Competitors Oracle Corp. and hybris Software launched Internet-based product strategies last week designed to bring customized e-commerce functionality to more companies.
Oracle, whose technology is used to run business operations software, databases and e-commerce sites at midsized to large companies, introduced Oracle Commerce Cloud as a means for letting small as well as large companies subscribe to cloud-based e-commerce and related technology for deploying business-to-business as well as retail e-commerce site. In addition to the e-commerce transaction functionality, the technology includes online marketing; mobile sales management tools for account managers; and online applications that let customers configure products, view available pricing and discounts, and request full price quotes for entire orders from sales reps.
While Oracle typically sells its licensed e-commerce and related software to companies with online retail sales of $50 million or more, it’s targeting Oracle Commerce Cloud to companies with from $10 million to $100 million in e-commerce sales, says Ian Davis, senior director of product management at Oracle. Companies that deploy Oracle Commerce Cloud, either as a full suite or in parts, will pay a monthly fee to access the Internet-hosted technology through a web browser. Clients can opt to pay either tiered fees based on the number of page views on their e-commerce sites, or a percentage of their gross transaction value. Specific pricing was not available.
Peter Sheldon, vice president and technology analyst at Forrester Research Inc., says in a report released today that Oracle Commerce Cloud shares 80% of its software code with Oracle’s licensed software that companies typically deploy “on-premise,” or on their own network infrastructure. This gives the new cloud-based software suite the ability to provide levels of site performance and functionality similar to the licensed version, but also with new features available through a cloud-based system, he says.
The additional capabilities, Sheldon says, include a single web-based administrative tool for managing merchandising and e-commerce functionality. This replaces the legacy system used in the licensed software version, which uses separate administrative tools inherited from the ATG e-commerce platform and the Endeca site search and navigation technology that make up much of the technology of e-commerce sites developed with Oracle Commerce technology. Sheldon adds that the new administrative interface is “responsive and mobile-ready,” meaning that site developers and operators can use it to manage content that renders properly on the desktop or mobile devices end-customers use to access an e-commerce site built on Oracle Commerce.
Oracle plans to introduce more complex features for B2B e-commerce sites in future versions of Oracle Commerce Cloud, Davis says. Oracle’s e-commerce technology has 62 clients listed among the Internet Retailer Top 1000, which is a ranking of companies by their annual web sales.
Hybris Software, which has three e-commerce technology clients listed among the Internet Retailer Top 1000 and is a unit of Oracle rival SAP AG, announced last week a venture with Acquia, a “digital experience” firm that helps companies integrate web content and e-commerce technology to build customized ways to interact with online customers. Hybris refers to its new strategy as hybris-as-a-service, meaning that it enables users to deploy hybris e-commerce technology without hosting the software on their own servers.
Stefan Schmidt, vice president of product strategy at hybris, says the two companies expect to launch later this year “micro services” software designed to integrate hybris e-commerce software with various forms of web content—on e-commerce sites, in social media and other forms of online marketing campaigns, on mobile devices—enabling clients to blend marketing, merchandising and e-commerce wherever they may engage online shoppers.
“They’re blending content and e-commerce, and putting it anywhere in the customer journey,” says Ray Grady, senior vice president of commerce solutions at Acquia. “Companies need to be able to tell their stories, and show rich experiences as they sell their products.”
Hybris refers to its new Internet-based technology as hybris-as-a-service, for which it uses the acronym YaaS. The moniker borrows the “y” in hybris as a way to indicate companies can say “yes” to developing content-rich e-commerce wherever they see an opportunity to engage customers, Schmidt says.
Sign up for a free subscription to B2BecNews, a weekly newsletter that covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B e-commerce industry. B2BecNews is published by Vertical Web Media LLC, which also publishes the monthly business magazine Internet Retailer. Follow B2BecNews editor Paul Demery on Twitter @pdemery.
Favorite