sell direct to businesses online.
new business models to support complex Key findings were that online and mobile are
selling relationships with distributors, resellers, transforming B2B commerce and that
partner networks, employees, retail stores, and businesses have to act fast to not fall behind.
end consumers. eBusiness professionals are
making significant investments in next-gene-
ration B2B commerce technologies to enable
these transformations, and unraveling the
vendor landscape remains a challenge.

48
 VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL
ARCHITECTURE
AND TECHNOLOGY
SAP Hybris
The uniqueness of the SAP Hybris
architecture addresses the custo-
mer lifecycle to deliver a combined
commerce and order management
platform. This includes exten-
sibility so well defined that we
have built a partner marketplace
to plug leading functionality into
the commerce experience. Our
ease of integration and extensive
service-oriented architecture is en-
gineered to work with your existing
infrastructure. Read more at
www.Hybris.com/en/commerce/
architecture-technology
Unimportant Of little importance
49
VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL
B2B COMMERCE
SAP Hybris VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3
More than half of global B2B
VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3 buyers expect to make 50% of
their purchases online within three
years. Like consumers, they expect
consistent omni-channel experi-
ences, self-service access, and
accurate information. SAP Hybris
B2B Commerce helps you adapt to
the changing needs of your busi-
ness customers. Our omni-channel
commerce software is designed
to support even the most com-
plex B2B environments. Get more
information at www.Hybris.com/
en/downloads/product-collateral/
b2b-commerce/101
Moderately important Important Very important Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important
50
 VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL

PRODUCT CONTENT ORDER ORCHESTRATION

MANAGEMENT
SAP Hybris
Highly profitable commerce sites
dont just help customers find
what they are looking for. They
help them find what they arent
looking for but still want and will
buy. The SAP Hybris Cross-Selling
Module enables you to manually
define cross-selling or up-selling
rules to deliver product recom-
mendations to boost sales. See
more info at www.Hybris.com/
modules/cross-selling
SAP Hybris VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3
SAP Hybris Order Management
helps you increase profitability
VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3
through centralized order orche-
stration. Your customers interact
with your brand on numerous touch
points, be it their PC, their mobile
or the point of sale in your store.
They expect a seamless and highly
interactive shopping experience.
More details are available at
www.Hybris.com/en/downloads/
product-collateral/order-manage-
ment-services/108

Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important

Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important

51 52
 VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PROVEN TRACK RECORD

SAP Hybris
For organizations today, the bar for
customer engagement has been
raised. It takes more to win and
retain loyal customers standard,
mass-segmentation driven content
and experiences are not enough.
Customers are looking for high qua-
lity, relevant content within tailored,
contextual experiences based on
their available historical customer
data and current buying journey
data. Learn more at www.Hybris.
com/en/commerce/customer-expe-
rience
VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3 SAP Hybris VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3
SAP Hybris solutions are often de-
signed, planned, implemented, and
supported by an elite group of part-
ners worldwide, each with consider-
able experience on the SAP Hybris
platform through their own proven
track record, by gaining appropri-
ate knowledge, and earning SAP
Hybris certifications. Every certified
SAP Hybris partner has significant
certified resources to support a wide
range of industries and diverse B2B
customers around the globe. Read
more at www.Hybris.com/en/find-a-
partner

Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important

Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important

53 54
 VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL VENDOR COMPARISON TOOL

References CONCLUSION
SAP Hybris VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3 SAP Hybris VENDOR 2 VENDOR 3

Unimportant Of little importance Moderately important Important Very important

55 56
SAP Hybris B2B Accelerator Rapidly deploy and manage multiple
B2B sites on a single platform.

Use existing catalogs, content,

SAP Hybris offers a state-of-the-art deployment accelerator essentially a pre-
and infrastructure to create
built B2B e-commerce store ready to activate the functionality you need, and rapid-
custom sites and catalogs.
ly input your product content and information. Get online faster with the SAP Hybris
Easily manage sites with multiple
B2B Commerce Accelerator a production-ready, customizable, multi-channel
languages, currencies, brands, taxes,
framework designed for business-to-business trading. Develop and manage content with a built-in, intuitive
and other regional requirements.
Web-based product content management system
that includes effective workflow management.

Support complex product catalogs,

pricing logic, and user/role management. Centralize order management capabilities to
enable efficient omni-channel fulfillment.

Maximize SEO rankings with out-of-the box tooling.

Deploy SAP Hybris B2B commerce in the
way that best fits your needs either on-pre-
mise, hosted by SAP Hybris, or on-demand
in the cloud.
Support all channels
Web, mobile, and offline vehicles, Enrich your product descriptions with
such as print catalogs. high-resolution images and videos, managed
by built-in digital asset management (DAM).
Consolidate and manage all product content and
attributes across all channels via native integra-
tion with SAP Hybris award-winning master data
management and product content management
solution (SAP Hybris PCM).
 SAP Hybris White Papers
and Solutions Briefs
SAP Hybris B2B COMMERCE
This document describes how SAP
Hybris B2B Commerce reduces
complexity by consolidating the
management of multiple business
models, channels, and markets. It
shows how B2B organizations can
accommodate a variety of suppliers,
distributors, and stores on a single
platform, while automating sales
administration and maintaining the
operational efficiency required to
drive customer satisfaction and,
ultimately, profits.
59
IMPLEMENT FASTER.
SELL MORE. GROW.
In this solutions guide, youll read
why the days of bulky spreadsheets
and rigid enterprise systems for
pricing, quoting, and selling products
are pass, and that none of those
systems provide intuitive online
selling tools or support for complex
B2B Multichannel Commerce. It also
discusses how B2B customers are
increasingly demanding that their
vendors deliver a B2C-class user
experience across channels, and
why modern B2B Multichannel Com-
merce solutions are essential.
BUILDING AN ROI TO
EVALUATE YOUR B2B E-COM-
MERCE INITIATIVE
This white paper provides a frame-
work for building an ROI model that
can be used to demonstrate the
advantages of a new e-commerce
implementation to senior executives
and board members.
STATE OF B2B E-COMMERCE
This thought leadership guide offers
insights into the preferences of
todays procurement professionals
or business professionals who buy
products on behalf of their compa-
ny. It offers strategic guidance on
the required commerce technology
capabilities and potential operations
improvements that emerge from
these insights.
E-COMMERCE CHALLENGES
FACING THE WHOLESALE
INDUSTRY
This paper discusses the most
common challenges that wholesa-
lers face when leveraging modern
e-commerce technologies to acce-
lerate sales growth. It also provides
suggestions to help make the tran-
sition to an effective business model
that adequately supports traditional,
online, and mobile commerce ope-
rations.
THE CONSUMERIZATION
OF THE B2B CHANNEL
Driven by a range of customer, cost,
and market factors, the Consu-
merization Effect is already taking
place in B2B channels. This paper
evaluates the opportunities that this
evolution offers to all B2B organiza-
tions, including the following:
Reducing costs by stream-
1
lining business operations
Increasing customer satisfac-
2
tion by delivering omni-chan-
nel convenience
Managing the complexity of
3
B2B transactions
60
 KEY QUESTIONS TO INCLUDE
IN AN E-COMMERCE PLAT-
FORM RFP
This paper describes how a compre-
hensive RFP that thoroughly covers
all the critical points can assist com-
panies in reducing costs and pro-
ducing better ROI, faster. If an RFP
helps a management team reach a
final decision in 12 weeks rather than
16 weeks, an additional month of
revenue may be added to the bottom
line from the e-commerce channel.
This could translate into hundreds
of thousands of additional revenue
dollars. And a well-crafted RFP can
ensure that a company doesnt pay a
premium for features it wont need in
the foreseeable future.
61
SAP Hybris PROJECT BEST To download these white papers
PRACTICES GUIDE and solution briefs please visit SAP Hybris serves over 500 customers,
www.Hybris.com/downloads
This extensive document provi- including some of the most recog-
des SAP Hybris customers with nized companies in the world (glo-
a summary of commerce project
best practices collected by the SAP bal B2B brands as well as consumer
Hybris team responsible for project brands).
delivery. It presents a set of activities
that an implementation team should
consider during an SAP Hybris com-
merce project implementation. This
83%
includes discussions of development
methodology, team structures, and
We are by far the fastest-growing
communication style; guidelines for major commerce platform company
building a project approach, staffing
model and timeline to match specific
our compound annual growth rate sin-
requirements; plus answers to many ce 2009 is 83%.
architectural, design and technical
questions.
 B2B CASE Study
REXEL
SAP Hybris B2B case study on Rexel illustrates how they were able to increase average
order value and help customers via a self-service portal.
Rexel, a global leader in the dis-
tribution of electrical supplies and
services, serves three main end
markets: industrial, commercial,
and residential. Newey and Eyre is
the UKs leading distributor of qua-
lity electrical and safety products,
operating under Rexel UK Limited.
The company is renowned for its
highly personalized counter service.
Newey and Eyre recognized a need
to offer an effective alternative to
traditional, in-branch trading. A
multi-channel B2B e-commerce
platform would allow customers to
order supplies from its massive pro-
duct range outside normal working
hours, meaning they could spend
less time traveling to their local
branch, and more time on the job.
63
The company chose to develop a
groundbreaking, functionally-rich
one stop shop that that would pro-
vide the electrical wholesale mar-
ket with a Web channel that offered
best-of-breed search and navigati-
on, with the same Web capabilities
offered to general consumers in the
retail sector.
Flexibility, scalability, and easy
integration with existing workflows
and systems were the key criteria
behind the selection of SAP Hybris
Commerce as the platform at the
heart of Newey and Eyres new one
stop shop. It offered out-of-the-box
functionality that met the needs of
the business, including the ability
to support searchandising, SEO
visibility and usability.
ReFERENCE CUSTOMERS
The fact that SAP Hybris could offer 1 million products; 3,000 sup- Worlds largest tire company uses System of record for product
a combined e-commerce and pro- pliers; 2 million customers; SAP Hybris to support 2,000 dea- content 20,000 daily users and 300
duct content management (PCM) 500,000 orders / day; $2B online lers for commerce & MDM, B2B & editors
platform was considered vital for sales B2B2C
the long-term management of pro-
duct data. Newey and Eyre worked
with a SAP Hybris partner that
specialized in e-commerce consul-
tancy and systems integration for
the implementation. After four
months, the new platform laun-
ched, offering customers the first
truly multi-channel B2B experience 200 private label e-Shops Mul- Worlds # 3 food service provider, 5 languages, 4 currencies, 30M
in the electrical wholesale market. ti-catalog, complex pricing. Major # 2 uniform supplier with $13B in price rows
version upgrade: 15 Days. worldwide sales. Uses SAP Hybris
to enable 100k customers,
Read more details at:
www.Hybris.com/downloads/
case-study/rexel/009
64
 ABOUT SAP Hybris
SAP Hybris is the fastest-growing major commerce platform company with a compound
annual growth rate since 2009 of ~83%.
SAP Hybris enables businesses to transform
how they engage with customers, innovate how
they do business, and simplify their technology
landscape. With a comprehensive approach
to customer engagement and commerce, our
solutions unlock opportunities to optimize your
customers experience and transform your
business. We help you drive relevant, contex-
tual experiences across all of your customer
touch-points in real-time, so that you can cre-
ate strong differentiation and build competitive
advantage in the Digital Economy.
65
SAP Hybris has helped some of the worlds
leading organizations transform themselves
in response to changing market conditions and
customer expectations delivering exceptional
experiences, adding new channels, evolving
their business models, and entering new mar-
kets. How can we help you?
Explore SAP Hybris solutions today.
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
VISIT www.Hybris.com
66
 NOTES NOTES

67 68
 NOTES
Disclaimer
The content of this Hybris customer resource guide is highly confiden-
tial, and the conditions of the confidentiality agreement strictly apply.
This guide is for informational purposes only and must not be disclosed
to anyone and/or forwarded or copied in any way or form. This document
and the information contained in this guide may be subject to change,
updates, revisions, verifications, and further amendments by Hybris at
any time, without notice. While the information contained in this guide
has been prepared in good faith, neither Hybris nor its shareholders, di-
rectors, officers, agents, employees, or advisers give, has given, or has
authority to give, any representations or warranties (express or implied)
as to, or in relation to, the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the
information in this paper, or any revisions thereof, (all such information
being referred to as information) and liability therefore is expressly
69
disclaimed. Accordingly, neither Hybris nor any of its shareholders,
directors, officers, agents, employees, or advisers take any responsibili-
ty for, or will accept any liability whether direct, express or implied, cont-
ractual, tortious, statutory or otherwise, in respect of the accuracy or
completeness of the information or for any of the opinions contained in it,
or for any errors, omissions or misstatements or for any loss, howsoe-
ver arising from the use of this guide. In furnishing this guide, each of
Hybris and its advisers does not undertake or agree to any obligation
to provide the recipient with access to any additional information or to
update this guide or to correct any inaccuracies in it, or omissions from,
this guide which may become apparent.
Contact Hybris: www.hybris.com | sales@hybris.com
70
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